King Haakon VIII of Norway has ascended the throne following the death of his father, King Harald, at the age of 89, after a brief illness with a rare blood condition. As tributes have poured in from figures including King Charles, attention now turns to the new monarch, whose family has been marked by a series of controversies.
Haakon, 53, is believed to be popular among many royal fans in Norway. He represents the fourth generation of the reigning Norwegian royal family and is a trained naval officer. In recent years, he has stepped in for his father at royal engagements, acting as regent as King Harald’s health declined.
Marriage That Caused a Stir
In the 1990s, Crown Prince Haakon met Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby, a commoner with a past that drew significant scrutiny. Their engagement was announced in December 2000, and their relationship became the focus of much attention in Norway, largely because Mette-Marit had a child from a previous relationship. Her son, Marius Borg Høiby, was born in 1997, and his father was in prison for drug-related offences at the time of his birth.
Mette-Marit had a number of boyfriends before meeting the Crown Prince, many of whom had criminal convictions and abuse allegations. Princess Ragnhild, King Harald’s sister and Haakon’s aunt, expressed concerns about the relationship and said she felt sorry for Marius, who would not hold a royal title. Despite the controversy, the couple married in Oslo on August 25, 2001, and before the wedding, the new princess issued a public apology for her “wild past”. The couple went on to have two children: Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra in 2004 and Prince Sverre Magnus in 2005.
Convicted Stepson
Marius Borg Høiby was welcomed into the Norwegian Royal Family after the marriage but has never held a royal title nor carried out royal duties. Since 2017, he has been the subject of numerous criminal matters. In November 2024, Høiby, now 29, was arrested in Oslo after allegations of rape and sexual assault came to light. His trial began in February 2026, where he faced 38 counts, including alleged rape, abuse in a close relationship against one former partner, acts of violence against another, death threats, numerous traffic violations, and transporting drugs.
The trial concluded in mid-March after running for several weeks. In June, he was jailed for four years after being found guilty of two counts of rape. Høiby has always denied the allegations and has the option to appeal. Judges convicted him of raping two women, including one at the Crown Prince's estate at Skaugum in 2018 and another in Oslo in 2024. He was also convicted of abusing an ex-girlfriend, Norwegian influencer Nora Haukland. Prosecutors had argued for a sentence of seven years and seven months, while his defence called for a lesser term of 18 months. In July, Høiby was moved from jail to house arrest, where he is required to wear an electronic tag.
Epstein Connection
During Høiby’s trial, Crown Princess Mette-Marit found herself embroiled in the ongoing Epstein scandal. She was named in the Epstein files, with emails between the pair implying a years-long friendship. In the weeks after the files were released, Mette-Marit gave an interview to Norwegian media, with her husband beside her. She was on the verge of tears as she claimed she was “manipulated and deceived” by the convicted sex offender.
“I feel so manipulated, and when you are manipulated, you don't realise it from the start,” Mette-Marit said in the interview in March. “It is incredibly important for me to take responsibility for not checking his background more carefully. And to take responsibility for being so manipulated and deceived as I was.” She added, “Of course I wish I had never met him,” stressing that Epstein's victims deserved justice for the abuse they had suffered, and expressing anger that they had not yet received it.
Mette-Marit said she “didn't know he was a sex offender or a predator” at the time of their friendship, adding, “I can't remember this; it was 15 years ago, to be honest.” She was quizzed about a trip to Epstein’s home in Palm Beach in 2013, where she stayed for several days, and spoke of a “situation” on the final day of her visit that made her feel uneasy, which she called her husband about. Crown Prince Haakon told the interviewer he remembers the call well and how the incident, which was not elaborated upon, made his wife feel insecure. Despite the incident, the crown princess maintained contact with Epstein for some time afterwards. “I am overly trusting, I tend to think the best of people,” she said. “But I also chose to end all direct contact with him. And it was because of such episodes as that.”
Clairvoyant Sister and Shaman Brother-in-Law
King Haakon is not the eldest child of King Harald and Queen Sonja. Their first child was a daughter, Princess Martha Louise, born in 1971. Until 1990, only males could ascend the throne in Norway, so her younger brother became the heir. Princess Martha established her own business and began delivering televised performances. After being consulted by her father in 2002, she removed her title of Royal Highness, although she retains her place in the line of succession.
In 2019, the royal court announced that she would no longer use the title “Princess” in her business activities as a clairvoyant. In 2022, she relinquished her remaining royal duties to concentrate on alternative medicine. However, she continued to use her princess title in her business, drawing criticism. Martha studied physiotherapy and trained at an academy of holistic medicine. She claims she can talk to animals and angels, which drew criticism from the Church of Norway.
In 2022, Martha announced her engagement to American-born Durek Verrett, her second husband, which caused a new string of controversies. Verrett is a self-proclaimed shaman and conspiracy theorist. In 2024, he was included as one of “20 famous conspiracy theorists” alongside Alex Jones in a newspaper article, and has been characterised as a “conman” by many in Norway. He has suggested that cancer is a matter of choice, has sold medallions said to ward off Covid-19 without scientific evidence, claims casual sexual encounters attract subterranean spirits, and identifies as a reptilian. He also claims to have known about the September 11 attacks two years before they happened but chose not to intervene, and has claimed he has risen from the dead.
Martha and Durek married on August 31, 2024, in Norway, in a ceremony attended by the Norwegian Royal Family. The couple sold the rights of their wedding to Hello magazine, which caused outrage and was seen as a betrayal of traditional practices within the royal family. In recent weeks, Durek underwent a kidney transplant after requiring dialysis multiple times a week “just to stay alive”. He was believed to be at the same hospital in Oslo as his late father-in-law in the days before he died. Martha and Durek live in a penthouse apartment in Oslo owned by Queen Sonja.
