NEWS ANALYSIS/UPDATED: Reaction was flying in Norway on Friday after Crown Princess Mette-Marit finally agreed to be questioned about her relationship with the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Her 20-minute session with state broadcaster NRK, though, raises more questions and it’s highly unclear whether she has the public confidence needed to be Norway’s queen.
That’s largely tied to her failure, as NRK commentator Inger Merete Hobbelstad put it, to beg public pardon in the NRK interview and directly apologize for her three-year relationship with Epstein and all the trouble it’s caused. The interview with NRK was taped Thursday afternoon, aired early Friday morning and came in lieu of a general press conference with the crown princess that had been sought for weeks.
The lengthy correspondence between Mette-Marit and Epstein from 2011 to 2014 was recently made public when US officials released millions of emails, text messages and other communication Epstein had over the years following his release from his first jail term. He was later re-arrested in 2019 and committed suicide in prison in New York a few weeks later.
The release of what’s known as the “Epstein Files” also revealed how Crown Princess Mette-Marit had downplayed her ties to Epstein when they were first revealed by newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) in 2019. She still claims she wasn’t aware of Epstein’s convictions and long record of sexually abusing young women, even though one of her fellow royals in the UK, formerly known as Prince Andrew, was already publicly in trouble by 2011 over his own ties to Epstein. He still is, and recently lost his royal titles.
Crown Princess Mette-Marit seems intent on keeping hers. She failed, however, to inform others about what she calls her “friendship” with Epstein, on the grounds their lengthy correspondence and meetings were within her private sphere. She still doesn’t think she should have informed palace officials, the security apparatus around the royals or the foreign ministry about her ties to Epstein, not even after admitting in the NRK interview that she felt threatened by Epstein after having spent several days at his home in Palm Beach, Florida in January 2013. She opted to call her husband in Norway, Crown Prince Haakon, instead of her bodyguard who was staying at a nearby hotel.
The police intelligence agency PST, in charge of bodyguards and security for top Norwegian officials, declined comment. Mette-Marit, meanwhile, took up contact again with Epstein even after the incident at his home, on which she declined to elaborate. She remained firm that “we never orient” royal security guards, palace officials or the ministry about their friends or other private relations.
That reflects part of the problem around a crown princess who insists on maintaining a private life with her own rules, also for her children. She admitted in the NRK interview that her relationship with Epstein came at a time when her role as crown princess “was quite demanding.” Her son from before she met Crown Princess Haakon, Marius Borg Høiby, had already created what the media dubbed as “a security scandal” at the time, and she was publicly criticized for helping friends avoid Norwegian laws against surrogacy (using her diplomatic passport to fetch a baby in India for a gay couple). She was also fiercely protective of all three of her children, insisting they be allowed to avoid the media glare even when they sought public attention themselves. Her aversion to public interest in the royals began early, even before she married the crown prince. When Princess Ingrid Alexandra was born, Mette-Marit spirited the new heir to the throne out of the national hospital, to avoid a traditional photo session with the press.
Her passion for privacy can conflict with her highly public role and the duties that go along with her royal title. When asked in the new interview about another round of correspondence with Epstein, in which she’d written that she was at a “boring” royal wedding in Luxembourg, she lashed out at NRK’s mild-mannered reporter and anchor Petter Oulie-Hauge. She wouldn’t elaborate on the wedding, claiming it was also in her private sphere when it in fact is part of her royal duties of representing Norway at such events. She has admitted, though, that it was embarrassing for her when her comments to Epstein were made public, and she told NRK’s Oulie-Hauge that she has since taken contact and squared up with the royal couple involved.
She said she first met Epstein through “a good friend of mine” who also was a “close friend” with the late financier. She wouldn’t identify her “good friend,” though, “as a matter of personal integrity” and also because she viewed that friendship as part of her private life. The Epstein files themselves, meanwhile, reveal correspondence between Epstein and Boris Nikolic, a former adviser to Microsoft founder Bill Gates. On February 28, 2011, Nikolic wrote to Epstein and proposed a meeting with one of his own friends who would be in New York City a month later. “She’s GREAT,” Nikolic wrote to Epstein. “Twisted … Not a typical Royalty (sic).”
Crown Princess Mette-Marit described the tone of her own correspondence with Epstein, characterized by many as “intimate,” simply as “banter” between friends. Crown Prince Haakon, who sat through the entire interview with NRK, claims he knew about her relationship with Epstein but only met Epstein once, while his family was on holiday in the Caribbean. He stressed that he also wasn’t aware of the extent of Epstein’s crimes at the time.
Crown Princess Mette-Marit said she regrets that she didn’t “warn others about him” after she said she ended up feeling “manipulated and cheated” by him. She said she also began to “hear rumours” about Epstein and cut contact with him in 2014. She also expressed sympathy for his victims, appearing to fight back tears both times they came up.
