A two-page layout in newspaper Aftenposten earlier this month seemed to say it all, regarding the current status of Norway’s troubled royal family: At the top, more warnings about the violent behaviour of Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s son, next to that a story about “an uncomfortable quarrel” between him and his partner at the time on board the royal yacht in August 2020, and at the bottom of the page, “The queen gets a pacemaker.”

The most recent photo of Norway’s Queen Sonja offered for press use is this one, from 2021. She’s now 87 years old, still skiing but now with a pacemaker. PHOTO: Det kongelige hoff/Jørgen Gomnæs

The Norwegian royals have been going through  troubled times, starting with King Harald falling seriously ill during a holiday trip to Malaysia early last year and needing a pacemaker before being able to fly back home on a specially equipped SAS aircraft. Now Norway’s 87-year-old Queen Sonja has a pacemaker, too, but was getting back to work this week. She’d been on sick leave since suddenly falling ill after going skiing near Lillehammer earlier this month. She was admitted to the local hospital with what Norwegians call hjerteflimmer: an irregular heartbeat that can cause a high pulse, dizziness, breathing trouble and fatigue.

The active queen who’s been skiing and hiking all her life was released just a day later but quickly scheduled for an operation a few days later at the national hospital Rikshospitalet. Doctors implanted a pacemaker on January 16, she was released the next day and put on a week’s sick leave, until last Friday.

On Monday the foreign ministry and the Royal Palace were already issuing announcements about new upcoming duties and public appearances for the queen. She’ll travel soon to Rome to preside over the opening on February 10 of another exhibit of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch’s work (Edvard Munch. Inner Fire) when it moves from Milan on to the Palazzo Bonaparte in Rome. Before that, she’ll be back in the Lillehammer area to open an ice cathedral at the Hunderfossen Winter Park next week and a new exhibit in her own art museum on the palace grounds in Oslo the day before.

The Dronning Sonja KunstStall, an exhibition hall within the renovated former horse stalls for the former Queen Maud, will feature ceramic and porcelain from the palace that dates back to 1815. Entitled Ved Kongens bord (At the king’s table), the exhibit will display table settings that span four generations and are still used when the royals invite to official meals and banquets at the palace.

The current generations of Norwegian royals, meanwhile, remain in turmoil after the multiple arrests late last year of the queen’s step-grandson, Marius Borg Høiby. She’s been a sort of “bonus-grandmother” to him since his mother, Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby, married Queen Sonja’s and King Harald’s son, Crown Prince Haakon, when the young Høiby was three years old. Now age 28, he continues to generate headlines in Norway over not just the vandalism and violence he has admitted to in a girlfriend’s Oslo apartment in August but also additional charges of other alleged incidents of abuse, drug use and recklessness going back several years.

Newspaper Aftenposten reported earlier this month, for example, that he got into an “uncomfortable quarrel” with his live-in partner at the time, Julianne Snekkestad, while they were on board the royal yacht Norge with other family members on a cruise to Lofoten in August 2020. Crown Princess Mette-Marit reportedly had to step in and break up the fight in the couple’s cabin. Snekkestad’s attorney Petter Grødem confirmed the incident to Aftenposten, which reported that Høiby was “aggressive” but not physically violent at the time.

The queen and her son, Crown Prince Haakon, heading into the opening of Parliament in 2022. PHOTO: Stortinget/Benjamin A Ward

Aftenposten also reported that Snekkestad’s mother warned Crown Prince Haakon directly about his stepson’s behaviour, first with a telephone call and then in a text message in which she offered to send documentation about Høiby’s alleged violence against her daughter. “She expressed despair over the situation her daughter was in” Grødem told Aftenposten, both over practicalities after they broke up and how he had treated her while they lived together.

It remains unclear how the crown prince and other royal family members reacted to the warnings. Snekkestad and her mother aren’t the only ones who’ve warned the royals including Crown Princess Mette-Marit. Aftenposten and other media have reported how former partner Nora Haukland, who lived with Høiby in 2022 and 2023, also had contact with the crown princess regarding Høiby’s violence and drug problems.

Marius Borg Høiby (at far left) was already generating headlines when he was just 15 years old, here over the “alarm” created by his social media use. Several of his accounts were shut down because of security concerns. PHOTO: VG facsimile

Høiby is now charged with mishandling Snekkestad and several other former partners. He has denied most of the charges except for the rampage he went on in his latest girlfriend’s apartment in August, when police were called to the premises and collected evidence. He has apologized for his actions, confirmed that he has had drug problems and planned to resume drug treatmeant programs.

The Royal Palace continues to decline comment, stressing that the crown princess’ son’s problems are now a matter for the police and the court system. “We have confidence that the police and courts will handle this in a good manner,” the palace’s communications chief Guri Varpe told Aftenposten.

Crown Prince Haakon has repeatedly said much the same, as have his wife and parents. Around 60 people have already been questioned regarding the charges against Høiby, police have secured photos, videos and electronic data and police think some digital evidence has been intentionally removed from some of Høiby’s devices. Høiby faces up to several years in prison if convicted.

The king and queen, meanwhile, have also laid plans for at least one more royal cruise this summer on his yacht Norge, part of their efforts to officially have visited all of Norway municipalities and counties. They’ll begin in Balsfjord in Troms on June 11, then on to Kvænangen, before continuing on to Svalbard June 16-17.

NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund