Feb. 23, 2026

Former Prince Andrew Returns Norway’s Order of St. Olav as Mette-Marit Timing Questions Intensify

Show Notes
Transcript

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has returned Norway’s Order of St. Olav, one of the country’s highest royal honours, according to the Norwegian Royal Palace. The palace confirmed only that he “has chosen to return his order,” offering no further explanation under confidentiality rules.

Meanwhile in Oslo, the trial of Marius Borg Høiby continues this week, with Nora Haukland expected to complete her testimony before Høiby gives his account on the charges relating to her.

At the same time, Norway’s Royal Palace has moved to shut down speculation that Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s health announcement was timed to blunt the impact of Epstein document releases.

Portions of this program were assembled with the assistance of AI, including help with translation, summarisation, and news gathering from publicly available sources. While we have taken care to reflect the reporting accurately, translations and interpretations may contain errors. Listeners should treat this as an informational overview, not a verbatim court record.

Unlock an ad-free podcast experience with Caloroga Shark Media! Get all our shows on any player you love, hassle free! For Apple users, hit the banner on your Apple podcasts app. For Spotify or other players, visit caloroga.com/plus. No plug-ins needed!

Subscribe now for exclusive shows like 'Palace Intrigue,' and get bonus content from Deep Crown (our exclusive Palace Insider!) Or get 'Daily Comedy News,' and '5 Good News Stories’ with no commercials! Plans start at $4.99 per month, or save 20% with a yearly plan at $49.99. Join today and help support the show!

We now have Merch! FREE SHIPPING! Check out all the products like T-shirts, mugs, bags, jackets and more with logos and slogans from your favorite shows! Did we mention there’s free shipping? Get 10% off with code NewMerch10 Go to Caloroga.com

Get more info from

WEBVTT

1
00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:10.000
Caalarougus Shark Media that low and welcome to crown and

2
00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:15.160
controversy Norway. I'm your Palace Injury Coast Mark Francis. Britain's

3
00:00:15.160 --> 00:00:18.399
Andrew mount Batten Windsor has returned one of Norway's highest

4
00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:22.120
royal honors, according to the Norwegian Royal Palace. In a

5
00:00:22.120 --> 00:00:26.320
brief statement reported by Reuter's, a palace spokesperson said Andrew

6
00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:29.399
mount Batten Windsor has chosen to return his order. No

7
00:00:29.480 --> 00:00:33.359
further explanation was given, with the palace citing confidentiality rules

8
00:00:33.399 --> 00:00:37.719
surrounding royal decorations. The honor in question is the Order

9
00:00:37.759 --> 00:00:41.439
of Saint Olave, Norway's most prestigious peacetime award. It was

10
00:00:41.479 --> 00:00:44.920
originally bestowed on Andrew in nineteen eighty eight in recognition

11
00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:48.880
of distinguished service. The development comes after Andrew mount Batten

12
00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:52.119
Windsor was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office,

13
00:00:52.399 --> 00:00:55.960
according to BBC reporting, over allegations that he sent confidential

14
00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:59.640
government documents to Jeffrey Epstein. He has not been convicted

15
00:00:59.640 --> 00:01:03.039
of any offense. We're covering that story daily on the

16
00:01:03.079 --> 00:01:07.560
Palace Intrigue podcast. That way you get this podcast. For now,

17
00:01:07.640 --> 00:01:10.200
there has been no indication from Oslo whether the return

18
00:01:10.280 --> 00:01:13.760
of the Order of Saint Olave was requested or made voluntarily,

19
00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:16.040
and the Palace has said it will not discuss the

20
00:01:16.079 --> 00:01:20.280
matter further. To understand the modern relationship between the British

21
00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:22.879
and Norwegian royal families, you have to go back to

22
00:01:22.920 --> 00:01:26.359
the great dynastic web created by Queen Victoria and King

23
00:01:26.480 --> 00:01:29.920
Christian the ninth of Denmark, often called the Grandmother and

24
00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:33.439
the father in law of Europe. Their descendants married into

25
00:01:33.560 --> 00:01:36.599
royal houses across the continent, and the Norwegian monarchy is

26
00:01:36.599 --> 00:01:40.200
one of the clearest examples of those ties. When Norway

