Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit has expressed regret for her past contact with the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, telling public broadcaster NRK on Friday: “I was manipulated and deceived.” “Of course, I wish I had never met him,” she added.
Mette-Marit, the wife of Crown Prince Haakon, the heir to the Norwegian throne, said she has not seen any illegal behavior in her dealings with Epstein. “I’ve never seen anything illegal,” she said, adding that Epstein “used the fact that we had a mutual friend, and that I’m gullible. I like to believe the best about people. But I chose to end contact with him.”
Her comments follow documents released by the US Justice Department — part of the so-called “Epstein files” — that show Mette-Marit corresponded with Epstein between 2011 and 2014 and stayed at his Palm Beach residence for four days in 2014. While she apologized previously in 2019, the newly released files include a 2011 email in which she wrote she had googled him and it “didn’t look too good,” followed by a smiley face. She told NRK she did not remember why she wrote that.
Epstein was convicted in 2008 of soliciting prostitution from a minor and served 13 months in jail. He died in August 2018 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges; his death was ruled a suicide.
The revelations have widened beyond the royal household. Several prominent Norwegians have been linked to Epstein, prompting Norway’s parliament to request an inquiry into the foreign ministry’s connections with him. Police are also investigating former Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland for aggravated corruption over his dealings with Epstein.
In the interview, Mette-Marit also touched on the legal situation involving her 29-year-old son, Marius Borg Høiby. “I am the mother of a young man who has been in a very difficult situation,” she said. Høiby faces four charges of rape, with prosecutors alleging some victims were unconscious, and is also accused of domestic abuse, reckless driving and drug-related offenses.
Mette-Marit has been open about health struggles; the Royal Court said in December that her chronic lung illness had deteriorated.