Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway has described 2024 as one of the most “challenging” years of her life — a year that tested her family’s strength and her public role in ways few royal figures ever experience. Speaking candidly to Norway’s national broadcaster NRK during her annual Christmas address, the 51-year-old royal reflected on the personal and emotional toll of a year marked by family scandal, health setbacks, and the pressures of public duty. “If I had to choose one word for this year, it would be ‘challenging,’” she said softly. “It has been a demanding year and a demanding autumn for us.”
Her comments come amid deepening turmoil surrounding her eldest son, Marius Borg Høiby, 27, who was arrested twice in 2024 and now faces multiple criminal charges — including allegations of assault, threats, and rape. Marius, her son from a relationship prior to her 2001 marriage to Crown Prince Haakon, has long walked a delicate line between private citizen and reluctant public figure. But his recent legal troubles have thrust him into the national spotlight, forcing the royal family to confront a painful reality under the scrutiny of both the Norwegian public and international media.
Marius was first detained in Oslo in August after allegedly assaulting an ex-girlfriend and threatening to set her clothes on fire. According to The Daily Mail, he later admitted to being “under the influence of alcohol and cocaine” during the incident and acknowledged struggling for years with substance abuse and mental health issues. “I want to take responsibility for what I did,” he said in a statement to NRK. “I have struggled for a long time, and I want to apologize to my family — my actions have greatly affected you.” A second arrest followed in November, this time on suspicion of rape, with authorities confirming to the press that the case involved “sexual activity with someone who was unconscious or unable to resist.” Norwegian media have since reported that as many as six alleged victims are part of the criminal investigation.
The impact on the royal household has been immense. In her NRK interview, Crown Princess Mette-Marit revealed that the family has been “seeking professional help for a long time” and credited therapy and support systems with helping them cope. “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 still fulfill our obligations to the Norwegian people,” she said. Her husband, Crown Prince Haakon, has echoed that sentiment publicly, acknowledging the gravity of the situation while stressing that Marius must “have space to find his own way.” “It is a serious accusation,” Haakon said during a royal engagement in Jamaica in November. “Today, of course, we are thinking of all those affected. The police must be allowed to do their job, and the judiciary must be allowed to do their job. It affects all of us who are around.”
The scandal has weighed heavily on the entire royal family. King Harald, 87, described the ordeal as “difficult for a family member to go through,” while Queen Sonja admitted that it has been “taking its toll.” The monarch himself faced health challenges this year after falling ill during a trip to Malaysia, later receiving a pacemaker and scaling back his royal duties. Mette-Marit, who was diagnosed in 2018 with pulmonary fibrosis — a chronic lung disease — also temporarily withdrew from royal engagements in October after suffering side effects from her medication.
Despite these challenges, the family has continued to fulfill key royal responsibilities, balancing private crisis with public duty. In August, Haakon traveled alone to the Paris Olympics after Mette-Marit chose to remain in Norway following Marius’s arrest. “In our family, as in all families, it is sometimes important to be there,” Haakon told reporters at the time. “This time it was me who went, while she stayed home.”
For Mette-Marit, the year has forced a difficult reconciliation between her roles as mother and princess. Since marrying into Norway’s royal family in 2001, she has often been praised for her warmth, relatability, and modern approach to monarchy. But she has also fiercely protected Marius’s privacy, repeatedly reminding the press that he “is not a public figure.” In 2020, she wrote that “Marius has always had a role that has been difficult to define in the public sphere,” adding that while he remains an important part of the family, “he will not carry public duties like his siblings.”
Marius, who left public life in 2017 to study in California, has long been viewed as an emblem of the couple’s unconventional beginnings — the product of a love story that once challenged royal tradition. But now, his troubles have become a symbol of the human fragility that can exist even within the world’s most seemingly untouchable families.
As Norway’s royal family enters 2025, the hope — as Mette-Marit hinted — is for healing. The year has tested the monarchy’s resilience, the Crown Princess’s health, and the country’s perception of its future king and queen. Yet, through it all, Mette-Marit has maintained a tone of empathy and honesty rare in royal circles, choosing transparency over silence. Her quiet strength amid adversity has redefined what royal grace can look like in the modern age — not an image of perfection, but of endurance, compassion, and the courage to acknowledge pain. For the Norwegian people, it was a reminder that even within the palace walls, the challenges of family, love, and forgiveness remain profoundly human.
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