Family scandals and fragile health: the complicated year of the Royal House of Norway

A few days before the expected award ceremony of the Nobel Prizes In Oslo, the Royal Family faces a new significant absence. According to Norwegian press reports, King Harald V, 87, and his wife, Queen Sonja, they will not attend to the ceremony. This situation highlights the delicate situation of the monarchy, which sees the need to face one of the biggest crises of its history. This news was exclusive to ‘NRK’which highlighted the seriousness of the absence of the monarchs in an event of such relevance.

The focus of attention is, however, on Marius Borg Høiby, the 27-year-old son of Princess Mette-Marit, whose involvement in multiple scandals has left a deep mark on the Royal House. Marius has been accused of domestic violence, sexual abuse and death threats. His arrest on several occasions, the last on November 18, has made his behavior become a heavy load for the monarchy. Norwegian police have intensified investigations into him, and although he was released on November 27, accusations continue to grow. “We are further investigating other allegations of sexual crimes,” Norwegian police said, according to ‘VG’.

The Royal Family has tried wash the image of Marius, and Prince Haakon has been publicly upset by not having been informed of his arrest. However, this scandal, added to the defiant attitude of Marius, who showed himself in a provocative attitude by making an obscene gesture in front of the media and continuing his parties with people with criminal records, has left a difficult to erase stain. Faced with growing pressure, the Royal House has chosen to eliminate any reference to Marius from its official networks, as reported ‘Dagbladet’.

On the other hand, another of the strongest blows has been the health situation of Crown Princess Mette-Marit, who suffers from pulmonary fibrosis chronic since 2018. This disease, which affects her respiratory capacity, has forced her to cancel official commitments on several occasions. On October 11, the Royal Family issued an official statement explaining that Mette-Marit had had to resume your treatmentwhich, due to side effects, interferes with his official agenda. This situation has caused the young Princess Ingrid Alexandra to assume a more visible role at public events, and Haakon and Mette-Marit’s daughter is expected to eventually become the new face of the Norwegian monarchy. This adjustment, however, also reflects the difficulties the royal family is going through at the moment.

But the problems don’t end there. In August, another scandal surrounded the royal family, this time with the wedding of Princess Martha Louise to the shaman Durek Verret. Despite the controversy surrounding the wedding, a new controversy broke out with the revelation of unpaid bills related to the ceremony and accusations of sexual abuse against the shaman, whose situation has been further clouded by leaked audios in which He allegedly admits to having relationships with clients of his self-help services.

In addition to these episodes, King Harald V has had to deal with serious health problemssuch as a respiratory infection that forced him to be hospitalized in Malaysia in February. Upon his return to Norway, he received a pacemaker, a procedure that added to his health problems from previous years, such as complications after suffering from COVID and the surgical interventions he has undergone. Despite his delicate state of health, the monarch has made it clear that He has no intention of abdicating. “I stand by what I have always said,” he declared in January.

This accumulation of situations has deeply affected the image of the Norwegian monarchy. According to a survey published in ‘Dagbladet’, 73% of Norwegians do not want to see Haakon, the crown prince, taking the throne in the near future. Scandals involving his son and doubts about the Royal Family’s ability to manage these problems have created a sense of uncertainty about the future of the monarchy.

This 2024 will be remembered for being the year in which the Norwegian Royal House had to face a series of crises, both internal and external, that have left a difficult to erase mark in its history.