Norwegian parliament votes to retain monarchy amid royal scandals

Norway’s parliament, the Storting, has voted to retain the country’s constitutional monarchy, with 141 of 169 lawmakers supporting its preservation. Twenty-six deputies voted against, Norwegian media reported. A two-thirds majority is required to replace the monarchy with a republic.

The vote took place against the backdrop of several scandals involving the royal family and a decline in public support.

On February 3, a trial opened in Oslo against 29-year-old Marius Borg Høiby, the son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit. He faces 38 criminal charges, including four counts of rape, and could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

At the same time, controversy has also surrounded Crown Princess Mette-Marit following the publication in the United States of a new batch of documents related to the case of Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of sexual crimes. The documents revealed that Mette-Marit had closer ties with Epstein than previously known.

According to media reports, Epstein and the crown princess exchanged warm and intimate messages beginning in 2011. Mette-Marit had earlier stated that she cut off contact with Epstein in 2013 after realising he was attempting to “exploit” his connections to the royal family. However, the newly released documents indicate that their correspondence continued until the summer of 2014.

On January 30, the Norwegian royal family said that the crown princess had been unaware of the scale and nature of Epstein’s crimes.

In comments to the newspaper Verdens Gang, Mette-Marit said she “must take responsibility for not having learned more about his past and for not understanding quickly enough what kind of person he was.”

By Vugar Khalilov