Norway’s crown princess, Mette-Marit, has conceded she was “gullible” to be friends with Jeffrey Epstein but insisted she did not know the financier was a convicted sexual criminal until 2019, the year he died.
In a televised interview, the 52-year-old acknowledged the Norwegian royal family was in a “very challenging situation” due to revelations about her friendship with Epstein – and rape charges against her son Marius.
After six weeks of hearings, Norwegian state prosecutors this week demanded a seven-year sentence for the 29-year-old, with a verdict expected in June.
“We concentrated on the family in the first instance,” said Mette-Marit to broadcaster NRK. “I am the mother of a young man who was in a very difficult situation.”
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Marius Hoiby is on trial for 39 offences, including four rapes and assaults, multiple breaches of restraining orders, assault, drug and driving offences.
[ A princess, her son and a royal scandal: Norway’s trial of the century Opens in new window ]
Parallel to the investigation and trial of her son, the crown princess was revealed in the Epstein files to have been a confidante of the financier, found dead in 2019 in his New York prison cell.
“Naturally I wish I had never met him but it is important for me to accept responsibility, above all that I didn’t probe his background. And also for being manipulated and fooled,” said Mette-Marit, seated alongside her husband, crown prince Haakon.
“I am furious about how I contributed to giving him legitimacy. That is a great burden for me.”
Norwegian media reacted sceptically on Friday to her claims she did not know about Epstein’s criminal record until the year he died.
Eight years earlier, in one of more than 100 messages to Epstein, she wrote: “Googled u after last email. Agree didn’t look too good :).”
It is not clear what her message referred to. Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to solicitation of prostitution with a minor under the age of 18.
Asked by NRK what she was referring to in her 2011 message, Mette-Marit said: “I have thought a lot about that myself ... I cannot remember, it is 15 years ago. I wish I could because that would, no doubt, make my life easier.”
[ Norway’s princess and elite engulfed by Epstein scandalOpens in new window ]
She said she met Epstein through an unnamed friend and denied their exchanges were intimate but of a casual nature.
In 2014 she wrote to Epstein: “Paris good for adultery. Scandis better wife material. But then again who am I to talk?” (She later wrote to Epstein: “Is it inappropriate for a mother to suggest two naked women carrying a surfboard for my 15 yr old sons wallpaper?”)
The collision of the Epstein revelations and rape trial, in which her son is accused of drugging and raping women, has caused outrage and raised questions about Mette-Marit’s suitability as Norway’s future queen.
