OSLO – Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit underwent a successful lung transplant and is recovering from the procedure, the Norwegian royal family said in a statement on Wednesday.
The 52-year-old wife of Crown Prince Haakon, heir to the Norwegian throne, was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis in 2018, a chronic disease that causes scarring in the lungs and leads to decreased oxygen absorption.
“Like all newly transplanted patients, the Crown Princess will remain in hospital for the next several weeks,” Ari Holm, a professor at Oslo University Hospital, said in a statement provided by the palace.
The surgery comes at a tense time for the royal family: earlier this week, Mette-Marit’s 29-year-old son from a previous relationship, Marius Borg-Hoebe, was found guilty of rape and domestic violence and sentenced to four years in prison. Years in prison.
Oslo University Hospital June 5 She said Mette-Marit had been put on a waiting list for a lung transplant after a significant deterioration in her health that likely gave her just one year to live without the surgery.
The palace said that the Crown Prince and the Crown Prince thanked the public for the warm and kind welcome they received recently. She added that the next public update on her health is expected only when she is discharged from hospital.
Crown Prince Haakon said in December that the family had noticed a change in Mette-Marit’s condition and that she was struggling more to breathe.
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoer praised the Crown Princess for being open about her illness, saying it might help others suffering from similar conditions.
Mette-Marit was 25 years old, a single mother and a commoner when she met Haakon at a music festival in 1999 — the beginning of an unlikely royal romance that began with fanfare and ended up winning over a large portion of the nation.
The royal family is exposed to scandals
But support for Norway’s monarchy has taken a major hit this year, opinion polls show, with several scandals occurring at once.
Hoebe’s conviction on Monday followed a highly publicized trial that dominated headlines.
Meanwhile, the Crown Princess apologized to the king and The Queen for her connection with the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, whom she described as a “friend”, although she severed ties several years before his death in 2019.
A Norstat poll conducted in February, during Hoebe’s trial, showed support for retaining ownership falling to a record 60%, before rebounding slightly to 64% in May.