The beleaguered Norwegian royal family have said they have sought “professional help” after a “challenging year.”
In the course of 2024, the crown prince’s wayward stepson was accused of multiple assaults while high on drugs, a senior princess married a shaman who accused the family of racism and the clan’s leader, King Harald, 87, is widely believed to be close to death.
In a special Christmas interview screened on Norwegian TV, Crown Prince Haakon’s wife Mette-Marit said, “If I had to choose one word for this year, it would be ‘challenging.’ It has been a demanding year and a demanding autumn for us.”
Mette-Marit will be understood by many Norwegians to have been referring to her son, Marius Borg Hoiby, 27, from a previous relationship, born before she married Haakon.
Borg Hoiby has the dubious distinction of being the first member of the Norwegian royal family to be charged with a crime after he was arrested in August, accused of assaulting his former girlfriend and threatening to set her clothes on fire.
He admitted assault and wrecking the woman’s home. He said he was high on alcohol and cocaine then claimed that he was seeking treatment for alcohol and drugs. However, two more arrests have followed, and in November, the London Times reports, he was accused of a sexual act “with someone who is … unable to resist the act”. He denied the charges and was released after a week, the Times said.
Mette-Marit said: “What we can say is that we have been receiving help, professional help, from the healthcare system for a long time. I don’t think we would have been able to be in a situation like this without having that help, together as a family, and at the same time fulfill our obligations to the Norwegian people.”
King Harald, Europe’s oldest reigning monarch, also spoke in the program, saying: “It’s hard that someone we love has experienced this, but now we must let the legal system work as it should,” he said.
His wife, Queen Sonja, said: “But it’s clear that it’s taking its toll,” the London Times reports.
Support for the royal family has slipped from 81 percent in 2017 to 62 percent in September, the Times says, with the family also being damaged by fall out from the marriage of Haakon’s sister, Princess Martha Louise, to Durek Verrett, an American shaman. Verrett claimed he was criticized because “people don’t want a black man in the royal family,” adding, “I have never experienced so much racism as when I came to Norway.”
Further weakening the family’s position is the fact that Harald, 87, appears increasingly frail, and now uses crutches. He was hospitalized after a fall earlier this year.
