Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit saw her health decline steeply in the past year. She was diagnosed with chronic pulmonary fibrosis in 2018, and she began to do fewer and fewer public appearances last year. In her handful of appearances last month, she could barely stand for more than a minute, and she was constantly accompanied by an oxygen tank, with a nasal cannula. Her husband, Crown Prince Haakon, spoke out last month, saying that he believed her health had “gotten a bit worse lately,” a classic Nordic understatement. Two weeks ago, Mette-Marit was finally added to Norway’s transplant list, and she apparently received her lung transplant just two days after her son Marius Borg Hoiby was convicted of 34 offenses and sentenced to four years in prison.
Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway has undergone a “successful” lung transplant, news announced two days after her son Marius Borg Høiby was found guilty of two counts of rape. On June 17, the Royal House of Norway announced that the Crown Princess, 52, had undergone surgery.
“Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mette-Marit has undergone a successful lung transplant at Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet in Oslo,” began the palace statement issued on Tuesday.
Arnt Fiane, Professor of Medicine at University of Oslo, cardiothoracic surgeon and Head of the Heart and Lung Transplant Programme at Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet, said the procedure “has been successful thus far” and expressed his appreciation to the teams behind the scenes of the surgery.
“We are delighted that everything has progressed well so far. In accordance with standard practice for all recent transplant recipients, Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess will remain admitted to Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet for several weeks to come,” added Are Holm, Professor of Medicine at the University of Oslo and Senior Consultant and respiratory specialist at Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet. The hospital stay was described as “routine procedure to adjust medication, manage any potential complications and undertake rehabilitation.”
The Royal House of Norway added that Mette-Marit’s husband, Crown Prince Haakon, will shift his schedule to support his wife during this time. The next update is not expected until Crown Princess Mette-Marit is discharged from the hospital, and the palace said the royal couple wished to express their gratitude for the well-wishes they received during this “challenging time.”
Less than two weeks ago, the palace announced that Mette-Maritm who was diagnosed with chronic pulmonary fibrosis in 2018, was placed on a lung transplant waiting list and would be canceling future outings.
I wish her well. Transplants are no joke, and I would imagine that stress exacerbated Mette-Marit’s condition terribly. She’s still under a lot of stress too – her story about her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein has changed a half-dozen times, and her son was *just* convicted of very serious offenses and sentenced to four years in prison. I don’t know the state of Norway’s prisons, but it will likely be many months before she can see Marius in person. As for Haakon’s support… everyone says that he really loves her and that their marriage is pretty solid, despite everything. I actually think I sort of understand their dynamic, but I’ll just leave it at that.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.
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- Royals during the celebrations of the National Day at the residence in Skaugum Featuring: Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Mette-Marit Where: Oslo, Norway When: 17 May 2026 Credit: Mischa Schoemaker/Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- Kronprinz Haakon von Norwegen und Kronprinzessin Mette-Marit von Norwegen beim Besuch der Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer an der Bernauer Straße. Berlin, 09.11.2023 *** Crown Prince Haakon of Norway and Crown Princess Mette Marit of Norway visiting the Berlin Wall Memorial at Bernauer Strasse Berlin, 09 11 2023 Foto:xF.xKernx/xFuturexImagex haakon_berlin_3133,Image: 820858222, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Frederic Kern/Avalon
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- Paris, Frankreich: Handball Olympia Frauen – Finale – Norwegen – Frankreich v.li. Kronprinzessin Mette-Marit von Norwegen, Kronprinz Haakon von Norwegen, Lille Stade Pierre Mauroy Frankreich *** Paris, France Handball Olympic Womens Final Norway France from left Crown Princess Mette Marit of Norway, Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, Lille Stade Pierre Mauroy France,Image: 897675777, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Marco Wolf/Avalon
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- Crown Prince Haakon of Norway attends a press conference titled ‘EUR 925 million for Poland – Signing of agreements as part of 4th edition of EEA and Norway Grants for 2021-2028’ at the Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw, Poland, 23 April 2025.,Image: 991129011, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: POLAND OUT, Model Release: no , Credit line: Radek Pietruszka/PAP/Avalon
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- Oslo, NORWAY **FILE PHOTOS** Marius Borg Hoiby, 28, is under investigation for three rapes and 20 additional offenses following his arrest in August 2024. His lawyer denies the rape charges, while he has admitted to assault and vandalism, citing substance abuse issues. The case is now with prosecutors to determine possible charges. Pictured: Marius Borg Hoiby BACKGRID USA 27 JUNE 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: Best Image / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Prince Christian of Denmark gala dinner to celebrate his 18th birthday at Christiansborg Palace Featuring: Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, Princess Ingrid Alexandra Where: Copenhagen, Denmark When: 15 Oct 2023 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- Royals during the celebrations of the National Day at the residence in Skaugum Featuring: Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Mette-Marit Where: Skaugum, Norway When: 17 May 2026 Credit: Mischa Schoemaker/Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- Royals during the celebrations of the National Day at the residence in Skaugum Featuring: Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Mette-Marit Where: Skaugum, Norway When: 17 May 2026 Credit: Mischa Schoemaker/Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
I’ve seen reports that Marius has been brought from prison in recent days to visit his mother, hopefully this will help them both.
