Mette-Marit, the Crown Princess of Norway, has opened up about her friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Mette-Marit, who is married to Crown Prince Haakon, the heir to the throne, spoke to Norwegian broadcaster NRK on Thursday about her ties with Epstein, a controversy that has haunted the Norwegian royal family since it first surfaced in 2019.
“I was manipulated and deceived,” Mette-Marit said in a tearful interview.
“Of course, I wish I had never met him,” she said of Epstein.
Ties between Mette-Marit and Jeffrey Epstein
Documents released by the US Justice Department earlier this year showed that Mette-Marit maintained contact with Epstein from 2011 to 2014, and stayed at his Palm Beach house for four days during a private trip in 2013.
“He used the fact that we had a mutual friend, and that I’m gullible. I like to believe the best about people. But I also chose to end contact with him,” Mette-Marit said.
“I’ve never seen anything illegal,” she told NRK.
Sitting beside her, Mette-Marit’s husband Haakon said he supported his wife at a difficult time and that marriage is both for “the good days and the bad”.
“Mette is caring, wise and really strong. And that’s why I will always have her on the team when something difficult happens,” the crown prince said.
Lingering scandal in Norway
Thursday’s interview did not contain any explosive revelations but marked the first time the royal couple had sat down with reporters to address the fallout over the crown princess’ ties to Epstein. Their relationship has raised questions over her judgment.
The Epstein files contradicted Mette-Marit’s 2019 statement in which she apologized for not having investigated his past and said she would never have associated with him had she known the seriousness of the crimes he committed.
What Epstein documents show
In one released email from October 2011, three years after Epstein pleaded guilty, Mette-Marit wrote to him that she had googled him and that she agreed “it didn’t look too good”, followed by a smiley face.
When asked about the email by NRK, Mette-Marit said she could not remember why she wrote it.
“But if I had found information that made me realise that he was an abuser and sex offender, I wouldn’t have written a smiley face behind it,” she said.
Mette-Marit first met the financier in 2011 and their contact continued into 2014. The Epstein files contained several hundred mentions of the crown princess.
Email exchanges between the two showed a relationship that some perceived as a close friendship. In one message, Mette-Marit wrote to Epstein, “you tickle my brain.”
In October 2012, Epstein wrote that he was in Paris “on my wife hunt.” Mette-Marit replied that Paris was “good for adultery” but “Scandis” were “better wife material.”
In another set of messages, the emails showed that Mette-Marit borrowed an Epstein-owned property in Palm Beach, Florida, for several days in 2013.
On Epstein’s victims
On Thursday, Mette-Marit told NRK she feels a sense of guilt for Epstein’s victims and has spent years processing their relationship and the allegations against him. She said she takes responsibility for not researching his background thoroughly.
The 52-year-old crown princess, who apologised to King Harald and Queen Sonja in a February 6 statement, has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing.
On Friday, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said it was important Mette-Marit had answered questions about her relationship with Epstein.
“She regretted her contact with him and she was genuinely remorseful. She took responsibility for not having checked his background more thoroughly,” he said in an emailed statement to Reuters.
- Crown Princess Mette-Marit expresses deep remorse over her association with Jeffrey Epstein.
- She acknowledges her lack of thorough research into Epstein’s background, revealing her vulnerability.
- The royal couple emphasizes the importance of support during difficult times.