27
00:01:40.200 --> 00:01:43.319
became an independent kingdom in nineteen o five, it chose

28
00:01:43.319 --> 00:01:46.480
Prince Karl of Denmark as its king. He became King

29
00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:49.879
Hearken the seventh. Haken was a grandson of King Christian

30
00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:52.719
the ninth. His wife, Queen Maude, was the daughter of

31
00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:56.680
Britain's King Edward the seventh and the granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

32
00:01:57.400 --> 00:01:59.920
That marriage created the direct family link between the two

33
00:02:00.200 --> 00:02:03.680
royal houses. Queen Maude's brother was King George the Fifth

34
00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:06.959
of the UK That made King Hearken the seventh the

35
00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:09.879
brother in law of George the fifth and the uncle

36
00:02:09.919 --> 00:02:13.080
by marriage of King George the sixth. Their children, including

37
00:02:13.080 --> 00:02:16.520
Crown Prince Olive of Norway and Princess Elizabeth the future

38
00:02:16.599 --> 00:02:20.800
Queen Elizabeth the Second, were therefore first cousins. We'll have

39
00:02:20.800 --> 00:02:23.479
a test on this later for you. That wartime family

40
00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:26.199
bond was visible during the German occupation of Norway, when

41
00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:29.520
King Harken and Crown Prince Olive lived in exile in

42
00:02:29.639 --> 00:02:32.759
London and were received at Buckingham Palace not simply as

43
00:02:32.759 --> 00:02:36.479
allies but as close relatives. In the modern generation, the

44
00:02:36.520 --> 00:02:40.000
connection continues. King Harold the Fifth of Norway, the son

45
00:02:40.039 --> 00:02:42.479
of the Crown Prince Olive, and Queen Elizabeth the Second,

46
00:02:42.520 --> 00:02:46.599
were second cousins, both great great grandchildren of Queen Victoria.

47
00:02:47.400 --> 00:02:49.360
King Charles the Third and King Harald the Fifth are

48
00:02:49.560 --> 00:02:53.159
third cousins, again through their shared dissent from Queen Victoria.

49
00:02:53.800 --> 00:02:56.479
There is an additional connection through Prince Philip. Like the

50
00:02:56.520 --> 00:02:59.159
late Queen, he was also a descendant of Queen Victoria,

51
00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:02.280
which means as the Norwegian royal family was related to

52
00:03:02.360 --> 00:03:07.919
him independently as well. The trial Marius borg Hoibi is

53
00:03:07.960 --> 00:03:11.560
scheduled to continue with proceedings resumed on Tuesday morning, when

54
00:03:11.680 --> 00:03:15.360
Norah Hauckland is expected to complete her testimony. After that,

55
00:03:15.400 --> 00:03:17.479
Hoyby is due to give his account on the charges

56
00:03:17.560 --> 00:03:20.039
relating to her, a phase that is likely to run

57
00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:24.680
into Wednesday before further witnesses and technical evidence are presented.

58
00:03:25.199 --> 00:03:27.599
The case as a whole began on February third, and

59
00:03:27.759 --> 00:03:30.479
is planned to run for several weeks, with the court

60
00:03:30.520 --> 00:03:34.919
timetable currently stretching into mid March. The Norwegian Palace has

61
00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:37.199
moved to shut down one of the most persistent and

62
00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:41.080
politically sensitive questions of this entire Epstein saga, whether the

63
00:03:41.159 --> 00:03:44.800
dramatic health announcement about Crown Princess Madame Marie was timed

64
00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:48.840
to push the document release out of the headlines. For

65
00:03:48.879 --> 00:03:50.919
the first time, the royal household is giving a clear

66
00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:55.240
and on the record denial. Communications chief Guri VARp says

67
00:03:55.319 --> 00:03:58.159
there was no connection between the two events, insisting the

68
00:03:58.199 --> 00:04:01.439
date was chosen for practical reasons, the scheduling of the

69
00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:04.080
NRK interview, the availability of the doctors who needed to

70
00:04:04.120 --> 00:04:07.639
brief the press of the royal family's official program. Until now,

71
00:04:07.680 --> 00:04:10.159
the Palace had declined to answer questions about The timing