I hope she recovers. However, I’m not sure I’d move a finger to help any of these two.
I am so not good with your statement. At some point we will have to relearn Christian values.
Helping those who did wrong, too. Judge not, lest you will be judged. We are speaking about a seriously ill woman.
I’m good with your statement!
@Hyacinth Bouquet: “we will need to relearn Christian values?” Most people on this earth do not identify as Christian and I find that people who spout this type of rhetoric are often the worst offenders when it comes to treating others with respect and kindness.
I also have to point out your hypocrisy: you judged Smart & Messy’s perfectly acceptable post, which contained no malice.
My thoughts and prayers are going to everyone on Norway’s lung transplant list who has been waiting for a lung for a while, and just got bumped so one of Jeffrey Epstein’s buddies could cut the line.
Züri, funny your nickname is the name of the place I live in. You can scrap Christian and exchange it for Humanitarian, if you want to. I am reading this website for several years now and am truly shocked at the level of judgement and bile I can find in the comments. We are speaking about a
critically ill woman. I spare you the detailed description of the symptoms of her illness. It’s cruel. We can always assess her actions and inactions in the Epstein realm at some other point in time.
HB, her actions and lies regarding Epstein and her destroying evidence in her son’s criminal investigation? Those things do not get to be considered separately from everything else in her life. Holistic approach.
Is there someone else who would have benefited from a transplant? Someone else who wasn’t literally in bed with a trafficker and who didn’t destroy evidence against her son the serial abuser?
If you don’t like the comments, free to read elsewhere.
@HB: ok, so you live in Zürich. I was educated in part in Switzerland.
As for swapping humanitarian and Christian to cover for your hypocrisy, also not going to work. Humanitarian principles and laws are not based in or on Christianity and there is nothing in them, as such, about judgement. please don’t argue this point with me, either. I am a professor and published scholar on humanitarianism and humanitarian law.
I’ll reiterate my earlier point: what the person who you judged said was perfectly legitimate. The individual said they wished MM well in her recovery (I am aware of the symptoms of the disease from which she suffers) and then added a sentence about her shadiness, which is a fairly well-established facet of her life.
I agree with Kaiser. There appears to be a certain dynamic and it gives me chills. Especially considering that an extension of that dynamic is Marius and his bio dad and MMs father. The NRF must have known who those people really are that surrounded MM from the beginning. They sucked in the heir and never let go.
Please please elaborate! I have no idea about any of this.
Yes, I second the request. What do you mean? Thank you.
Re Mette-Marit: her ex is some shady criminal who she cheated on with another shady criminal, Marius’s father. Both were later indicted on drug charges. She left young Marius with grandparents to move in with new BF and do drugs. That’s all before she met Haakon. Marius’s drug dealer father was always part of his life and financed and influenced the disgusting criminal lifestyle he has lived. MM’s father was POS alcoholic who sold stories about the NRF to the tabloids and married a stripper
Re Mette-Marit: her ex is some shady criminal who she cheated on with another shady criminal, Marius’s father. Both were later indicted on drug charges. She left young Marius with grandparents to move in with new BF and do drugs. That’s all before she met Haakon. Marius’s drug dealer father was always part of his life and financed and influenced the disgusting criminal lifestyle he has lived. MM’s father was POS alcoholic who sold stories about the NRF to the tabloids and married a stripper- although that could be a Thomas Markle situation never mind. She set out to daitroy evidence and haress his son’s victims, plus the Epstein stuff revealed she is an asshole and probably a cheater too. Through all this Haakon is all heart eyes and full support to her. He comes accross as a cuck husband who lets her walk all over his family’s standing.
I wish her well and a good recovery – however it doesn’t absolve her of the things she has done and she should face the consequences of her alleged behaviour when Marius was arrested. As others have said the King is the only reason she never faced any charges or even been questioned by authorities.
As for Marius I hope he is able to be rehabilitated but given the people he’s around / environment he’s in its unlikely. He’s clearly surrounded by enablers.
