Crown Prince Haakon of Norway caused concern on Tuesday when speaking about the health of his wife, Princess Mette-Marit, after the Abel Prize in Mathematics was awarded in Oslo. “The Crown Princess is seriously ill, and I have the impression that her condition has significantly worsened recently,” responded the son of Harald V to media questions about the chronic pulmonary fibrosis his wife suffers from.
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The prince also spoke extensively about his wife’s relationship with the late sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein. Regarding the closeness Mette-Marit seemed to have with Epstein, Haakon states that he did not conduct any special inquiry or “personal investigation. Of course, I could have done so.” “I learned about the serious crimes at the same time as most people, perhaps between late 2018 and early 2019. That was when I better understood the magnitude of the matter. But I also knew several people whom I appreciated and respected, who also knew him then,” he added.
Regarding Mette-Marit’s recent appearances with an oxygen concentrator supplied by a nasal cannula, Haakon says it is only a limited relief of her symptoms: “She needs oxygen daily, and this helps her a little.” However, he adds that it is not a definitive solution. For years, pulmonary fibrosis has made Mette-Marit’s daily life difficult, and at the end of 2025, the royal house even announced that the princess was preparing for a lung transplant.
Mette-Marit is mentioned almost four hundred times in documents published by the United States Department of Justice about Epstein’s contacts, which show extensive dialogue between the future queen of Norway and the pedophile. For several years, the official version from the Norwegian royal house about the contacts between Mette-Marit and Epstein was that they met once in 2011 and that she broke off contact in 2013. But a 2014 email published in Epstein’s files shows they remained in contact afterward.
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After the publication of those contacts, the Crown Princess spoke out through a statement: “Jeffrey Epstein is personally responsible for his actions. I must take responsibility for not having better investigated Epstein’s background and for not having understood quickly enough what kind of person he was. I deeply regret it and it is a responsibility I must assume. I showed poor judgment and regret having had any contact with Epstein. It is simply shameful.”
While Queen Sonja of Norway is also convalescing after being diagnosed with atrial fibrillation associated with heart failure — a situation that has forced the cancellation of several official engagements planned for the coming days — the day is approaching when the verdict in the trial of Marius Borg will be known. The sentence will be handed down on the morning of June 15 in the trial against the son the princess had before marriage, accused of rape and violence against several women. Until then, the 29-year-old will remain in prison, as the judge noted in denying house arrest that Marius had already been arrested up to four times during the process before being placed in preventive detention.
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