Norway’s Queen Mette-Marit has spoken openly about finding comfort in weaving as she navigates her son’s sexual assault conviction alongside her own serious health challenges.
The Norwegian Royal House shared a rare 2024 photograph of the 53-year-old monarch on Instagram. Taken by Tom Gustaven for Norsk Husflid, the portrait appeared alongside a personal reflection from the Queen.
Her comments were made in connection with the exhibition Threads of Time – From Royal Steppes to Royal Carpet at Oslo’s Dronning Sonja KunstStall museum. “When I sit down at the loom, everything calms down,” Mette-Marit wrote.
“Time slows down, and rushing is no longer possible. Weaving takes patience, but it gives something valuable in return: time and space, and somewhere to recharge.”
She added that weaving connects people with Norway’s shared history. “We have worked with textiles on this land for thousands of years, using them for everything from practical household items to works of art,” she said.
The exhibition reopened to visitors on October 15 and brings together pieces from royal collections created between 1899 and 1955.
Mette-Marit previously told Norsk Husflid in 2024 that she took up weaving shortly before the coronavirus pandemic began in 2020. She has since presented one of her own tapestries to her mother-in-law, Queen Sonja of Norway.
Her latest comments come after the Queen temporarily withdrew from official engagements following a lung transplant. The Norwegian Royal House has indicated that she is not expected to resume duties until next summer.
The Norwegian Queen stepped away from official duties earlier this year after undergoing a lung transplant. She has not been seen in public since attending the funeral of Princess Astrid of Norway on September 23.
Norway’s new queen faces lengthy recovery after lung transplant
Mette-Marit, who has also faced scrutiny over her past association with convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, missed her husband’s swearing-in ceremony in September after experiencing complications linked to the transplant.
She was also unable to attend a church memorial service for her late father-in-law. Her son from a previous relationship was found guilty of sexual assault and domestic abuse earlier this year.
The Queen has lived with chronic pulmonary fibrosis for several years and has not made a public appearance since Princess Astrid’s funeral on September 23.
Her condition reportedly worsened considerably over the past six months, leading doctors to place her on a lung-transplant waiting list earlier this summer.
A transplant is generally considered only as a final treatment option, with doctors determining that a patient may have less than two years to live without new lungs.
Following the operation, Norway’s Royal House said the transplant had been successful and that “everything has progressed well so far.”
Mette-Marit suspended her official programme in July. At the time, the royal court said she would require “a longer period of rehabilitation and training” and that there would initially be no further updates.
The development came during an especially difficult period for Norway’s royal family.
The Queen faced renewed public attention after the release of the Epstein Files, which indicated that she had stayed at Jeffrey Epstein’s Palm Beach residence in 2013, years after he had been convicted of soliciting sex from girls as young as 14.
Mette-Marit said this year that Epstein had misled her, as she attempted to address the controversy surrounding their connection.
Meanwhile, her son Marius Borg Hoiby remains under house arrest while appealing a four-year sentence stemming from two sexual assault convictions.
The royal, who has previously come under scrutiny for her ties to late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, also missed her husband’s swearing-in ceremony in September after suffering ‘complications’ from the transplant.
Court hears disturbing evidence in Høiby’s assault trial
In June, an Oslo court found him guilty of assaulting his former girlfriend, Nora Haukland, issuing threats and committing traffic offences, although he was acquitted of two other sexual assault charges.
The 29-year-old had been charged with sexually assaulting four women who were asleep or otherwise unable to resist between 2018 and 2024.
The conviction marked a fall for Hoiby, who grew up in the public eye after his mother married then Crown Prince Haakon in 2001 when he was just four years old.
Although he does not hold a royal title or carry out official duties, he has long been closely associated with the Norwegian royal family.
Judge Jon Sverdrup Efjestad handed down the sentence after hearing evidence linked to 40 charges, including four alleged sexual assaults, assaults, breaches of restraining orders, drug offences and driving violations. One charge relating to a restraining-order violation was overturned.
The court heard how Hoiby’s drug addiction spiralled in recent years, while investigators presented more than 800 messages and a series of self-made videos of sexual encounters as evidence during the trial.
One alleged sexual assault took place in the basement of the family home, the court was told.
Høiby, who denied the most serious allegations, including sexual assault, while admitting to some lesser offences, was not physically present in court for the verdict and instead joined proceedings via video link.
Haakon and Mette-Marit were pictured visiting Høiby in custody ahead of the sentencing in June, but they did not attend the high-profile trial that rocked the country.
Norwegian royal ‘black sheep’ faces awkward funeral moment
On August 31, Høiby joined members of the royal family to carry his step-grandfather’s coffin from the Royal Palace to the palace chapel, prompting backlash from royal supporters.
He was one of eight lifting the coffin, along with the new King Haakon and his children Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus as well as Princess Martha Louise and her three daughters Maud, Leah and Emma Behn.
However, at King Harald V’s funeral in September, Høiby, dubbed the ‘black sheep’ of the Royal Family was sat in the row behind his loved ones, with his step-aunt Princess Martha Louise and her daughters.
He also appeared to be shunned by his step-grandmother Queen Sonja. In a video shared online on X, Harald’s widow, 89, hugged each one of Martha Louise’s daughters, who Høiby arrived alongside.
But when the moment came for her step-grandson to come forward for an affectionate greeting, the Queen started a conversation with the Bishop of Oslo Sunniva Gylver, perhaps hoping to avoid hugging the assaulter.
