Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit lung transplant a success, palace confirms

Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit has received a lung transplant in a surgery her medical team has described as “successful”.

Confirmation of the operation came less than two weeks after the 52-year-old future queen was placed on the country’s waiting list after her health significantly deteriorated in recent months.

The royal’s doctors had previously said a lung transplant was the only treatment left to save her life.

Mette-Marit has been fighting pulmonary fibrosis since 2018, a condition which causes scarring in the lungs and makes breathing extremely difficult. She had been wearing a nasal breathing tube at recent public engagements.

Her surgery took place at the National Hospital in Oslo, where she will remain for the coming weeks.

The exact day of the princess’ surgery has not been revealed by the Royal House, but it comes as her son Marius Borg Høiby was convicted of raping two women and jailed for four years on Monday.

Read more

Why Prince George is going to Eton, and what it says about his future as king

Norway’s strict laws preventing the possible identification of the donor means exact details of when the crown princess had the surgery are likely to remain secret.

Last month just eight other donors were on the list. The royal was to receive a donor set of lungs when the first suitable pair became available and would not be prioritised due to her position as a member of the monarchy, the palace said when she was put on the list.

In a statement issued on Wednesday just before 6pm AEST, the Royal House confirmed Mette-Marit had undergone the transplant.

“The lung transplant has so far been successful,” Arnt Fiane, the head of the thoracic surgery department at the Rikshospitalet (National Hospital) said.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone on the team who has been involved in the planning and implementation.”

Mette-Marit will remain in hospital for the coming weeks, doctors said.

“We are very happy that everything has gone well so far,” Are Holm, the head of the hospital’s pulmonary department said.

“Like all other newly transplanted patients, the crown princess will be admitted to Rikshospitalet for several weeks to come. This is a standard routine to adjust medications, handle any complications and engage in rehabilitation.”

The Royal House will provide a further update on the crown princess’ condition when she is discharged from the hospital.

In a message shared by the palace, Mette-Marit and her husband Crown Prince Haakon thanked the public for its support.

“The crown prince and princess would like to thank you for your warm and kind greetings recently.

“Your consideration means a lot in the demanding situation they are in.”

Haakon, who will be Norway’s next king, will step back from some public duties to help his wife in her recovery.

Already the 52-year-old has cancelled a number of engagements, and deputised others, including a counsellor of state meeting earlier this week at the Royal Palace.

The couple’s eldest daughter, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, is expected to increase her public role after she returned to Norway from Australia.

The princess, who is second-in-line to the throne, left Sydney on June 2 to be with her mother.

The 22-year-old had moved to Australia in July last year to begin a three-year degree at Sydney University.

On May 17, nine.com.au was there when the princess carried out her first public appearance in Australia, attending Norway’s National Day celebrations in Sydney.

But she has since transferred to the University of Oslo where she will continue her studies on exchange.

Late last week, Norwegian historian and author Trond Norén Isaksen told nine.com.au it was unlikely Ingrid Alexandra would return to Australia, despite her father stressing she would be back.

“In the time to come they [Ingrid Alexandra and her younger brother Sverre Magnus] will both be needed to keep the wheels of the monarchy turning and I personally doubt it will be possible for the princess to resume her studies in Australia, as Sydney is simply too far away from Oslo for her to be able to combine her studies with royal duties,” Isaksen said.

Norway’s royal family has been under intense pressure over the past two years, dealing with its toughest period in generations as it faces scandal and scrutiny on multiple fronts.

On Monday, Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s son from a previous relationship was jailed for four years after he was convicted of two counts of rape.

Høiby, who is the stepson of Norway’s next king, was found guilty following a seven-week trial that quickly became the country’s biggest and most talked about criminal cases, while casting a dark shadow across one of Europe’s oldest monarchies.

Høiby was convicted of raping two women, without intercourse, at Skaugum − the private home of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess − in 2018. Another involved a woman in Oslo in 2024.

He was also convicted of abusing an ex-girlfriend, Nora Haukland, and of causing serious bodily harm to another partner, known as the “Frogner woman”, in whose apartment he was first arrested in, in August 2024.

Høiby was cleared of two other rapes, one involving a woman he met at a hotel in Oslo in November 2024 and another he met while on holiday in the Lofoten islands in 2023.

Read more

Royal rape trial, and lung transplant, could spell the end of princess’ Australian plans

All four rape charges involved women who had been either asleep or incapacitated at the time. The women had been unaware of the incidents until police found videos on Høiby’s phone after his arrest.

Høiby has also been ordered to pay compensation to three of the six victims, totalling around $100,000.

Prosecutors had asked that Høiby be sentenced to seven years and seven months of prison.

His lawyers have since appealed the verdict, which means the case will be retried again, in full, likely later this year or early next.

Soon after the unanimous verdict was delivered inside Oslo District Court, Høiby’s defence lawyer Petar Sekulic asked for his client’s release.

Høiby has asked to be released to be with his mother.

But the court rejected the plea late on Monday, ruling that there was a risk that he might contact a woman he was convicted of assaulting, and who he had broken a restraining order to see in the past.

Høiby has been let out of prison, with supervision, several times since February including a recent meeting involving his mother and her medical team to discuss the transplant.

It’s unknown whether he will be allowed out of prison to see her while she recovers in hospital.

His previous pleas for release on compassionate grounds have were rejected.

“Every Sunday when we meet in prison, I know that it could be the last time I see her,” Høiby told the District Court last week, referring to the weekly visits his mother and stepfather have made to him in prison.

“There is a great risk associated with such an operation. I’m having an extremely tough time. Sitting inside while I know my mum is so sick is unbearable.”

Høiby was four years old when his mother married into Norway’s royal family in 2001.

Though he’s never held a royal title or carried out official duties, Høiby was raised alongside the Crown Prince couple’s two other children but stepped back from public life in 2017 after struggling to find a role for himself.

Earlier this year Crown Princess Mette-Marit apologised twice after her past friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was exposed.