Feb. 15, 2026

Palace Weekly Norway Edition: The week in Norwegian royal news from "Crown and Controversy Norway"

Palace Weekly Norway Edition: The week in Norwegian royal news from "Crown and Controversy Norway"
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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.

Palace Intrigue is your daily royal family podcast, diving deep into the modern-day drama, power struggles, and scandals shaping the future of the monarchy.
"Crown and Controversy: Norway" is covering the trial of Marius Borg Høiby as the Norwegian Royal Family is faced with multiple scandals of their own.

Check out "Palace Intrigue Presents: King WIlliam" here.

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WEBVTT

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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.