As Norway mourns the loss of King Harald, 89 – how country’s new Queen Mette-Marit was forced to apologise over ties to Epstein amid son’s guilty rape verdict… following months of scandal for the monarchy

The death of King Harald of Norway at the age of 89 offers fresh heartbreak for the nation’s Royal Family – and comes after a challenging few months of high-profile scandals.

King Harald, who was Europe’s oldest-reigning monarch following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, has presided over a monarchy hit by controversy surrounding his daughter-in-law’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein and her son’s guilty rape verdict.

The new King Haakon’s wife Mette-Marit has faced increased scrutiny following the release of the Epstein Files, which revealed she stayed at his Palm Beach residence in 2013 – after he was convicted for soliciting sex from girls as young as 14.

One email released suggested she was still in contact with the late paedophile financier just months before his death.

Mette-Marit, 53, who was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis in 2018, later issued a grovelling apology in which she claimed the emails ‘do not represent the person who I want to be’.

However, Harald defended her during a public appearance that month in which he insisted: ‘We must remember that the Crown Princess has not done anything illegal.

‘Unlike some others in Norway, she broke the connection very early. So I think we should give her credit for that.’

Fresh scandal also came in June when Mette-Marit’s son, Marius Borg Høiby, was convicted on two counts of rape and jailed for four years following a six-week trial that laid bare allegations of violence, drug abuse and sexual misconduct.

An Oslo court also found him guilty of assaulting his former girlfriend, Nora Haukland, issuing threats and committing traffic offences, although he was acquitted of two other rape charges.

The 29-year-old had been charged with sexually assaulting four women who were asleep or otherwise unable to resist between 2018 and 2024.

The conviction marked a fall for Høiby, who grew up in the public eye after his mother married then-Crown Prince Haakon in 2001 when he was just four years old.

Although he does not hold a royal title or carry out official duties, he has long been closely associated with the Norwegian Royal Family.

Judge Jon Sverdrup Efjestad handed down the sentence after hearing evidence linked to 40 charges, including four alleged rapes, assaults, breaches of restraining orders, drug offences and driving violations. 

One charge relating to a restraining-order violation was overturned.

The court heard how Høiby’s drug addiction spiralled in recent years, while investigators presented more than 800 messages and a series of self-made videos of sexual encounters as evidence during the trial.

One alleged rape took place in the basement of the family home, the court was told.

Høiby, who denied the most serious allegations while admitting to some lesser offences, was not physically present in court for the verdict and instead joined proceedings via video link.

Files released earlier this year showed frequent communication between Mette-Marit and Epstein that occurred long after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting an under-age girl.

The princess, the spouse of the former-Crown Prince Haakon, the heir to the throne, maintained contact with Epstein from 2011 to 2014, and stayed at his Palm Beach house for four days during a private trip in 2013, the US files show. 

Mette-Marit, who apologised to King Harald and Queen Sonja in a February 6 statement, has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing.

The death of King Harald comes after he was being treated at Oslo University Hospital for haemolytic anaemia, a disorder which causes red blood cells to be destroyed at an abnormally fast rate.

It came just two years after the Norwegian suffered a similar problem while on holiday in Malaysia. That ordeal resulted in him having a pacemaker fitted.

The monarch had, however, insisted that he would never abdicate from his position due to poor health, arguing that he took a lifelong oath before ascending to the throne in 1991.

‘I stick by what I’ve always said, that I swore an oath to the Storting (Norwegian Parliament) and it is for life,’ he said previously.

However, the palace said his health had ‘deteriorated’ after he contracted an infection, with members of the Norwegian Royal Family rushing to his bedside on Thursday.

‘It is with deep grief that we announce that His Majesty King Harald has passed away,’ Norway’s Royal Court said in a statement.

‘King Harald died peacefully at Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet Friday, August 28 at 6.35am.’

On Friday, King Charles III said he has extended his ‘deepest and most heartfelt condolences’ to the Norwegian Royal Family following the death of his ‘dear cousin’.

The pair were second cousins once removed, sharing great-grandparents Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark.

‘As Norway mourns the loss of so towering a figure, my whole family join in remembering a much-loved kinsman and friend whose kindness, compassion and deep sense of duty echoed from across the sea and across the decades,’ King Charles III said.

‘The Queen and I extend our deepest and most heartfelt condolences to Queen Sonja and all her family, as Britain shares in Norway’s grief at this time of such heartbreaking loss.’

Born on February 21, 1937, Harald was the third child and only son of King Olav V of Norway and Princess Martha of Sweden.

He is a great-grandson of Edward VII and his godparents included Queen Mary and her son George VI (grandmother and father respectively of the late Queen Elizabeth).

Harald became Norway’s Crown Prince in 1957 after the death of his grandfather. He married Sonja in 1968 before becoming the monarch 23 years later when his father, King Olav, passed away.