Feb. 15, 2026

NORWAY THIS WEEK SEASON 3 EPISODE 13

Show Notes
Transcript

"Going Crazy," Sleep Data, and "Locker-Room Talk"

Princess Ingrid Alexandra Instagram post to 800 followers: "I'm going crazy. When is enough?" Expert: "Family undoubtedly under pressure, but lot of it self-inflicted by her mother and half-brother." Crown Princess Mette-Marit apologizes to "especially the King and Queen"—"some content of messages does not represent person I want to be." Crown Prince Haakon: "I have to make sure to take care of the Crown Princess" who's "not allowed" to speak yet, "needs time to gather herself."

Deep Crown: "Ingrid Alexandra posting would simply never happen here. Mette-Marit's public apologies would also not happen. Norwegians believe transparency equals relatability. What it reveals is lack of institutional discipline." Marius trial: victim testified woke to assault—"I don't understand how someone can have sex with someone who's sleeping. It was painful. My body wasn't ready for it." Sleep researcher: pulse data "compatible with her initially being asleep, unable to resist."

Witnesses describe Høiby "authoritarian," victim "wanted to sleep, but he wanted to keep having sex." Høiby: "I've been woken up by being touched myself many times." Derogatory messages about victim dismissed as "locker-room talk." Crown Prince/Princess visited prison twice in one week despite one-visit limit. Ambassador resigned—Epstein left $10M to her children. Mette-Marit googled Epstein: "didn't look too good :)." 47.6% don't want her as queen. Republican membership surge.

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.

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Calorogus Shark Media. That lo and welcome to Crown and Controversy.

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This is the weekly edition where we recap the stories

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from the week, and if you'd like to check up

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on just the daily editions, those are there in the

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feed as well. So let's go over what happened last

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week in Norway. I'm your Palace Intrigue host Mark Francis.

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Princess Ingrid Alexandra has posted an unusually personal message on

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her private Instagram account, speaking out against what she described

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as personal attacks and saying she was going crazy. The

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twenty two year old, who is studying in Sydney and

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his second in line to the throne, shared the message

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with her roughly eight hundred followers. In the message, Ingrid

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Alexandra wrote that it was not about any issue, not Marius,

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not Mum or Dad or Magnus, but instead about personal

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attacks that often apply it to us. She added, I

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chose to it here because I'm going crazy. When is enough?

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Eric Mustard, an expert on the Norwegian royal family, told

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Afton postin I find this sad to read. The family

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is undoubtedly under a lot of pressure, but at the

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same time a lot of it is self inflicted by

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her mother and her half brother. When you write to

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that many people on Instagram, it's not private. Crown Princess

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Madamerie issued a fresh apology on Friday, saying she regretted

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the situation she has put the Norwegian royal family in,

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especially the King and Queen. Addressing the content of the

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Epstein correspondence, the Crown Princess said, some of the content

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of the messages between Epstein and me does not represent

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the person I want to be. Norway's Crown Prince Harkens

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said his priority has been supporting his family. For me,

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the most important thing these past few days has been

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to take care of the flock. Harkins said, we support

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Marius in the situation he is in. We look after

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the other children as well. They also need to be

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cared for, and I have to make sure to take

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care of the Crown Princess. How can acknowledge that there

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is strong public interest in hearing directly from his wife,

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but said she is not yet ready to speak. She

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thinks that is completely natural. She would like to speak,

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but right now she can't, and I also tell her

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that she is not allowed to. She needs time to

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gather herself. Dig Crown tells us what strikes me about

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the Norwegian situations, how thoroughly it demonstrates the value of

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British royal restraint. Princess Ingrid Alexandra posting to Instagram about

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going crazy over personal attacks would simply never happen here ground.

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Princess Madamemorie's public apologies to the King and Queen would

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also not happen in Britain. Such matters would be handled

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with a terse palace statement and strategic withdrawal from public view.

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The Norwegians seemed to believe transparency equals relatability, what it

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actually reveals as a lack of institutional discipline. Oslo is

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learning the hard way what Buckingham Palace has always known.

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Some things are better left unsaid. Norway's parliament voted to

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reaffirm the constitutional monarchy, with only seventeen of one hundred

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and sixty nine lawmakers supporting a proposal to investigate dismantling

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the monarchy. However, polling found that fifty four percent of

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Norwegian's support remaining a monarchy, while thirty three percent favor

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becoming a republic. In testimony given behind closed doors, an

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Oslo District Court, a woman described the night she spent

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with Marius Borg Hoibi in October of twenty three, alleging

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that she woke to him having sex with her while

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she was asleep. The woman told the court that earlier

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in the night, she and Hoibi had consensual sex several times.

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She says she was very tired and eventually fell asleep.

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She testified that she later woke in shock, experiencing pain,

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and realized intercourse was already underway. I remember waking up

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when he was already under way. I thought, I don't

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understand how someone can have sex with someone who's sleeping.

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Then I mostly had the feeling I was disassociating, leaving

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my own body. It was painful. My body wasn't ready

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for it. After the account of the woman wrote on

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a private note on her phone, which was later presented

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in court. In court, she said the note functioned as

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a personal diary and that she had repressed what she

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now believes was an assault. She said she only later

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understood the situation as an assault after discussing it with

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a counselor. The defense challenged inconsistencies between her earlier police

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interviews and her court room testimony. The woman responded that

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she did not say she wanted sex either, and that

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a sleeping person gives no indication of consent. Prosecutors also

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presented a five second video found on Hoybe's phone, allegedly

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filmed without the woman's knowledge, and pulse data from a

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smart watch she was wearing. The woman said she recognized

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herself in the footage but found it distressing to see.

