Crown Princess Mette-Marit Receives Lung Transplant After Son’s Rape Conviction

She was visibly struggling to breathe on the Palace balcony just last month, forced to sit while greeting the children’s procession. Now, Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway has received new lungs.

The timing has raised eyebrows. Placed on the transplant list on June 5, she underwent surgery almost immediately. The Palace insists that medical necessity drove the decision; her pulmonary fibrosis had worsened significantly, and doctors determined the operation would save her life. But for a woman whose past contact with Jeffrey Epstein has already drawn scrutiny, and whose son was just convicted of serious crimes

12:24 – Particularly short waiting list

“– This was good news. It means that lungs that are suitable for the Crown Princess have been found, and that the operation has gone well,” says Aleksander Sekowski, head of information at the Organ Donation Foundation, to NRK.

Sekowski says that it is not common to release information about the transplant so soon after the Crown Princess was put on the waiting list.

“There has been so much media interest that we expected it would be very difficult to keep this a secret. So there is probably a thought behind it. But it is not common to release information so soon after a transplant.”

Sekowski says the waiting list for new lungs was particularly short when the Crown Princess was put on the list.

“When the Crown Princess was put on the waiting list, to our knowledge there were ten people waiting,” he says.

When asked if it is common for a short time to pass from being put on a waiting list to being operated on, he answers: “When it comes to waiting lists for an organ, it is not necessarily something that is common. There is great variation between the different organs.”

“So it’s not unusual. I know of many cases where people are already, almost under consideration for the waiting list, contacted and told that an organ is now available,” he says.

Sekowski says that when you are put on a waiting list, you enter a phase where you have to be on standby all the time.

“Then you have to have your phone on all the time,” he says.

Pulmonary specialist and advisor at LHL, Olav Kåre Refvem, also believes that things have gone quickly.

“But sometimes it happens quickly. It depends entirely on which organs become available and how they match the recipient’s tissue type,” he tells VG.

NRK

It is good news that Crown Princess Mette-Marit has received a lung transplant and is recovering. A functioning health system providing timely care is something to be grateful for.

However, the speed at which she received new lungs has raised questions. Some have speculated about whether she jumped the queue or received preferential treatment due to her status. The Palace and Norwegian health officials have been quick to push back, insisting that Norway does not have a significant shortage of lungs compared to other organs, and that compatibility and severity determine who receives a transplant. Several commenters have shared personal experiences of family members receiving transplants within weeks, suggesting the timeline is not necessarily unusual.

That said, Mette-Marit’s past associations do not help her case. Her connection to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and her son’s ongoing legal troubles have eroded public trust. The court convicted her son, Marius Borg Høiby, of rape earlier this week, and some online commentators have tried to connect her health crisis to the timing of his custody requests, though there is no evidence that her transplant affected the court’s decision. Separate allegations around how the royal household handled evidence in Høiby’s case remain contested and require careful sourcing.

The broader concern is about accountability. Wealth and royal status have historically shielded people from consequences. An example of that would be Prince Andrew of the British Royal Family, whose mother, Queen Elizabeth, protected him all the way. And now, King Charles continues that shameful legacy. The public generally regards the Norwegian healthcare system as fair and transparent, and they deserve clear, transparent reporting around both issues that does not conflate medical need with royal scandal. If anyone else had Epstein ties and a son with a criminal record, the media coverage would be far less sympathetic.

At the end of the day, no one should be denied life-saving treatment based on their past mistakes. But wishing someone good health does not require forgetting their history. Compassion and accountability can coexist. Mette-Marit should be able to recover without having her transplant questioned, but that does not mean her other scandals should be swept under the rug. The two things are not mutually exclusive.