Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit celebrate their silver wedding anniversary

The Royal News Organisation looks back at 25 years of marriage on the occasion of Crown Prince Haakon’s and Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s Silver Wedding Jubilee.

25 years ago today, European royalty descended on Oslo to celebrate the nuptials of Crown Prince Haakon and Ms Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby with all the pomp and ceremony associated with the wedding of a future king and queen. The marriage has withstood the trials and tribulations, peaks and valleys, which the couple has endured both privately and in the public eye. Today we look at how past events have led up to this ‘quadranscentennial‘.

Crown Prince Haakon, heir to the Norwegian throne, met Mette-Marit around 1998, and they were seen together in public in July 1999 as they attended the Quart Festival in Mette-Marit’s hometown of Kristiansand. Høiby was a single mother who was not born into any aristocratic or noble family. She has two brothers and one sister. Mette-Marit’s parents divorced in 1984.

The love story of the two shows parallels with that of King Harald and Queen Sonja. Both future wives faced opposition from the Royal House and some circles of the general public who believe those marrying into the royal family, particularly the Crown Prince, should wed someone of a royal or noble background, i.e. a foreign princess. For both Harald and Haakon, love won.

Harald faced pushback from his father, King Olav, who believed that Harald must marry a woman of ‘royal birth’. He did not back down. Harald and Sonja dated in secret for almost a decade before a final ultimatum was issued. Harald refused to marry if it were not for the woman he loved. After realising how serious the situation was, as Harald was the only son of the king, Olav and the government allowed the young couple to marry.

Fast forward three decades, and Harald and Sonia’s eldest was in a similar situation. Haakon had fallen in love with the unorthodox Mette-Marit. The King and Queen and many of the public had their apprehensions about Høiby. She understood her future in-laws’ and the public’s apprehensions about the match and felt she needed to let her side of the story out. The couple’s engagement was announced in December 2000. During the formal engagement interview, Mette-Marit explained and apologised for her “wild past”, which she was in no way proud of. It would take time for the public and her future family to ingratiate her into royal life.

“On several occasions, I have read that you are an ordinary young woman who has become Norway’s Crown Princess today. This does not fit with my own impression. You are not an ordinary young woman. You are an extraordinary young woman (…) and today you have chosen to embark on an extraordinary life.” — King Harald

Following their wedding at Oslo Cathedral, the couple pursued separate paths to further their education and professional training. Haakon completed a Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs trainee program for diplomats in 2001. This followed his internship with Norway’s UN delegation in 2000 and preceded his Master’s degree in development studies at the London School of Economics. Mette-Marit, who had no higher education, wanted to further her pursuits and underwent examinations in chemistry and information technology at the University of Agder (formerly Agder University College). From 2000 to 2002, she studied ethics at the Faculty of Social Science and the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Oslo.

In the spring of 2003, Crown Princess Mette-Marit followed courses at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, where she took examinations in Development-Experience, Theories of Development, HIV/AIDS and Development and The Global Refugee Crisis. Her Royal Highness also spent three months as an observer at the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation.

The couple moved into their home, Skaugum Estate in Asker, in December 2003.

Haakon and Mette-Marit welcomed their first child, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, on 21 January 2004 at Rikshospitalet University Hospital. Their daughter will one day become Norway’s second queen regnant. A second child, Prince Sverre Magnus, followed on 3 December 2005.

Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit represented Norway at home and abroad over the past 25 years. Their attendance at major royal events such as coronations, funerals and jubilees highlights their position within the European royal family framework — as the future King and Queen of Norway. Together, the couple established the Crown Prince and Crown Princess’s Foundation, which supports projects for at-risk young people. The foundation was created in connection with the wedding and was originally known as the Crown Prince and Crown Princess’s Humanitarian Foundation.

Haakon has championed climate awareness, sustainability, and innovation through visits, including with various Norwegian delegations, to companies and institutions across the region, as well as to countries such as the U.S. and Japan. He is also a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Mette-Marit is heavily involved in national and international efforts related to health, inclusion and opportunities for young people, in particular, a focus on mental and women’s health as well as the fight against HIV/AIDS. In 2008, Mette-Marit began studying part-time at BI Norwegian School of Management in Oslo, where she completed a Master of Management in 2012.

The latter half of the 2010s into the 2020s have not been the easiest of years by any stretch. The couple has endured some of the most trying times that a couple could withstand. In 2018, the Crown Princess was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis — a lung condition where lung tissue becomes stiff and scarred over time, which can lead to obstruction of oxygen. This has progressed over time, with the disease at its apparent worst in 2025 and 2026. Mette-Marit had to cancel engagements a number of times due to her ill health and was admitted to hospital on various occasions.

In 2026, the Crown Princess’s condition became so grave that a lung transplant was needed. It was noted that those who require such a procedure are deemed to have less than a year to live. The Crown Princess is still recuperating at home, although we have seen Mette-Marit on a handful of occasions, including at the FIFA World Cup. Crown Prince Haakon has repeatedly stated how difficult this time has been for the entire family and that he intends to stay by his wife’s side through every moment.

Crown Princess Mette-Marit has also endured personal struggles that have spilt into the public domain. Around 2011, Mette-Marit first came into contact with the American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. By that time, Epstein had already pled guilty to one count of solicitation of prostitution and one count of solicitation of prostitution with a minor under the age of 18 and had served thirteen months in prison in 2009. Mette-Marit has formed a relationship with the sex offender through mutual acquaintances.

Although the Crown Princess later admitted she had ceased all contact with Epstein in 2013, a U.S. Department of Justice release of emails relating to the sex offender showed more than one thousand email communications between the two that showed a very dark and twisted friendship, including a visit to Epstein’s Florida property. One email from Mette-Marit said, “I looked you up on Google after your last email. (…) the situation [Epstein’s previous conviction] didn’t look good,”. The Crown Princess was removed as the patron of Sex og Samfunn and was under immense pressure from the public, who demanded answers for the relationship. In response, the Crown Prince Couple sat down with the broadcaster NRK for an interview about everything that had gone on over the years.

The Crown Princess apologised for her role in the relationship, acknowledging her “error of judgment”, but said she felt “so manipulated and when you are manipulated, you don’t realise it from the beginning.” She said that she wished she had “never met him” while stressing she “didn’t know he was a sex offender or a predator.”

Mette-Marit’s son from before she was married, Marius Borg Høiby, was raised adjacent to the royal family. He was in official photographs, but not in the line of succession. He was present at important celebrations, but not as a member of the royal family. He was always on the periphery of the royal side of things, which many believed would give him the freedom to choose his own life path, even though he came from a more-than-comfortable home. This would not be the case, as in June 2026, Marius Borg Høiby would be convicted of multiple rape and domestic violence charges from past relationships. He is currently released on an electronic ankle monitor.

The immense troubles that Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit have endured may have broken any marriage; however, the Crown Prince Couple have shown that, no matter how intense public pressure may seem, they are rock solid with one another.

Today, as Haakon and Mette-Marit celebrate their silver wedding anniversary, the Crown Prince Couple remain, as ever, committed to each other but have also shown their commitment to the Kingdom of Norway as its future King and Queen.