In the end, though, she seemed most preoccupied about a need for privacy within the royal family, especially her own. “It’s important to protect our private lives,” she said.
Therein lies the conflict again, since the royals’ lives and duties are financed by the public sector and they serve as the country’s foremost representatives. Norwegians have a right to expect that their royals behave and represent their country well, yet a long list of scandals has tarnished Norway’s Royal Family in recent years. In addition to the embarrassments within the Epstein Files, Mette-Marit’s older son Marius Borg Høiby currently faces nearly eight years in prison after his trial on 39 criminal counts including rape and sexual assault just ended. Crown Prince Haakon’s sister, Princess Martha Louise, has also grabbed headlines for years as she both bashed and sought publicity tied to various controversial ventures.
Generally tolerant Norwegians have long cherished their monarchy as an important and historical institution for their small country. There’s still widespread support for King Harald V, who recently turned 89, and the 88-year-old Queen Sonja, who in turn have tolerated most of the exploits of their daughter and temperament of their daughter-in-law. Both, along with the king’s 94-year old sister Princess Astrid, have always felt a profound sense of duty that at least Crown Prince Haakon seems to be carrying on.
Public support for the monarchy has tumbled in recent months, though, because of the next generation’s royal scandals. Many Norwegians feel sorry for the king and queen, and weren’t impressed by Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s long awaited explanation of the Epstein affair. “It wasn’t very enlightening,” Ingjerd Wiggen told NRK while eating lunch with another retired friend on Friday in Mette-Marit’s hometown of Kristiansand. Wiggen said she feels sorry for Mette-Marit, who also suffers a chronic lung disease after years of smoking while dealing with her son’s court trial as well. The multiple crises in Mette-Marit’s family “make me wish her well, but I think her role as queen has been set back,” Wiggen said.
Her friend Bjørg Rist said she also feels sorry for the crown princess, but misses answers to so many more questions. “I was disappointed (in Mette-Marit’s interview with NRK), and think she could have been more direct,” Rist said. She described herself as a “royalist,” adding that the Royal Family “has been been fantastic” over the years, “but we don’t know how it will be with her.” Wiggen added that she was “terribly disappointed” in Mette-Marit when the entire Epstein Files drama came up and wishes the crown princess would “remember more” from that time and answer more questions.
By late afternoon on Friday, newspaper VG could report that its own public opinion poll showed nearly 70 percent of those questioned think Mette-Marit did not answer NRK’s questions well enough, while 47 percent don’t think Mette-Marit should be queen.
NRK’s interview on Thursday came after weeks of public criticism, also from the government, over the crown princess’ refusal to meet the press. Both she and the royal palace claimed she was too sick and weak to do so. Some media commentators came to her defense while others clamoured for an audience.
She finally agreed to the 20 minutes on Friday, but only with NRK and at the crown couple’s residence at Skaugum, west of Oslo. NRK officials said the time limit was imposed by palace officials because of her “health situation,” and NRK sent them “the most important questions” in advance, so she could be prepared. NRK issued a statement on Friday that no one was shown the interview before it was aired on NRK’s early morning news program shortly after 7am on Friday.
Official reaction indicated disappointment with the crown princess, but also relief that she’d finally responded to questions after previously only issuing two short statements after the Epstein files were revealed. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, who’s been a personal friend of Mette-Marit and her family, had been among those calling on her to address her involvement with Epstein.
On Friday he said he could understand that the crown couple is “in a demanding situation and I think it’s good they showed up together to respond.” He stressed how “it’s important to maintain public confidence in our society.” Støre also noted that the crown princess “assumed responsibility” for her failure to “investigate Epstein’s background more closely” and said that she’s sorry she ever met him.
The leader of the opposition in Parliament, Ine Eriksen Søreide of the Conservatives, said it was important that Crown Princess Mette-Marit had at least begun to answer questions about her relationship with Epstein. She stressed, though, that Mette-Marit will now need to rebuild public confidence in her.
Retired newspaper editor Harald Stanghelle, who’s followed the royal family for years and remains a commentator for Norway’s biggest newspaper Aftenposten, noted that Mette-Marit didn’t provide “concrete answers to some of the most important questions.” He agrees with her own assessment that she showed “poor judgment” by getting involved with Epstein.
Crown Prince Haakon, in line to succeed his father as king, made a point of saying in NRK’s interview that when they married in 2001, they vowed to support each other in good and difficult days. Right now it’s very difficult, he said, but he referred to their “joint project” of building a foundation for their own immediate family and the day they’re due to become king and queen. He said that no matter what, “I will always want her at my side.” He noted that the couple will mark their Silver Wedding Anniversary in August, but no plans for any festivities have been announced publicly as yet.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
