Norway’s
crown princess had years of contact with Epstein, files suggest
Mette-Marit
apologises for ‘poor judgment’ as documents reportedly include scores of email
exchanges with child sex offender
Ashifa
Kassam European community affairs correspondent
Sun 1 Feb
2026 19.26 CET
Norway’s
crown princess has become embroiled in another scandal after newly unsealed
files appeared to show her years of extensive contact with the late child sex
offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The
latest tranche of Epstein files, released on Friday by the US justice
department, appear to include nearly 1,000 mentions of the crown princess,
Mette-Marit.
The files
include scores of emails traded between the two, suggesting they were in
contact from 2011 to 2014, the Norwegian daily VG reported. Mette-Marit married
the future king of Norway in 2001.
The
revelations come at a sensitive time for the royal family. The trial of
Mette-Marit’s son, Marius Borg Høiby for rape is due to begin on Tuesday. He
was born from a relationship before she married Crown Prince Haakon
Høiby is
facing 38 charges, including the alleged rape of four women as well as alleged
assault and drug offences. If convicted he could face up to 16 years in prison.
Høiby has denied the most serious charges, including those of sexual abuse.
On
Saturday, Mette-Marit addressed her relationship with Epstein, who killed
himself in jail in 2019 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 issued by the royal palace.
The
Norwegian media’s attention was this weekend focused on the many emails that
the princess exchanged with Epstein, years after he pleaded guilty to charges
that included soliciting prostitution from a minor in Florida.
The
emails contained in the files suggested the two were close, with Mette-Marit
telling Epstein that “you tickle my brain” in one message and calling him “soft
hearted” and “such a sweetheart” in others.
In 2012,
Mette-Marit told Epstein he was “very charming” and asked if it was
“inappropriate for a mother to suggest two naked women carrying a surfboard for
my 15 yr old sons wallpaper?”
Weeks
earlier she and Epstein had traded emails about him being on a “wife hunt” in
Paris. She replied that the French capital was “good for adultery” and added
that “Scandis (are) better wife material”.
In
another, she thanked Epstein for flowers he had sent when she was feeling
unwell, signing off with “Love, Mm.”
The
exchanges regularly made mention of plans to get together, while files indicate
she also stayed at his house in Palm Beach, Florida, for four days in 2013 when
Epstein was not there.
Inclusion
in the files does not imply wrongdoing.
In her
statement on Saturday, Mette-Marit, 52, expressed her “deep sympathy and
solidarity” with Epstein’s victims and said she was responsible “for not having
checked Epstein’s background more closely and not understanding quickly enough
what kind of person he was”.
The
files, however, include a 2011 exchange in which Mette-Marit told Epstein that
she had “Googled” him, adding “it didn’t look too good” along with a smiling
emoji. The email did not specify what she had found during her online search.
The
palace said Mette-Marit had ended written contact with Epstein in 2014 as she
felt he was “trying to use his relationship with the crown princess as leverage
with other people”.
As the
seven-week trial of her son gets under way in Oslo, the royal couple are not
expected to attend. Haakon has told reporters that Mette-Marit would be away on
a private trip during that period.
Høiby
does not have a royal title and is outside the line of royal succession.
Earlier this year, the Norwegian royal court addressed the trial in a
statement, saying: “It is for the courts to consider this matter and reach a
decision. We have no further comment.”
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