Norway Crown Prince Haakon cuts royal duties to support ill wife

Crown Prince Haakon of Norway announced he will limit his royal duties to spend more time with his wife, Crown Princess Mette‑Marit, who suffers from a rare form of pulmonary fibrosis and is awaiting a lung transplant. He cancelled official engagements planned for Tuesday and Wednesday and withdrew from the government’s weekly cabinet meeting last Friday.

The palace said the Crown Princess, 52, was diagnosed in 2018 and doctors consider a transplant a last‑resort option, estimating she has less than two years to live. The statement was issued a day after an Oslo court sentenced Mette‑Marit's 29‑year‑old son from a previous relationship, Marius Borg Høiby, to four years in prison for two counts of rape and 32 other offences, including repeated domestic abuse.

Haakon’s adjustment of his schedule reflects the royal family’s response to the health crisis and the recent criminal sentencing affecting the Crown Princess’s immediate family.