Photo: Collected

OSLO, June 17, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit, who suffers from a serious lung disease, has undergone a "successful" lung transplant, the palace said Wednesday, after a difficult few months for the Scandinavian royal.

Mette-Marit, 52, was diagnosed in 2018 with pulmonary fibrosis which causes scarring of the lungs and shortness of breath, and she had been forced to scale back her duties on occasion over the years.

The operation's success comes after a tough time in the spotlight for the wife of Norway's heir to the throne, and just days after her son from a previous relationship was sentenced to prison for rape in a case that has rocked the country's monarchy.

"In accordance with standard practice... the Crown Princess will remain admitted to Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet for several weeks to come," Are Holm, lung specialist at the hospital, said in a palace statement.

Her condition had deteriorated significantly over the past six months and her doctors announced on June 5 that she had been placed on the waiting list for a lung transplant.

Doctors said the procedure was a last resort when a patient is believed to have less than two years to live without new lungs.

Wednesday's palace statement did not specify when the procedure was done.

Scarring of the lungs occurs when the tiny air sacs called alveoli and the tissue between them become damaged and thickened, stiffening the lung and thereby hindering the passage of oxygen into the blood.

Her doctors had previously said that to be placed on the list for a transplant, one must be sick enough to qualify but still in sufficiently good condition to handle such a major procedure and recovery.

The crown princess had recently appeared in public with a breathing tube connected to an oxygen device carried by a palace employee.

- 'Turbulent' times –

Crown Prince Haakon, who is set to one day succeed his 89-year-old father as king, will cut back his public engagements going forward in order to spend time with his wife, the palace said.

The couple's 22-year-old daughter, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, has also interrupted her social sciences studies at the University of Sydney to be with her mother and plans to continue her studies in Oslo throughout the autumn.

The crown prince couple's silver wedding anniversary celebration, which was to take place in August 2026, has been postponed.

A single mother when she married Haakon in 2001, Mette-Marit's health woes have coincided with the high-profile trial of her 29-year-old son from a previous relationship, Marius Borg Hoiby, which has damaged the monarchy's standing in the public eye.

On Monday, an Oslo court sentenced Hoiby to four years in prison for two counts of rape and 32 other offences, after a six-week trial in February and March.

Hoiby has denied the most serious charges, and his lawyers have said they will appeal.

He has been held in custody since February and has repeatedly asked to be released to be at his mother's bedside, requests denied by the courts.

Mette-Marit has also been plagued by revelations about her friendship with convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

In January, documents were released revealing her frequent contacts with Epstein between 2011 and 2014 -- after he was convicted of soliciting a minor -- which shocked Norwegians.

Shortly afterwards, several opinion polls showed that a majority of Norwegians felt Mette-Marit was no longer suitable to be queen one day.

"I think time will do its work, that Norwegians will forgive (her), and that the sympathy generated by the crown princess's health problems will help turn the tide," Caroline Vagle, royal reporter for celebrity magazine Se og Hor, told AFP.

"But even if she has new lungs, her condition is serious and she won't be at 100 percent. It remains to be seen what level of official activity she'll be able to maintain," she said.

The scandals have shaken the monarchy and contributed to declining support, though it remains broadly popular.

An opinion poll published in May by public broadcaster NRK showed 64 percent of Norwegians are in favour of maintaining the monarchy.

"This has of course been a turbulent period," royal expert Ole-Jorgen Schulsrud-Hansen said, "but overall, the royal family has retained the public's sympathy given the crown princess's condition."