The Royal House of Norway: Public Support for the Monarchy Remains Strong, Despite the Recent Scandals
Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway has gained the wrong kind of publicity in recent days, following the disclosure of her extensive e-mail correspondence with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein between 2011 and 2014. Almost a thousand emails between the two were among the three million ‘Epstein files’ released by the US Department of Justice on 30 January 2026. The Crown Princess’s tribulations have been compounded by the almost simultaneous opening on 3 February of the trial of Marius Borg Høiby, her eldest child- albeit from a previous non-royal dalliance.
The Norwegian royal family belongs to the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg- Glücksburg, usually shortened to House of Glücksburg, which is the senior surviving branch of the House of Oldenburg-a German royal dynasty whose descendants have graced several European thrones, including those of Denmark, Greece, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The family seat was at Glücksburg (Lyksborg), the northernmost town in Germany. The officially bilingual (German/Danish) town of Glücksburg lies on the southern shores of Flensburg Firth, the westernmost inlet of the Baltic Sea, directly opposite the Danish town of Sonderburg (Sønderborg) on the northern shores.
King Harald V, the reigning monarch of Norway and the only son of King Olav V and Princess Märtha of Sweden, married Sonja Haraldsen at Oslo Cathedral in 1968, making her the first commoner to be accepted into the Norwegian royal family. Their eldest child, Princess Märtha Louise, was born in 1971, but was ineligible to succeed to the throne, being born a female. Even though Article 6 of the Danish Constitution was amended in 1990 to allow the first-born to inherit the throne, irrespective of gender at birth, Märtha Louise will not benefit as this change will not be retroactively implemented. She relinquished the “Her Royal Highness” title in 2022, opting out of official duties for the Royal House and ceasing to be a working member of the royal family. That year, she married Derek Verrett, a Black American “Shaman”, alternative therapist, and conspiracy theorist.
The heir to the Norwegian throne, HRH Crown Prince Haakon Magnus, only son of King Harald V and Queen Sonja, also married a commoner, Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby, in 2001. Her circumstances were far from privileged, and her father was twice convicted of violent crimes. Mette-Marit’s rebellious lifestyle was marked by substance abuse and active participation in the Oslo “house party “scene. In January 1997, she became a single mother, by Morten Borg, who has been described as a “cocaine dealer.” Her eldest child, 29-year-old Marius Borg Høiby, is not a member of the Royal House and has no royal title nor any official duties, being four years old when his mother married into the royal family. At the time of Marius’ birth, his father was in prison for drug-related offences. The Crown Prince and Mette-Marit have since had a daughter, Ingrid Alexandra, 22, and a son, Sverre Magnus, 20. Mette-Marit was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, an irreversible and progressive lung disease, in 2018. As her lungs continue to stiffen and her breathing is further impaired, she may require lung transplant surgery sometime in the future.
The Crown Princess has been criticized for maintaining links with Jeffrey Epstein, even after finding out that he was a convicted sex offender who was first jailed for his crimes in 2008. She even rented an Epstein-owned property in Palm Beach, Florida, for four days in January 2013, although he was away at the time. The correspondence between the two appears to be have been informal, familiar, cordial, and even “flirtatious” and salacious at times. Although she has since apologised for her “poor judgement” and the Prime Minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Støre, has concurred, critics of her actions are unlikely to be appeased so easily and the last word in the matter has yet to be said.
The seven-week trial of Marius Borg Høiby meanwhile opened at the Oslo District Court on 3 February. He has been indicted on 38 criminal counts, including four counts, of rape, and pleaded guilty to some of the charges. Since the matter is subjudice, any further comment would be inappropriate at this time.
The recent bad publicity appears not have dented the enthusiasm of Norwegians for their monarchy, as reflected in a vote in the Storting, the unicameral Parliament of Norway, on the very day that the trial of Marius Borg Høiby opened. A decisive majority of 141 members voted to retain Norway’s constitutional monarchy, and only 26 voted in favour of becoming a republic. Either way, the transition to a republic would require a constitutional amendment, supported by a two-thirds majority in parliament over two consecutive terms. The same, however, cannot be said for the Crown Princess. According to a poll published on 4 February in the Oslo-based daily newspaper Aftenposten, 57% of respondents considered Mette-Marit unfit to become their future queen.
Even as the concept of monarchy makes way for alternative, modern, and more democratic forms of rule, individual dynasties continue to have considerable symbolic appeal to their ever-loyal subjects. Ever since Norway became a sovereign nation following the dissolution in 1905 of the union with Sweden that dated back to 1814, the royal family has gained heart-felt respect for bringing together Norwegians during difficult times. During the Second World War, King Haakon VII refused to appoint the Nazi puppet, Vidkun Quisling, as prime minister. Instead, during the Nazi occupation of Norway between June 1940 and August 1945, Haakon chose to live in England, where his official London residence became the seat of the Norwegian government in exile.
Although the monarch of Norway is both Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the land and naval forces of the Realm, the holder of the regal title has no real political power, as any granted executive powers are strictly curtailed. The monarch’s ceremonial and representative duties are largely confined to appointing the Prime Minister and government, the formal opening of parliament, and the rubber-stamping of laws and royal decrees. Nevertheless, the monarchy remains a widely revered and unifying institution in Norway, notwithstanding the current allegations against the Crown Princess. Whether Mette-Marit does eventually become Queen of Norway has yet to be confirmed, depending on the outcomes of any investigations into the fallout from the Epstein files and the responses of her fellow Norwegians, the monarchy itself seems secure for some time yet to come.
Ashis Banerjee