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Agence France-Presse

Norway’s crown princess, whose son goes on trial on Tuesday on rape charges, has found herself embroiled in another scandal after newly unsealed files revealed her unexpected friendship with late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The latest scandal has even raised questions about whether Mette-Marit, a commoner who married Crown Prince Haakon in 2001, could still become queen one day.
Her name appears at least 1,000 times in the millions of new Epstein documents released by the US Department of Justice on Friday, according to Norwegian daily VG.
Messages between the two published in Norwegian media date from 2011 to 2014.
In one email, Mette-Marit asked Epstein if it was “inappropriate for a mother to suggest two naked women carrying a surfboard for my 15 yr old son’s wallpaper”.
In another, she told him he was “very charming”.

When Epstein told her he was in Paris “on (a) wife hunt” in 2012, she replied saying the French capital is “good for adultery” and “Scandis (are) better wife material”.
Epstein had at that point already pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting a minor for prostitution.
The files show she also stayed at his house in Florida for four days in 2013.
On Saturday, Mette-Marit addressed her “embarrassing” friendship with the disgraced financier, who died in 2019 by suicide in jail as he awaited trial for sex crimes against minors.
“I showed poor judgment and I deeply regret having had any contact with Epstein. It is simply embarrassing,” she said in a statement by the royal palace.
The 52-year-old said she was responsible “for not having checked Epstein’s background more closely and not understanding quickly enough what kind of person he was”.
Yet in 2011, Mette-Marit wrote to Epstein that she had “googled” him, adding “it didn’t look too good” and ending the sentence with a smiling emoji.
She did not specify exactly what she was referring to.

According to the palace, Mette-Marit had ceased contact with Epstein in 2014 because she felt he was “trying to use his relationship with the crown princess as leverage with other people”.
“It almost gives the impression that they were close friends,” historian and royal expert Ole-Jorgen Schulsrud-Hansen said.
He noted, however, the broader context of the messages was unknown.
“A crown princess is never a private person,” he noted.
“This shows in any case a lack of judgment and that all the ‘safety catches’ around her also failed.”
On Sunday, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said he “agreed” that Mette-Marit had made an error in judgment.
“Can Mette-Marit become queen after this?” Kjetil Alstadheim, chief political editor of Norway’s paper of reference Aftenposten, asked in an op-ed piece, leaving the question unanswered.
The timing could not be worse for Mette-Marit.

On Tuesday, her 29-year-old son Marius Borg Hoiby, born from a relationship before her marriage to Crown Prince Haakon, goes on trial at Oslo’s district court.
He has been accused of allegedly committing 38 crimes, including the rape of four women as well as assault and drug offences. He could face up to 16 years in jail if found guilty.
Hoiby denies the most serious charges.
The royal couple would not attend the seven-week trial, and Crown Prince Haakon told reporters that Mette-Marit would be away on a private trip during that period.
Mette-Marit was not the only royal to have contact with Epstein.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the man formerly known as Britain’s Prince Andrew, has long been dogged by questions about his relationship with Epstein, including allegations from the late Virginia Roberts Giuffre that she was trafficked by Epstein and instructed to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor when she was 17.
The former prince has repeatedly denied that it happened, but his brother, King Charles, still stripped him of his royal titles late last year, including the right to be called a prince and the Duke of York.
Mountbatten-Windsor’s name appears at least several hundred times in Friday’s document release, including in Epstein’s private emails.
Among the correspondence is an invitation for Epstein to dine at Buckingham Palace, Epstein’s offer to introduce Mountbatten-Windsor to a 26-year-old Russian woman, and photos that appear to show Mountbatten-Windsor kneeling over an unidentified woman lying on the floor.
Additional reporting by Associated Press


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An email chain illustrates the extensive redactions applied by the US Department of Justice to some Jeffrey Epstein documents. Photo: AP

Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit. Photo: NTB via AFP

Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Crown Prince Haakon. Photo: AFP

Mette-Marit’s son, Marius Borg Hoiby. Photo: AFP

Britain’s Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew. Photo: Reuters

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Peter Mandelson, Britain’s former ambassador to the US. Photo: BBC via AFP

A document that was included in the US Department of Justice’s latest release. Photo: AP

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

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Documents that were included in the US Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files are seen on January 2. Photo: AP

An email and some of the images included in the latest Epstein files are seen on Friday. Photo: AP

US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick (centre) looks on as US President Donald Trump (left) speaks during a cabinet meeting in Washington on Thursday. Photo: EPA

An email exchange with Elon Musk is shown in this image released on Friday. Photo: US Justice Department via Reuters

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Britain’s former prince Andrew is seen with an unidentified woman in a photo released on Friday. Photo: US Justice Department

Virginia Giuffre holds a picture of herself as a teen, when she says she was abused by Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Prince Andrew, among others. Photo: TNS

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Crown Princess Mette-Marit Tjessem Hoiby with her son Marius Borg Hoiby in Trondheim, Norway, in 2016. Photo: AFP

Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon with his wife in Berlin in 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE

Marius Borg Hoiby has admitted only to some minor offences. Photo: AFP

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Crown princess’ name appears hundreds of times in the millions of new Epstein documents released by the US Department of Justice


Crown princess’ name appears hundreds of times in the millions of new Epstein documents released by the US Department of Justice.


Latest Epstein files dump reveals ‘embarrassing’ friendship with another royal

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Crown princess’ name appears hundreds of times in the millions of new Epstein documents released by the US Department of Justice

Crown princess’ name appears hundreds of times in the millions of new Epstein documents released by the US Department of Justice