72
00:04:10.439 --> 00:04:14.039
shift from silence to a detailed explanation is significant and

73
00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:16.639
it shows how seriously they view the damage this narrative

74
00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:20.199
is done. The timing question has lingered because of how

75
00:04:20.199 --> 00:04:23.560
the story originally unfolded. On the very day the deadline

76
00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:26.319
passed for the long awaited release of the Epstein material,

77
00:04:26.519 --> 00:04:29.879
the Palace instead dominated the Norwegian news cycle with the

78
00:04:29.959 --> 00:04:33.920
deeply personal announcement that the Crown princess lung disease had

79
00:04:33.920 --> 00:04:37.319
worsened and that doctors had begun preparing for the possibility

80
00:04:37.399 --> 00:04:41.160
of a transplant. The Health news triggered an immediate wave

81
00:04:41.199 --> 00:04:44.639
of sympathy, extensive coverage, and even a measurable rise in

82
00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:48.879
organ donor registrations. Only weeks later, when millions of EPSTEIN

83
00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:52.040
documents were finally released and revealed a far more extensive

84
00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:55.959
contact than previously acknowledged, did the overlap begin to look

85
00:04:56.079 --> 00:05:00.720
to critics less like coincidence and more like strategy. The

86
00:05:00.759 --> 00:05:03.279
Palace is now trying to reframe that moment as logistics

87
00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:06.160
rather than media management. Their argument is at the interview

88
00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:09.639
for NRK's traditional year end royal program had already been

89
00:05:09.639 --> 00:05:13.319
recorded in mid December, that medical briefings had to be coordinated,

90
00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:16.519
and that the royal calendar left very few workable dates.

91
00:05:17.399 --> 00:05:20.600
NARK has backed up part of that explanation, confirming that

92
00:05:20.639 --> 00:05:22.920
it held the health information for a week so the

93
00:05:22.959 --> 00:05:25.160
Crown Prince and Crown Princess could choose when to make

94
00:05:25.240 --> 00:05:29.519
it public themselves. That detail strengthens the Palace's case that

95
00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:33.519
the announcement followed a production timeline rather than a communications

96
00:05:33.560 --> 00:05:37.079
plan designed to blunt the Epstein fallout. But even as

97
00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:40.759
the official line becomes clearer, the debate has not disappeared.

98
00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:44.839
Royal commentators point out that in a modern monarchy, timing

99
00:05:44.920 --> 00:05:48.079
is never neutral. Every announcement lands in a media environment

100
00:05:48.120 --> 00:05:52.000
that the Palace understands extremely well, and every major development

101
00:05:52.040 --> 00:05:56.160
carries reputational consequences. The question, in other words, is not

102
00:05:56.199 --> 00:05:58.639
only whether the overlap was intentional, but whether it was

103
00:05:58.680 --> 00:06:01.560
avoidable and whether the u S institution is now paying

104
00:06:01.560 --> 00:06:04.839
the price for how it was perceived. At the same time,

105
00:06:04.839 --> 00:06:07.759
the Crown Princesses issued a new personal response after being

106
00:06:07.800 --> 00:06:12.079
directly challenged by an Epstein survivor on Norwegian television. In

107
00:06:12.120 --> 00:06:14.959
that statement, she says she's deeply shaken by the victim's

108
00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:17.519
stories and that they have her full support, adding that

109
00:06:17.560 --> 00:06:21.199
she must take responsibility for not having investigated Epstein more

110
00:06:21.240 --> 00:06:24.279
thoroughly and for not understanding sooner what kind of person

111
00:06:24.319 --> 00:06:27.199
he was. The language is more emotional and more direct

112
00:06:27.240 --> 00:06:30.319
than some of her earlier communications, and it is clearly

113
00:06:30.360 --> 00:06:34.000
aimed at addressing the moral dimension of the criticism rather

114
00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:38.720
than the factual timeline. Taken together, these moves show a

115
00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:42.639
royal household still in active crisis management mode. The Palace

116
00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:45.560
is trying to close down the procedural controversy over timing,

117
00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:48.079
while the Crown Princess is attempting to speak to the

118
00:06:48.120 --> 00:06:51.959
ethical questions that continue to resonate with the public. Whether

119
00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:55.600
that combination will stabilize the situation is still an open question,

