The death of King Harald V of Norway on Friday returned attention to his daughter-in-law's ties to Jeffrey Epstein, as she becomes queen consort seven months after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) published her correspondence with the late sex offender. Harald died at Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet at age 89, ending his 35-year reign.
Crown Prince Haakon became King Haakon VIII within the hour, with his wife of 25 years, Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby, becoming the new queen. But she takes the title at the lowest point of her public standing. Her emails to Epstein, exchanged between 2011 and 2014, have dominated Norwegian coverage since January, when the DOJ released them.
Her eldest son, Marius Borg Høiby, was convicted of rape in June and is currently serving a four-year prison sentence. The two scandals have taken a toll on the monarchy, even as the new queen publicly apologized three times. Support for the crown among Norwegians has fallen by roughly 10 percentage points over the past year, while a February poll found that 44 percent believed she should not become queen.
She has never been accused of a crime, and nothing in the released files alleges that she took part in Epstein's abuse. Newsweek reached out to the Royal House of Norway, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre's office and the Norwegian Embassy in the U.S. by email for comment. The Royal House announced Harald's death in a statement Friday morning.
"It is with deep grief that we announce that His Majesty King Harald has passed away," the statement said. "King Harald died peacefully at Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet Friday 28 August at 6:35 AM." Harald had been hospitalized the previous week and was being treated for haemolytic anaemia, a condition in which the body destroys its own red blood cells. On Sunday, the palace said his health had "deteriorated over the weekend" and that he was "receiving antibiotics for a bacterial infection in his blood." His condition was later described as extremely serious.
Haakon served as regent during his father's final illness. Harald struggled with health problems for years. He used crutches, had a pacemaker fitted and underwent heart-valve and bladder-cancer surgeries in the early 2000s.
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