Approval of Norwegian royals tumbles after repeated scandals
Just 60 percent of Norwegians support the royal family, down 10 points from a month earlier, a level "that has never been so low", according to NRK.
A Jeffrey Epstein abuse survivor attends the testimony of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi before the House Judiciary Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on February 11, 2026 in Washington, DC. (AFP)
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OSLO - The Norwegian royal family's popularity has fallen to its lowest ever after a series of scandals, according to a poll published Saturday by public broadcaster NRK.
Just 60 percent of Norwegians support the royal family, down 10 points from a month earlier, a level "that has never been so low", according to NRK.
Princess Mette-Marit, who married Crown Prince Haakon in 2001, appears multiple times in the millions of pages released by the US Department of Justice, revealing an unsuspected complicity between her and the convicted American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Her son, Marius Borg Hoiby, born from a brief relationship prior to her marriage to Haakon, is on trial for 38 charges, including four counts of rape and violence.
The 29-year-old, who is not a member of the royal family, denies the most serious accusations.
In another opinion poll published by TV2 at the end of January, 47.6 percent of respondents said that Mette-Marit should not become queen, while only 28.9 percent said she should.
King Harald, who turned 89 on Saturday, remains the most popular member of the royal family, according to the poll, which was conducted by the Norstat institute on a sample of more than a thousand people.