120
00:06:55.920 --> 00:06:57.639
but what is clear is that this is no longer

121
00:06:57.720 --> 00:07:00.800
just about past meetings with a disgraced finance. It has

122
00:07:00.839 --> 00:07:04.839
become a test of credibility, transparency, and the modern monarchy's

123
00:07:04.839 --> 00:07:08.680
ability to control or even keep up with the story

124
00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:12.879
surrounding it more crown and controversy. In just a moment,

125
00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:19.720
a pr expert says, Crown Princess Meta Marie cannot remain

126
00:07:19.759 --> 00:07:21.959
silent much longer, and that the time has come for

127
00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:24.959
her to face the press. During a broadcast of Enoquay's

128
00:07:25.079 --> 00:07:28.720
debarton last week, Marina Lacerda, who for several years was

129
00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:32.720
abused by the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, criticized the

130
00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:35.959
Crown Princess for her past contact with him. Lacerda said

131
00:07:36.360 --> 00:07:39.279
she should begin with honesty. She must take the responsibility

132
00:07:39.399 --> 00:07:41.720
for the conversation she had with a man who operated

133
00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:45.639
in a world of child trafficking and abuse. After the program,

134
00:07:45.879 --> 00:07:49.439
Meta Marie issued a new statement. However, what appeared to

135
00:07:49.480 --> 00:07:51.600
be new remarks turned out to be identical to the

136
00:07:51.639 --> 00:07:55.199
statement the Palace release on the thirtieth of January. In

137
00:07:55.199 --> 00:07:58.399
that statement, she said, Jeffrey Epstein is responsible for his

138
00:07:58.519 --> 00:08:01.680
own actions. I must take responsibility for not checking his

139
00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:04.800
background more thoroughly and for not understanding quickly enough what

140
00:08:04.920 --> 00:08:08.160
kind of person he was. I sincerely apologize for that,

141
00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:12.600
and this is a responsibility I must take. Pr advised

142
00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:15.839
that Trond Albert Shellbred says he does not attach much

143
00:08:15.959 --> 00:08:19.480
importance to the fact that the statement was repeated. She

144
00:08:19.519 --> 00:08:21.360
could have chosen to say nothing and the public would

145
00:08:21.439 --> 00:08:25.560
certainly have reacted negatively to that. However, he is critical

146
00:08:25.560 --> 00:08:27.920
that the Crown Princess has still not given an interview.

147
00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:31.120
The Crown Prince said she would return, just not yet,

148
00:08:31.319 --> 00:08:33.200
but we cannot wait for months. It will cost her

149
00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:36.279
if she does not face the press. The only way

150
00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:38.600
to kill rumors is with facts. They should call a

151
00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:41.240
press conference, sit down in front of the entire press

152
00:08:41.240 --> 00:08:44.080
corps and answer questions. We expect more in a small

153
00:08:44.120 --> 00:08:47.639
than open society like Norway. He believes the couple can

154
00:08:47.720 --> 00:08:50.320
ultimately emerge stronger, but only if they are willing to

155
00:08:50.360 --> 00:08:53.879
go through an uncomfortable and painful process. They must meet

156
00:08:53.879 --> 00:08:57.399
the press, explain and answer questions. It will be embarrassing

157
00:08:57.480 --> 00:08:59.919
and difficult, and it will cost them, but what costs

158
00:09:00.039 --> 00:09:03.000
Something has value and one condition is crucial. They must

159
00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:07.000
be honest. Some of the reporting in this podcast was

160
00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:10.799
originally published in Norwegian and has been translated for clarity.

161
00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:13.759
We've worked to keep the wording and context as accurate

162
00:09:13.799 --> 00:09:17.360
as possible, but minor differences in phrasing can occur when

163
00:09:17.399 --> 00:09:20.919
moving between languages. What you're hearing is a curated summary

164
00:09:20.919 --> 00:09:25.480
of multiple sources, assembled with the help of AI and

165
00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:27.159
there you have it. If you'd like to email us

166
00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:30.399
or it is the palasintrig at gmail dot com. I'm

167
00:09:30.440 --> 00:09:32.960
Mark Francis my thanks to John McDermott. This is crown

168
00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:37.320
and controversy Norway