Norway’s crown princess, whose son is to stand trial Tuesday for rape, was drawn into a new controversy this weekend after newly unsealed U.S. documents revealed her unexpected friendship with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Crown Princess Mette-Marit's name appears at least 1,000 times in the millions of new Epstein documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday, according to Norwegian daily VG.
Messages between the two published in Norwegian media date from 2011 to 2014, when she was already married to the future king of Norway.
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, though he was not there at the time.
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 sent to AFP 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."
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 is accused of 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 will 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.
These woes come on top of her own health issues.
She suffers from an incurable lung illness, a rare form of pulmonary fibrosis that makes it difficult for her to breathe.
In December, the palace announced that she would likely have to undergo a lung transplant, a risky operation generally considered a last resort.
"She is someone who is under much pressure. But that should not stop any criticism, if it is factual," said Schulsrud-Hansen.
