Norway’s Crown Princess Breaks Silence on Epstein Ties: ‘I Was Manipulated and Deceived’
Crown Princess Mette-Marit says she regrets ever meeting the late sex offender, but critics say her interview raised more questions than answers
OSLO — Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit has broken seven weeks of silence over her ties to disgraced American financier Jeffrey Epstein, telling national television she was “manipulated and deceived” and wishes she had never met him.
In an emotional 20-minute interview with public broadcaster NRK, the 52-year-old future queen fought back tears as she addressed the revelations that emerged when the U.S. Justice Department released millions of Epstein files at the end of January.
“I feel so manipulated, and when you are manipulated, you don’t realise it from the start,” Mette-Marit said, sitting alongside her husband, Crown Prince Haakon.
The documents revealed that the crown princess had exchanged hundreds of emails with Epstein between 2011 and 2014—years after the financier was jailed for soliciting underage sex—and had stayed at his Florida home while he was away.
“It is incredibly important for me to take responsibility for not checking his background more carefully,” she said. “And to take responsibility for being so manipulated and deceived as I was.”
‘I Didn’t Know He Was a Predator’
Mette-Marit maintained she did not know Epstein was a sex offender, even after exchanging emails with him in 2011—three years following his conviction. In one email at the time, she had written: “Googled u after last email. Agree didn’t look too good.”
When a reporter pointed out that Wikipedia articles about Epstein at the time clearly stated he was a convicted abuser, the crown princess responded: “I can’t remember this; it was 15 years ago.”
“I still didn’t know anything about all the abuse,” she insisted. “But I had understood enough that I thought he was a bad guy who people shouldn’t have contact with. And I had seen up close how he blackmailed others. So I regret that I didn’t tell more people, because I should have.”
She admitted to being “overly trusting” and said she tends “to think the best of people.”
The Florida Visit
The crown princess explained that her stay at Epstein’s Palm Beach home in 2013 was arranged through an unnamed mutual acquaintance. “Epstein was a close friend of a good friend of mine,” she said.
She described an “uneasy situation” on the final day of her stay that prompted her to call her husband, though she refused to provide further details. Crown Prince Haakon confirmed he remembered the call “well” and how it made his wife feel “unsafe.”
Despite the incident, Mette-Marit acknowledged she maintained contact with Epstein for some time afterward before ending “all direct contact.”
Questions Remain
The interview, recorded on the final day of her son Marius Borg Høiby’s rape trial, has drawn sharp criticism from royal commentators who say it raised more questions than it answered.
Tove Taalesen, royal correspondent for the Nettavisen website, told the BBC: “Something must have happened and she didn’t want to tell us that. She blew the possibility to come clean and to be honest.”
Ole-Jørgen Schulsrud-Hansen, a historian and TV2 royal correspondent, argued that Mette-Marit was wrong to prioritize her privacy over the institution of the royal family.
“The only thing this exposes is that the Norwegian royal family and the royal court have misunderstood what it means to be royal—and if they don’t turn that boat around this will happen again.”
Pressure and Health
The crown princess has faced intense scrutiny in recent weeks, including from Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, to explain her connections to Epstein. She has previously apologized and admitted to “poor judgment.”
When asked why neither the palace nor the foreign ministry knew about her links to Epstein, she said he was a “private contact” and she did not disclose all her private contacts.
On whether she has the motivation to continue in her royal role—given her struggles with chronic lung disease pulmonary fibrosis—Mette-Marit made clear that her health would be the determining factor.
“I live with a serious illness,” she said. “That is the very thing that decides whether in fact I can continue to perform in the role I hold, or not.”
She expressed her desire to stand by her husband “if I have the opportunity to do so, given my health.”
Crown Prince Haakon said the couple remained united after more than 25 years of marriage. “This is after all our project, which we’re doing together.”
But Taalesen found the terminology jarring: “A project is something you do at work, but if you are the king and queen, you have a purpose in life.”
A verdict in her son’s rape trial is expected in June. The crown princess has said it is Epstein’s victims “who deserve justice for the great abuse they had suffered,” adding that she felt “great anger they had not yet received it.”
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