To hark back to an infamous speech once given by Queen Elizabeth II, I don’t imagine that 2024 will be a year that any Norwegian royal looks back on “with undiluted pleasure.” From King Harald falling gravely ill abroad to all the controversies and legal issues surrounding Marius Borg Høiby, it hasn’t been an easy year for the royals.
Let’s take a look back on 10 of the biggest moments—for better or worse—for the Norwegian Royal Family this year.
King Harald falls ill in Malaysia
While King Harald’s brief spells of ill health have dominated the news at various points over the past couple of years—even spending time at the end of January off for a respiratory illness—nothing has inspired such shock as when he fell ill at the end of February on a private holiday in Malaysia.
On 27 February, King Harald was hospitalised at the Sultanah Maliha Hospital on Langkawi and required a temporary pacemaker. After a few days in hospital, the King was transported back to Norway on a military flight and left the country on 3 March. After another period of hospitalisation, he had a permanent pacemaker placed on 12 March and was discharged from the hospital on 14 March. King Harald then released an Easter portrait at the end of March and remained on sick leave until 22 April—Crown Prince Haakon served as regent while his father recuperated.
King Harald and Queen Sonja released a statement saying: “We feel a great need to thank you for all the care, help and support in connection with the King becoming ill during our holiday in Malaysia.”
The King’s health scare came shortly on the heels of being asked if he would follow in Queen Margrethe’s footsteps and abdicate his throne (Queen Margrethe abdicated on 14 January in favour of her son Frederik). King Harald told reporters: “I maintain what I have said all along; that I have taken an oath to the Storting, and it lasts for life.”
Princess Ingrid Alexandra, reporting for duty
Last summer the Norwegian Royal Court announced that Princess Ingrid Alexandra would begin military training in January of this year, serving with the Engineer Battalion in the Brigade Nord. By September, she announced that she would extend her service through April 2025 instead of the 12 months initially announced.
In an interview about her time with the military, the future queen of Norway said “I have been challenged many times since I came in. I think the most important thing I have learned is that you can do much more than you think, and you are much stronger together. Whether it’s in a team or in a platoon or company, you get a lot more done when you’re not alone.”
After her training ended, Princess Ingrid Alexandra began serving as a gunner on a CV90 STING vehicle.
Princess Martha Louise and Durek Verrett marry
It felt like the world’s longest royal engagement, honestly, but on 31 August, Princess Märtha Louise married her shaman fiancé Durek Verrett in a lavish, private—except for Hello! and Netflix (allegedly)—ceremony.
The road to the altar was paved with controversy though, but we’ll get into that later. Suffice it to say, Princess Märtha Louise wasn’t wrong when she told Hello! that “Our love has triumphed against all odds and will last forever.”
King Harald, for his part, was quoted as calling the wedding fantastic and “Better than I thought it would be.”
Princess Martha Louise and Durek Verrett court controversy
The Norwegian royals were on the offense for much of the lead-up to Princess Märtha Louise’s wedding, though. When it was revealed that the couple had sold the rights to photographs of their wedding to Hello!, the Norwegian Royal Court put out an announcement that King Harald, Queen Sonja, Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Princess Ingrid Alexandra would not be included in any of these glossy magazine photos.
And while it’s been mostly quiet on the Princess Märtha Louise and Durek Verrett beat since the summer, there has been one lasting change: the Norwegian Royal Court has updated their website to remove the controversial princess, her nephew Prince Sverre Magnus (who is not expected to carry out any official duties for the family now that he’s 18), and Princess Astrid from the list of royals. They’re all now lumped in together on a page called ‘Other royals.’
Princess Astrid still going strong
For a 92-year-old princess born without succession rights and who stepped up to act as Norway’s de facto first lady in the period of time between her mother’s death in 1954 and her brother’s wedding in 1968, there’s no telling her about shirking her duties.
While we typically see Princess Astrid at family and national events, she still conducts the rare solo engagement, and this year she showed up for a patronage she’s held for 70 years.
Princess Astrid appeared by video at the Norwegian Women’s Sanitary Association’s national meeting and spoke of her long association with the group. “It has been 70 meaningful years. Because the work you do means a lot to so many.”
Crown Prince Haakon goes solo in Paris….as rumours swirl
The Norwegian Royal Court had already announced that Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit would both travel to Paris to cheer on athletes at the Summer Olympics, yet when the future king turned up alone it created suspicion.
What we didn’t officially know at the time was that the lid was about to come off the story surrounding Marius Borg Høiby’s many legal problems. Instead, we had vague rumours that Crown Princess Mette-Marit hadn’t traveled abroad owing to a family situation that was later revealed to be Marius’s arrest following an alleged assault in an apartment building in Frogner.
The Norwegian Royal Court shared that the Crown Princess hoped to travel to Paris later—which she did, three days later—but in terms of press coverage, it was about to get very bad for the royals.
Marius Borg Hoiby’s legal troubles
As the stepson to the future king, Marius Borg Høiby has been an adjacent public figure nearly his whole life. And this year saw the spotlight focused on him for all the wrong reasons.
In August it was revealed that he’d been arrested for alleged assault in Frogner. Crown Prince Haakon commented from Paris that his wife hadn’t joined him because “As in all families, it’s important to be there… So we decided that this time, she should stay home… It is a serious matter when the police are involved, as they are. At the same time, I do not think it is right for me to get involved in the case now.”
There were also rumours that Marius held drug-fuelled parties at the family home in Skaugum resulting in damage to the property and stolen effects belonging to the royals.
In late November, Marius was again arrested on suspicion of rape and there are currently four women and one man who have counts of domestic violence against him.
Crown Princess Mette-Marit resumes treatment for chronic lung condition
Amidst the controversy swirling around her immediate family, Crown Princess Mette-Marit shared in mid-October that she would begin a new course of treatment for her chronic pulmonary fibrosis.
The royal had initially been diagnosed in 2018 and underwent treatment at the time. The Royal Court shared that Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s treatment could cause side effects and that her schedule may need to be altered as a result; and indeed, on 23 October, the royal officially went on sick leave to deal with side effects. A week later, the sick leave was extended into November, but on the 7th, she returned to official duties.
The Norwegian royal family’s popularity plummets
The Norwegian Royal Family has, in recent memory, always enjoyed extremely high popularity. In a 2022 poll, 84% of those polled said they wanted to keep the monarchy.
But with all the controversies over Marius and Princess Märtha Louise and Durek Verrett’s wedding led to a slump in popularity this summer. In a poll conducted by NRK, the national broadcaster, 36% of people said they now had a negative view of the monarchy while 55% said their opinion hadn’t changed.
And overall support for the monarchy plummeted as well. Compared to the 84% of people who supported the royals in 2022, only 68% said they supported the royals.
A changing dynamic at the Nobel Peace Prize
While the Swedish Royal Family looks after the bulk of the Nobel Prizes, Oslo has always been the home of the Nobel Peace Prize presentation, and the Norwegian Royal Family always comes out in full force for the event.
This year, after curtailing his engagements following his pacemaker operation, King Harald presided over the ceremony but skipped the banquet later that evening. This is the first time since 2003 that the King has not attended the Nobel Peace Prize banquet—instead, Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit attended on behalf of the royals.