Will I be the first (or only) person suspicious of the “successful lung transplant?” A go-to for these royals is if they get a lot of bad publicity–like questioning the color of an unborn baby or shielding a rapist son, then getting a terrible disease that makes you sympathetic is de rigueur.
A lung transplant is the most invasive surgery. You cannot be listed for transplant without meeting certain criteria included being at end of life yet still being strong enough to survive the surgery. It’s generally about a year between being referred for transplant, undergoing all the needed testing, and being accepted onto the waiting list. No transplant centre is testing someone, listing them and performing life saving surgery to save someone’s reputation. That concept is ludicrous. The doctors would nave waste a set of viable lungs as their duty is to use donor organs for the greatest possibility of a successful transplant.
I have first hand knowledge of this as my husband was removed from the lung transplant list when he developed a heart condition and they will not transplant if there is any other condition that would affect the viability of the lungs. Fortunately, that was controlled and he had a successful transplant seven years ago.
Transplant doctors don’t care who you are or what you do, their only criteria is will the transplant be successful.
💯💯💯💯💯
@Joanne: glad your husband was able to have his transplant after all. I cannot imagine the stress y’all were under.
Maybe it’s my cynicism, but lungs can be procured on the black market.
As someone who worked at an organ bank, there are some other things going on here. As someone who is new to the transplant list, Mette-Marit is probably less sick than many of the other people on it. When an organ becomes available, the data on compatibility goes out to the doctors of patients who are waiting for transplants, as well as a grade for how “healthy” the organ in. Someone on the waitlist who is very sick is probably not a good candidate for an organ that is not in great shape. Mette-Marit’s doctors may have been willing to take an organ that others turned down, because she is relatively young, etc. Time on the waitlist matters, but there are so many other variables to consider.
Note: I worked at an organ bank in the US, but my understanding is this is generally how it works elsewhere as well. Consider this comment as general information about organ matching, not her specifics.
Thank you BeanieBean, That’s very kind of you. It a long, gruelling process. Dave is a tough man but there were many days I cried after leaving him and seeing him in so much pain.
Lady J, that may be true in some 3rd world countries but it doesn’t happen in North America. You have no idea how intricate the surgery is and how difficult and involved the recovery is. Transplant is not a cure, you are trading one disease for another medical condition. If there is a black market for lungs (which I highly doubt as there are no living donors) it would be in a country unlikely to have the proper medical procedures in place to perform the surgery. After transplant, the recipient will be on several very harsh medications to prevent rejection for life. It’s best not to spread disinformation.
I read elsewhere that there are only 9 people on the list for lungs in all of Norway, so she may very well have been the best match to that lung of the 9.
There is a lot of speculation in the European press on whether she got fasttracked in Order to get a lung. She was put in the List of persons waiting for a lung only recently according to press releases and only a few days later she has already received the organ. People Wonder whether some privilege was involved….
Such speculations are pure nonsense. There are many factors on which who gets a transplant are based, and the donor and the recipient have to match in order for the operation to be carried out. My friend was prepared to wait for a kidney transplant for a long time after being placed on the waiting list, and she knew it not happening on time was also a possibility. Still, she got a new kidney just two days later. Her medical team told her that after a careful consideration they had decided she and another patient were the best possible matches. So it can happen unexpectedly quickly.
Impossible. The transplant team all sit in the meeting to place people on the list. The list is flexible and always changing according to needs of the recipients. You have to be at end of life to qualify and still be able to survive the surgery. The first obligation is to the donor to respect the gift of life. Lungs aren’t a one size fit all, they are specific to the size of the person so age and build are also factors. People move up and down the list depending on others being removed due to successful transplants, death while waiting and removal due to other factors that would prevent a successful surgery. Who the patient is doesn’t matter as it is the physical requirements that must be met.
Unless you work in Norway, none of what you’ve written is relevant.
@Karla please educate yourself before posting such utter nonsense. There are a lot of factors involved in matching an organ with a person.
I’m old enough to remember this public debate about Mickey Mantle, when he received a new liver 2 days after being put on the transplant list. I’m also old enough to remember the investigation that occurred and determined that no, he was not given preferential treatment, he was sick enough and a donor liver matching his type became available.
(Mickey Mantle was a misogynist drunk, but my dad had a moment with the Yankee legend in 1959, so he occupies a very soft place in my family’s collective heart)
I don’t disagree with everyone saying there are lots of factors in determining who would be a good match, etc. – I of course there would be!
But none of that is proof that “being a princess of the realm” was not ALSO one of the factors in MM’s case.
