Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s “Design Them in a Lab” Message to Epstein Goes Viral

As Norway is gripped by the ongoing rape trial of Marius Borg Høiby, fresh controversy is again surrounding the royal household. A 2012 email shows correspondence attributed to Crown Princess Mette-Marit is now racing across social media, with one particular line about the future of human creation and “designing people in a laboratory” drawing intense attention.

Document Releases and Context Around the 2012 Emails

The resurfaced emails date to November 2012 and reference articles and links about health, environment, and biotechnology. Analysts note that the language appears informal and speculative, not policy-oriented or institutional. There is no indication in the documents of directives, funding, or organized initiatives related to human experimentation.

What drives the controversy is timing. By 2012, Epstein’s prior conviction was already public knowledge, which raises questions about due diligence and awareness rather than legality. Royal households across Europe have since tightened vetting standards for contacts and philanthropy, in part due to lessons from earlier scandals involving external donors and advisers.

Norway’s Royal House previously acknowledged that contact with Epstein represented poor judgment and expressed regret for the association. Official statements stressed that social or email contact did not equal support of wrongdoing and that no criminal allegations were directed at the Crown Princess in relation to the correspondence.

Social Media Amplification and Royal Scrutiny

While the resurfaced emails do not contain criminal allegations in themselves, the optics are proving deeply damaging for the royal household. The controversy arrives as Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s son faces multiple serious criminal charges — including allegations of rape, sexual offences, domestic violence, assault, threats, and a prior narcotics case to which he has admitted guilt. The collision of these headlines has intensified criticism and raised renewed questions about judgment and accountability at the highest level of the monarchy.

Scrutiny has sharpened further because of the tone and content of some of the correspondence. In one exchange from November 2012, when her son Marius Borg Høiby was 15 years old, Mette-Marit asked Epstein for his opinion on a parenting-related matter involving him, writing: “Is it inappropriate for a mother to suggest two naked women carrying a surfboard for my 15 yr old son’s wallpaper?” The message, now widely circulated online, has drawn particular backlash given Epstein’s criminal history at the time.

Together, these details have amplified reputational strain for Norway’s future queen, with public debate increasingly focused on perception and discretion rather than legal thresholds, and with social media reaction proving swift and unforgiving.