Controversial royals deleted from monarchy’s website

Sweeping changes have been made to the website belonging to Norway’s monarchy after a number of scandals hit the royal family.
Two of its most controversial figures have now been removed from the site under the category listing those who are officially part of the royal family.
The changes appeared on the site just days after King Harald’s daughter Princess Märtha Louise married Shaman Durek Verrett.
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They also come one month after the arrest of Marius Borg Høiby, the son of Norway’s Crown Princess, for the alleged assault of his girlfriend.
On the page detailing the who’s who of the monarchy, the website previously had two categories under the heading The Royal Family: one listing those who are part of ‘The Royal House of Norway’ and those who are included as extended members of the ‘Royal Family’.
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Now, the site has been updated with the removal of the latter category, meaning Princess Märtha Louise’s name, those of her three daughters, and that of Høiby, have been deleted. So, too, has the Crown Prince couple’s youngest son, Prince Sverre Magnus, and Princess Astrid who is the King’s sister.
The new site appears to reflect a slimmed-down monarchy.
Under the headline ‘The Royal House of Norway’, the members are listed as: King Harald and Queen Sonja, Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Princess Ingrid Alexandra, who is heir after her father.
The page previously featured a photograph showing the now-deleted royals standing on the balcony of the palace celebrating the King’s Silver Jubilee in June 2016.
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The new image shows just the King and Queen, the Crown Prince couple and their daughter taken in May on Norway’s National Day.
Princess Märtha Louise’s biography, and photo, has also been removed from the main page and instead can now be found under the category ‘other royals’.
The names of her three daughters – from her previous marriage to Ari Behn – are included in her biography page, as is a reference to her new husband Verrett following their wedding on Saturday.
It also includes a disclaimer: “Princess Märtha Louise does not represent the Royal House of Norway in an official capacity”.
Verrett was due to become part of Norway’s royal family upon his wedding to Princess Märtha Louise, something which appears to have been halted, officially at least as he is mentioned only within his wife’s biography.
There have been growing calls for Princess Märtha Louise to be stripped of her ‘princess’ title after numerous breaches of an agreement made in 2019 between her and the King not to use it in relation to her commercial endeavours.
Norwegian historian and author Trond Norén Isaksen has pointed to a decline in support for the monarchy as being connected to Märtha Louise’s actions.
In 2017, support for the monarchy was at 81 per cent and in 2022 it was sitting at 78 per cent. In May this year, support fell to 73 per cent.
A poll by Norstat two weeks ago showed overall support for the royal family had dropped again, sitting at 68 per cent.
It found 19 per cent of responders want a republic, while 14 per cent are undecided. The same poll revealed 36 per cent have taken a more negative view of the royal house over the past year, citing Princess Märtha Louise and Verrett and the Høiby case as the reasons.
Princess Märtha Louise and Verrett’s wedding also caused a stir, particularly among Norwegian media, as the couple sold the rights to British tabloid Hello! and Netflix, with a documentary said to be in the works.
As a result, the royal family issued a statement saying the King and Queen, and Crown Prince couple, would not be photographed or filmed by the two organisations that have signed exclusive rights because it denied other outlets fair access.
The other major change to the monarchy’s website overnight is the removal of Høiby, the son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit from a previous relationship.
On Sunday August 4, he became the first member of Norway’s royal family to be charged with a crime.
The 27-year-old is accused of causing bodily harm and damaging property during an alleged attack on his girlfriend inside her Oslo apartment.
He later admitted to the allegations and apologised to the royal family in a statement.
When his mother married into the monarchy in 2001, Høiby was officially recognised as a member of the royal family by King Harald but never received a royal title.
Now, he is mentioned on its website just once within his mother’s biography.
The palace has since issued a statement about why the changes were made to the website.
They “have been made to clarify who represents the royal house, as well as who the other royals are” communications manager Guri Varpe told NRK.
“This is in line with the current definitions of the royal house and its members.”
She added: “We have recognised a need to clarify roles”.
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