Norway’s King Harald, Queen Sonja and their son Crown Prince Haakon were the only members of their troubled royal family on the balcony of their palace in downtown Oslo Tuesday. They opted to review a traditional drill corps performance, while the family is otherwise struggling with its biggest scandal ever.
Ceremonial canons also roared around Norway at noon on Monday in honour of Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s birthday, but it couldn’t have been a very happy one. Police charges of domestic violence are expanding against her son from an earlier relationship, Marius Borg Høiby, after two more of his former girlfriends came forward this week with their own experiences.
Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK), meanwhile, reported Tuesday that the king’s daughter, Princess Martha Louise, continues to defy her father’s order not to profit on her royal title. Not only has she and her soon-to-be second husband, and American shaman, wongly used her title and their new monogram on bottles of gin launched in time for their wedding next week, NRK reported that they’ve sold photo rights to their wedding to the British celebrity magazine Hello, while TV rights have been sold to Netflix. The couple, which often lashes out against the press while promoting themselves on social media, has also had a film team following them while they’ve been in Norway this summer.
It’s enough to upset even the country’s most die-hard royalists. Norway’s popular but elderly King Harald V and Queen Sonja, meanwhile, have remained silent and the Royal Palace refuses to comment on all the questions pouring in. Their official website has all but ignored the scandal and shame that’s suddenly surrounding the royals, portraying instead a portrait of Crown Princess Mette-Marit with a short birthday greeting and a story on the Kings’ Guards’ performance by its music- and drill team.
The website notes that King Harald, back from a lengthy summer holiday, was also due to formally receive several new ambassadors to Norway on Thursday, meet with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre Friday morning and hold the weekly Council of State with the government an hour later. After that he’ll knight musician and entertainer Ingrid Bjørnov and Kristin Gunleiksrud Raaum, former leader of the Norwegian Church Council.
His silence on the arrest of Høiby and the charges of domestic violence remains deafening. Several media commentators have criticized the monarch’s failure to assert his authority as head of state and the royal family. Newspaper Aftenposten’s Kjetil B Alstadheim even questioned whether the king, who officially made Høiby a member of the royal family when he was still a child, has control over his own house.
Now Høiby’s arrest for assaulting his most recent partner and trashing her Oslo apartment while under the influence of cocaine and alcohol has made news that’s gone worldwide. Many now fear for the country’s international reputation. Things got worse this week when two of Høiby’s earlier girlfriends went public with reports that they’d also been subject to his violence, prompting police to expand charges against him.
“What’s happened in Norway has grabbed lots of attention internationally,” historian and author Trond Norén Isaksen told newspaper Dagsavisen on Tuesday. He noted that The Times of London devoted a quarter-page to the story from Norway, “and that doesn’t happen very often.”
Høiby still hadn’t submitted to questioning by police, more than two weeks after his rampage and a week after he finally issued a public apology for it. He claimed he’d struggled with drugs and psychological problems for years and would return to a treatment program, while also submitting to whatever criminal conviction he now may receive.
Høiby’s defense attorney has been almost as silent as King Harald, raising questions about how the criminal case is being handled. It’s highly unusual for formal questioning by police to be so delayed, while reports swirled that various meetings (including one between Høiby and his victim) were being held at the crown couple’s royal estate at Skaugum, where Høiby still lives. Newspaper VG also released audio of verbal threats he made to her over the telephone after his attack in the early hours of August 4.
Question also have arisen over confirmation that his mother, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, spoke with his victim after the attack. Alstadheim wrote that such contact was “unwise,” since she could be accused of trying to exert influence in a criminal case. He has criticized the Royal Palace’s handling of both its advisory and communications roles, noting that any other enterprise would have quickly set up a crisis team.
“There’s no doubt, though, where the responsibility lies,” Alstadheim wrote, “There’s only one boss at the palace and that’s King Harald.” It has remained unclear what Crown Prince Haakon, who’s taken over more and more royal duties of late, has done in terms of crisis management. He left on a planned trip to the Olympics in Paris, right after his stepson was arrested and then had to spend a night in the Oslo police’s version of a drunk tank.
“Many people feel sorry for the king in this situation,” Alstadheim wrote. “The same has been said in connection with all the issues around Princess Martha Louise and her partner Durek Verrett.” He noted that the sympathy for the king was understandable, “but at the same time he is the family’s leader. What has he done to make sure no one interferes in the criminal case against Marius Borg Høiby? Why doesn’t he manage to get Princess Martha Louise and Durek Verrett to abide by the messages he’s sent to them?”
Isaksen, the historian who’s an expert on royalty in Europe, asks much the same. “There have been a few turbulent and difficult years for the royal family, first and foremost because of all the controversy around Princess Martha Louise and Durek Verrett at a time when the royals are less visible because of their age and illnesses.”
He said the most sympathy, however, should be directed at the three women who’ve been assaulted over the years by Høiby. “They’re quite brave to go public with this,” Isaksen said. “Violence against women is a major problem, and it demands both bravery and strength to talk about it or report it to police.”
Isaksen agrees that the palace’s communications strategy, or lack thereof, “could have been handled differently. They could have been more open,” and perhaps avoided “the daily revelations, new details, speculation and leaks.” He thinks, however, that it would be “most natural” for the crown couple, Haakon and Mette-Marit, to comment on the situation and answer questions.
And there are a lot of them. What’s been done to tackle Høiby’s drug problem, and his apparent inability to hold a job? Who’s been paying for his jetset lifestyle, or the cocaine involved? Newpaper Dagsavisen editorialized over the weekend that the crown couple “may have been more preoccupied with protecting Høiby than protecting his victims from violence. That’s serious.” It went on to state that the Norwegian royal family is “an important institution in our society, whether we like that or not,” adding that it’s “deeply problematic” when it handles such serious cases in the way it has.
“This case should be more about violence against women than the royal family,” Isaksen added. “It’s the victims we should feel most sorry for, not the king, the queen or the crown couple.”
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund