Mette-Marit has caused considerable reputational damage to the Norwegian Royal Family – Photo by fjellnisse.com/Wiki CommonsHard times for Norwegian Royals.The rape trial of Marius Borg Hoiby has concluded, and the verdict is expected by June, with prosecutors asking for 7 years in prison, and his own lawyers asking for no more than 18 months of incarceration.In the meantime, his mother, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, who has caused an earthquake in Norwegian royalty by being mentioned several hundred times in the US DOJ-released ‘Epstein files’, is speaking up for the first time. Norway Crown Princess Mette-Marit said that Jeffrey Epstein “manipulated and deceived” her“It is extremely important for me to take responsibility for not having more thoroughly investigated his past, and to acknowledge that he manipulated and misled me to such an extent,”… pic.twitter.com/4QAVwoWLNg— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) March 20, 2026Reuters reported:“Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit said on Friday she regretted her friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, seeking to contain one of the biggest scandals to hit the country’s royal family.The U.S. Justice Department’s release of millions of Epstein documents has sent shockwaves around the world, revealing the disgraced financier’s ties to prominent people, including the crown princess and top Norwegian politicians, business executives and diplomats.‘I was manipulated and deceived’, Mette-Marit said in an interview with public broadcaster NRK. ‘Of course, I wish I had never met him’, she said of Epstein.”Marius and Mette swamped by scandals.The scandals have taken a toll: the Norwegian royal family’s popularity fell to 60% support in a recent poll, down from 70% in January.Sky News reported:“While her ties to Epstein were already reported, new documents showed a more extensive relationship.The revelations prompted a rare rebuke from Norwegian Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Stoere, who said it was important that she answer questions about her relationship with Epstein.”Epstein talks about ‘messy’ Mette with Bill Gates’ right-hand man.The files revealed that the crown princess had maintained contact with Epstein from 2011 to 2014.“’He used the fact that we had a mutual friend, and that I’m gullible’, she said. ‘I like to believe the best about people. But I also chose to end contact with him’.”‘I’ve never seen anything illegal’, she told NRK.”Read more:Norway Prosecutor Asks for Over 7 Years in Prison for Crown Princess’ Son, Marius Hoiby, Charged With Raping Four Women/*! This file is auto-generated */!function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i