It’s been six weeks since legal documents released in the USA showed how Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit carried on a three-year correspondence with the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and then lied about it. Now she faces a dive in public confidence and demands for her to explain herself.
“Now it’s time that even though she’s ill (with a lung disease), the Royal Palace must handle this in another manner than they have until now,” communications expert and former TV personality Svein Tore Bergestuen told state broadcaster NRK.
After the release of a short statement, in which Mette-Marit expressed regrets and “poor judgement” over her relations with Epstein, it’s gone quiet. Both her husband, Crown Prince Haakon, and palace communications chief Guri Varpe have said she’s “very sorry” about her involvement with Epstein and wants to explain what happened. “She can’t manage that now, and needs time,” they’ve stated.
“We must understand that,” said Bergestuen, “but this must be handled because now both rumours and speculation are running rampant.” In the meantime, Det Norske Jentekor (the Norwegian Girls Choir) has become the latest organization to recommend to its members, their parents and its employees that they sever ties with the crown princess and no longer have her as a royal sponsor. The reason: the “ongoing unrest” she has created within the choir.
NewsinEnglish.no staff
