Son in prison, contact with Epstein Can Crown Princess Mette-Marit still become queen?
Her eldest son Marius is on trial in Oslo, she emailed with US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein: Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit is under pressure. Is the crown even in danger?
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- The Marius Borg Høiby trial and the Jeffrey Epstein file are taking a heavy toll on the image of the Norwegian royal family.
- Crown Princess Mette-Marit is particularly in the spotlight: according to the Norwegian media, the 52-year-old has her back to the wall.
- "Can Mette-Marit still become queen?" was the headline in the newspaper "Aftenposten" on Monday.
For the majority of Norwegians, the royal family has simply been part of life since childhood. King Harald and Queen Sonja are considered down-to-earth and are extremely popular with the people.
This makes the court case against step-grandson Marius Borg Høiby all the more poignant for the Scandinavian country.
Rape, assault and drug offenses - the charges that Crown Princess Mette-Marit's eldest son is facing in court weigh heavily and cast a dark shadow over the royal family.
Media restraint is a thing of the past
In the course of the trial, Mette-Marit is particularly in the spotlight as a mother. And as if that wasn't enough of a burden, her name also appears in the newly published Jeffrey Epstein documents just a few days before the trial begins.
The revelations indicate that the 52-year-old not only knew the convicted US sex offender personally and had a lengthy exchange of emails with him, but was also a guest at one of his properties for several days in January 2013.
The Norwegian media normally treat the royal family with kid gloves. At the moment, however, this restraint is a thing of the past.
"Can Mette-Marit still become queen?" asked the Norwegian newspaper "Aftenposten"on Monday. Other media describe the crown princess's behavior as "bizarre and questionable".
Mette-Marit's double standards in particular have been denounced. While she was fighting for women's rights in public, she asked Jeffrey Epstein in an email whether her then 15-year-old son Marius was allowed to have a photo of naked women.
"Even worse than the Marius case"
"The pressure on the royal court is enormous, because this is even worse than the Marius case," explains Klas Kokkinn-Thoresen, editor-in-chief of the Norwegian newspaper "Se og Hør" to the German newspaper "Bild".
He continues: "For many, it looks as if she has either lied, not told the whole truth or tried to hide important things."
Norwegians are also disappointed with their royal family because even nastier details have come to light in recent weeks - from Marius as well as from Mette-Marit.
Crown princess led a cheerful party life
The commoner Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby married into the Norwegian royal family 25 years ago. At the time, she was under fire for having led a merry party life in her youth and having come into contact with drugs.
Mette-Marit later said that she regretted her behavior as a young woman. The Norwegians believed her. As a result, she won the sympathy of the people. This became even stronger when it became known that she suffered from a rare form of pulmonary fibrosis. This disease occurs when scars form in the lungs.
Last December, the Norwegian royal family reported that Mette-Marit's condition had deteriorated to such an extent that a lung transplant was the next necessary step.
Currently, Mette-Marit would not make a worthy queen
In light of the Høiby trial and the Epstein file, the ailing health of Crown Princess Mette-Marit is not an issue at the moment, however, as her image has suffered too much in recent weeks.
In an opinion poll conducted last fall by the InFact Institute on behalf of the Norwegian online newspaper "Nettavisen", Mette-Marit's image was already worse than before:
Only just under 30 percent of the more than 1,000 Norwegians surveyed still trusted her "to a great extent" in the role of future queen. At 20 percent, one in five thought she was completely unsuitable.
The coming weeks and months will show whether the image of the Norwegian monarchy, and in particular that of Crown Princess Mette-Marit, can recover in the near future or whether it will suffer further damage. For more and more Norwegians, however, it seems clear that Mette-Marit would not currently make a worthy queen.