Like, if a BRF or a Trump family member needed an organ transplant, you can bet a compatible organ donor would be found within a few weeks at most. There is no way they would be waiting months or even years.
^This. Her being Crown Princess may easily have been a factor.
vs.
When Daniel Westling, now Prince Daniel of Sweden, needed a new kidney? He didn’t get moved to the top of a transplant list within a week of it being announced that he needed a new kidney. His new kidney came from his father.
Mette-Marit getting a double lung transplant within a week of being put on the list. In the middle of her disgusting son’s trial and attempts to get out of prison because “mummy is sick”? Questions will be asked. As they should be.
Well, I will speculate that she was on the list a lot longer than they said. A lot of prep and testing has to happen before a lung transplant.
Unless anyone on this site was on that decision team? The attacks against those who speculate need to stop.
She might have been on the list longer. She might have been given favoritism. We will never know, so we are free to speculate without being attacked.
Those who are saying there wasn’t privilege involved/she wasn’t fast tracked have their head in the sand
Those who have no experience with transplant protocol are exposing their ignorance of how transplant clinics are run and how recipients are chosen. There is no privilege that moves anyone up the list. It is strictly done by need, health, possibility of survival and a host of other factors all to do with successful outcomes. It is morally wrong to spread ignorant speculation when you have no personal knowledge or experience. Transplant, particularly double lungs, are a relatively new procedure that started in the 80’s. Most countries communicate, travel and learn from other transplant clinics and follow similar protocol that has been proven successful.
I know the Norwegian royals are not Catholic, but there is a well-established precedent for forgiveness and compassion, which is penance. Volunteer at a shelter for rape victims. Every week. For ten years. Say a few prayers. Acts, not faith alone.
At the risk of you interpreting this as sanctimonious pontification and pulling rank, there is a massive structural difference here. In Norway, we don’t actually have separate ‘shelters for rape victims’, nor do we allow untrained volunteers (no matter how royal the might be) to have direct patient/victim contact. Our support system is strictly professionalized; medical and psychological crisis intervention is a public sector responsibility handled exclusively by authorized medical personnel and licensed specialists.The sad truth is though, even if she had the opportunity to volunteer, she wouldn’t actually do it. She is chasing the prestige and the perks of royal life, not the actual work and responsibilities.
Didn’t the women’s abuse charity dump her as patron, along with about half of her other patronages? How dare she show up and pretend to support D/V supporters anyway, given her elder son’s decade+ of this behavior.
You are partly right. You might be thinking of «FOKUS» (Forum for women and development) – an international aid and development organization, working with global women’s rights through local partners in developing countries, and sexual health and reproductive rights center «Sex & Samfunn» (Sex and society). They did indeed end their patronage relationship with her due to her past contact with Jeffrey Epstein. The Mental Health Council also paused cooperation. However, the vast majority of her patronages – including the Norwegian Red Cross chose to maintain their patronage after she issued a formal «apology» and a public heavily staged (non-) explanation.
iirc there were at least six who dumped her, including the Library Association. Don’t piss off librarians.
I hope she has a swift recovery, but even with the transplant, her long term recovery is low.
I just read the re-hash of the Kate hospitalization story, so the contrast is interesting. The Norwegians gave us factual information, told us when to next expect an update, and said thank you for your concern. Meanwhile, over at Salty Isle, they were vague about Kate’s procedure & said this is it, we’re not telling you any more, so stop asking about it!! And the photos here show a man who loves & cares for his wife, feels for her, meanwhile, Billy Boy still couldn’t show any real concern for his, at any time.
Over on salty isle they had to first decide what to say was wrong with Kate lol. They settled on cancer, assuming it was pretty much a bulletproof diagnosis (Oh nos, we can’t say anything but positive glowing praise about her, because CANCER)
Yes I am in the group that doesn’t think she had actual cancer (if she even had precancerous cells, that still doesn’t make it cancer. The prefix PRE being key here)
Kaiser, I also recognize their dynamic. Not what I’d hope to see in a so-called future “leader” of a country.
It could simply be his ego refusing to acknowledge a mistake, clinging to the idea that this is a great love similar to that of his parents. But I doubt it.
I wish her a quick recovery. However, she was on a transplant list for only 2 weeks?? That is definitely shady. I bet a lot of other people were waiting a very long time for a lung and she was moved to the top of the transplant list.
I read that only 8 other people are waiting for donor lungs in Norway. In such a small pool, she could legitimately have been the best candidate for the available lungs, even if they are being truthful about when she went on the list.
That was quick!
Can someone please explain their dynamic to me?
Norweigian prisons are palaces compared to living conditions of half of the planet, if the percentage is not higher.