Crown Prince Haakon forced to make schedule change after Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s health update

That of Norway Crown Prince Haakon has been forced to curtail an official visit to Japan due to growing concerns about his wife’s health, Crown Princess Mette-Marit.

The Norwegian royal family has confirmed that the future king will return home a day earlier than planned the chronic lung disease of the Crown Princess that limits her ability to breathe.

“His Royal Highness the Crown Prince shortens his official trip to Japan by one day due to the health situation of Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess,” the palace said in a statement. statement.

The heir of the Norwegian throne will continue with engagements in Tokyo from June 1 to 3, including meetings with Japanese officials, but a planned visit to the port city of Hachinohe on June 4 has been cancelled.

The news comes just days later Prince Haakin revealed he was “concerned” about his wife’s healthless than a week after his mother, Queen Sonja, was diagnosed with heart failure.

“The Crown Princess is seriously ill and I think she has gotten a bit worse recently, so I am concerned about her health,” Prince Haakon told Norwegian media earlier this week.

Mette-Marit, 52, was diagnosed in 2018 with pulmonary fibrosis, a chronic lung disease that causes scarring and makes breathing difficult.

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Last year she underwent pulmonary rehabilitation, which helped temporarily, but in December the Royal House announced that the crown princess’s condition had deteriorated.

Her medical team confirmed that she would be evaluated for a possible lung transplant in the future. Mette-Marit’s doctors insisted she would not be put on the transplant waiting list because of her place in the royal family.

The Crown Princess has since relied on oxygen and scaled back her public duties, as has recently emerged using a nasal breathing tube connected to an oxygen tank.

In March, the Crown Princess gave an interview to the Norwegian national broadcaster NRKwhich had to be limited to 20 minutes because she could not talk for a long time.

“I live with a serious illness and that is what characterizes my daily life now,” said Mette-Marit.

“It’s what determines whether I can stay in my role at all or not.

“I have great confidence in the importance of the monarchy in Norway. And I have great confidence that trust is one of the most beautiful values ​​of our society. And I really hope that in the long term this will not weaken confidence in the institution. That would be very sad for me.”

The latest health setback comes at an incredibly difficult time for the Norwegian royal family.

Queen Sonja, 88, was briefly hospitalized this month for heart failure before being discharged and returning home to recover. The queen was fitted with a pacemaker in early 2025 after being diagnosed with heart fibrillation during a ski trip.

Meanwhile, her husband, King Harald, who has been on the Norwegian throne for 35 years and is Europe’s oldest reigning monarch, was fitted with a pacemaker in 2024 after falling ill while on holiday in Malaysia. In February he was hospitalized due to an infection during a holiday to Tenerife.

The Norwegian court is also plagued by controversy.

The Crown Princess’s former friendship with the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was unveiled earlier this yearthat dominates the headlines.

Meanwhile, her eldest son, Marius Borg Høiby, is pending the outcome of a criminal trial and faced a seven-year prison sentence after being charged with rape and sexual assault.