Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit Placed on Lung Transplant List as Pulmonary Fibrosis Worsens, Suspends Duties

The Norwegian royal palace issued a statement on June 5 announcing that Crown Princess Mette-Marit, who suffers from pulmonary fibrosis, has been placed on a lung transplant waiting list. She will suspend all official duties. The Associated Press reports that Mette-Marit, now 52, was diagnosed with this progressive disease in 2018. The condition can cause severe breathing problems and currently has no known cure. According to the royal statement, no further medical updates will be released until after Mette-Marit undergoes a lung transplant. Following her discharge from the hospital, there will be 'a longer period of rehabilitation and training,' during which 'there will be no updates initially.' Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) quoted Dr. Are Holm, a lung specialist at Oslo University Hospital, as saying that Mette-Marit's pulmonary fibrosis has clearly worsened over the past six months, with imaging showing more scar tissue over the past year. Dr. Holm also stated that patients placed on a lung transplant list are those for whom doctors have reason to believe their life expectancy is only one year. Mette-Marit publicly apologized in February this year for causing embarrassment to the royal family, following revelations of her close ties to the late American sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein and her son Marius Borg Høiby being charged with several crimes including sexual assault. That same month, Høiby appeared in court in Oslo, the Norwegian capital.