Haakon is solid, says retired doctor Hilde Østrem outside the palace in Oslo.
I'm not so sure about the rest of the family. But she (Queen Mette-Marit) has been seriously ill. I think she's growing into the role.
Østrem's neighbours, who have walked with her along the main street, Karl Johan, are of the same opinion.
Now we have to give them a fair chance. This with Epstein was not something we wanted, but it's time to move on, says clerk Hans Bjørner.
Gathering power?
Haakon VIII became king and his wife queen at the same time that King Harald died on August 28.
The father was very popular, many Norwegians emphasize that he was an inclusive monarch who managed to bring the people together. The speech Harald gave in 2016 in particular seems to have made an impression: Then the king said that his compatriots can be born in Norway or have immigrated from other countries, that Norwegians believe in “God, Allah, Everything and nothing” and can be attracted to people of the same sex.
Around the castle, in connection with King Harald's funeral, many expressed hopes that his son had inherited the unifying ability.
Big headlines
From that perspective, late winter's reporting about Queen Mette-Marit’s close contacts with the late and convicted American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has been troubling.
In January, it became clear that her name appears around a thousand times in the so-called Epstein documents. The Queen is said to have borrowed the convicted financier's Florida home and responded that "Paris is good for infidelity" when Epstein wrote that he was looking for a wife.
The revelation made headlines around the world and led to a written apology from the then Crown Princess, who "deeply regretted" her friendship with Epstein.
In March, the Crown Prince and Princess were interviewed about Epstein.
Of course I wish I had never met him, Mette-Marit said at the time, adding that she was manipulated by the sex offender.
She also said that she carries great feelings of guilt for Epstein's victims.
Trial and illness
A pressured Haakon emphasized at the same time that he must take care of his loved ones.
By then, the high-profile trial of Mette-Marit’s son, the so-called "bonus prince" Marius Borg Høiby, had begun. He was arrested in 2024 and in June he was sentenced to four years in prison for, among other things, rape and assault.
Add to this the fact that Mette-Marit’s pulmonary fibrosis was steadily worsening and that Haakon’s sister Princess Märtha Louise had married the controversial, self-proclaimed "shaman" Durek Verrett a few years earlier.
A time of scandal, media and historians noted - something that was also reflected in opinion polls.
By the end of January, trust in the Norwegian royal family had fallen to a record low of 60 percent, according to public service broadcaster NRK. One of the downfalls in the survey was Mette-Marit, whose trust had halved.
“Seems safe”
But now the tide seems to have turned. After Mette-Marit’s high-profile lung transplant in June and King Harald’s death in August, support for the monarchy has increased again. 72 percent want to keep it, according to NRK's poll after the obituary.
It has been nice to see King Haakon these days, he seems safe, said Oslo resident Elise Løver to TT in connection with King Harald's funeral.
Queen Mette-Marit, who appeared in public for the first time since her transplant following the death of her father-in-law, is also becoming increasingly popular. Almost half of Norwegians, 47 percent, now think she is suitable for the role of queen, according to a survey commissioned by Aftenposten.
In a similar survey in February, only one in five Norwegians thought she was fit to be queen.
Surfing and tacos
At the same time as Haakon and Mette-Marit became Norway's new royal couple, their firstborn daughter Ingrid Alexandra also became Crown Princess.
The surf-loving and taco-crazy 22-year-old moved home from her studies in Australia this spring to be close to her family during her mother's lung transplant. Ingrid Alexandra is described in the media as a popular and energetic princess who is not afraid to stand out. She has done military service in the army and last winter raged on social media about what she called "personal attacks" against her mother and half-brother.
"It is important not to make claims you have no basis for," she wrote on a private account that, according to NRK, has 800 followers.
"That's enough now."
After the death of her grandfather Harald, she has followed her father through the ceremonies with dignity. Like her father, the Crown Princess has made a promise in Parliament to govern Norway in accordance with its constitution and laws.
Paved the way
Norway's new royal couple recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. The two met in the late 1990s, when Mette-Marit was a single mother to her then-two-year-old son and worked as a waitress. Over the years, she has studied chemistry, ethics and development work, and in 2012 she earned a master's degree in leadership, according to the Norwegian court.
King Harald had already paved the way for a future king to marry a "woman of the people". He dated Sonja Haraldsen in secret for nine years before the wedding in Oslo Cathedral in 1968. His father, King Olav, is said to have hesitated about his son's marriage to a non-royal but was ultimately forced to throw in the towel.
"I remember the fights when Sonja was introduced, some predicted it would mean the end of the monarchy. But she became a very good queen," says Hilde Østrem.
The Royal House will probably continue in the future as well.
Haakon was born in 1973 in Oslo, the second child of King Harald and Queen Sonja. He graduated from Kristelig Gymnasium in Oslo in 1992 and completed his education at the Sjøkrigsskolen in Bergen in 1995.
Holds a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master's degree from the London School of Economics with a specialisation in international trade. Has been a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
With the title of king, he becomes, according to the constitution, høieste befaling - supreme commander. He has adopted the same motto as his father: “Everything for Norway”.
Queen Mette-Marit was born in Kristiansand in Sørlandet in southern Norway in 1973, the youngest of four siblings. She is educated at the universities of Agder and Oslo, as well as the University of London. In 2012, she received a master's degree in leadership from the Oslo School of Economics.
The couple married in Oslo Cathedral in 2001 and live at the Skaugum residence in Asker. When they met, Mette-Marit was a single mother to her son Marius Borg Høiby, to whom Haakon is now stepfather. Together they have two children: Ingrid Alexandra, born in 2004, and Sverre Magnus, born in 2005.
Source: Norwegian Royal Family and NTB