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Professor Stally pallas An, a sleep researcher from the University

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of Bergen, analyzed garment pulse watch data from the night.

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He testified that the complainant's explanation was consistent with the

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biometric readings. The explanation of the complainant in both of

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these instances is compatible with her initially being asleep and

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thus being unable at least until she woke up, to

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resist the sexual act. Regarding a pulse spike, he said,

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what happens is that the pulse is low and the

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watch indicates deep sleep, and then you see an increase

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in pulse, which indicates that she wakes up. Witnesses from

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the after party described Hoeby's behavior shifting as the evening progressed.

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One female witness said to begin with, he was nice,

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and then they felt it became uncomfortable after a while.

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He raises his voice rather than lowering it, and turns

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the music up instead of down. He also pushed for

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us to drink more alcohol. Another witness described him as

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maybe a bit authoritarian, speaking somewhat from above and down.

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One female friend testified that the complainants appeared tired and

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wanted to sleep. I remember she said, you wanted to

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go to bed and sleep, but he wanted to keep

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having sex, and there was a bit of a clash

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between them. Weaby told the court he is still medicated

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and that the strain of proceedings may affect how clearly

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he is able to speak. He maintained that the sexual

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encounters were consensual and said he had no reason to

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believe otherwise. When questioned about whether it is acceptable to

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wake a sexual partner by initiating sexual activity, Hoibe responded,

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I've been woken up by being touched myself many times

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in similar situations. I never thought it was anything other

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than pleasant. The prosecutor asked, why isn't that wrong to

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wake someone by touching their genitals or breasts. Weiby responded,

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you've already been lying in bed and had sex. I

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don't think it's anything terribly wrong when you've had sex

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just minutes earlier. The court revisited the five second video

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recorded at four fifty eight am. Weiby says he does

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not remember filming her. I had my phone out. What

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can I say. I don't think I asked for permission,

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but I also can't remember getting any refusal. Prosecutors presented

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messages Hoiby sent to a close friend during the night,

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in which he shared a photo and described the complainant

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in derogatory terms. Asked about the contrast with finding her

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attractive earlier, he said, it's locker room talk between me

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and my best friend. More crown and controversy in just

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a moment, reports from Norwegian sources jess Marius Borg. Hoiby

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has received visits from Crown Prince Harken and Crown Princess

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Madame Marie. The Crown Prince couple visited Hoyby on Thursday

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outside regular visiting hours at around seven thirty pm. On Saturday,

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there was another visit, but this time only from Crown

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Prince Harken at approximately three point thirty According to Oslo

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Prison's website. Inmates without children are allowed a maximum of

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one visit per week. Nevertheless, Hoyby has received two visits

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within a single week. Prison Governor Nils lal Finstead said

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the relatives have been crystal clear that they do not

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want special treatment and they have not received it. A

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Norwegian ambassador has resigned following revelations about her past association

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with Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein's reported to have left ten million

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dollars to the children of Mona Jewel in a will

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drawn up shortly before his death. Jewel, who had been

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Norway's ambassador to Jordan, stepped down Sunday night after being

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suspended the previous week. The latest batch of Epstein files

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reportedly contains more than one thousand references to Madame Marie.

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Particularly damaging is evidence suggesting the Crown Princess knew more

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about Epstein's background than she later acknowledged. In an email

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sent three years after Epstein pleaded guilty, she wrote, googled

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you after the last email, agreed didn't look too good.

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The Observer reports this has really added to the drama

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and deepened the crisis of people so angry with her

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that they would rather have a republic than have her

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as queen. The fallout has driven renewed interest in republicanism.

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The Norwegian Republican Association reported as surge in membership following

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the revelations. Its head said, we've got new members coming

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in every hour. We've been contacted by people who have said,

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up until now I've been a fan of the royal

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family and a monarchist, but now this has pushed me

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over the edge. A survey found forty seven percent of

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respondents do not believe Crown Princess Madame Marie should become

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Norway's next queen. This is the week Princess ingwod Alexandra posted,

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I'm going crazy when it's enough. The week Meta Marie

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apologized to especially the King and Queen. The week Crown

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Prince Harkin said, I have to make sure to take

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care of the Crown Princess who's not allowed to speak yet.

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Deep Crown observed Ingrid Alexandra posting to Instagram would simply

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never happen here. Meta Mareat's public apologies would also not happen.

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The Norwegians seemed to believe transparency equals relatability. What it

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actually reveals is a lack of institutional discipline. Maria's trial.

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Victim testified woke to assault. I don't understand how someone

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can have sex with someone who's sleeping. Sleep researcher confirmed

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POLSE data compatible with her initially being asleep. Witness weeby

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authoritarian victim wanted to go to bed and sleep. He

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wanted to keep having sex. Weiby, I've been worken up

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by being touched myself many times, called derogatory messages about

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victim locker room talk between me and my best friend.

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The crown Prince and Princess visited him in prison twice

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in one week, despite one visit per week rule. Norwegian

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ambassador resigned. Epstein left ten million dollars to her children.

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Meta meriek googled Epstein didn't look too good. Republican Association

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membership surge forty seven percent, don't want me to Marie

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his queen, thirty three percent favor of the Republic, and

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somewhere between Instagram milkdowns and sleep data testimony. Norway faces

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what observers call their annis horribilus, the royal family learning

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the hard way that somethings are better left unsaid. And

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there you have it. If you'd like to email us

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our addresses the Palace intrig at gmail dot com. Please

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follow us on Spotify, Apple, on the app of your choice,

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and you can also find us on Facebook and Instagram.

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I'm Mark Francis my thanks to John McDermott. This is

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crowning controversy Norway.