The Norwegian organization FOKUS will no longer have Crown Princess Mette-Marit as its high patron, with the background being her contact with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to reports. This follows similar moves by Sex og samfunn, which previously broke cooperation, and the Council for Mental Health, which has paused cooperation. The Norwegian Library Association has also ended its cooperation, citing problematic circumstances related to breaches of trust and untruths, weak role understanding, and values incompatible with the association's. According to the Norwegian Library Association, the decision to end the patronage is about role, not Mette-Marit as a person, and the board weighed whether it benefits the association to have her as high patron. Crown Princess Mette-Marit is not suspected of anything criminal.
Crown Princess Mette-Marit's contact with Jeffrey Epstein involved several meetings and regular emails about personal topics, with Epstein telling her about his 'wife hunt', and the Crown Princess borrowing his Florida home for four days, sources indicate. Meanwhile, the Crown Princess is preparing for a lung transplant due to pulmonary fibrosis, with her health worsening recently, leading to increasing need for adapted training, rest, and recovery, and her official program being adapted to her condition, according to reports.
The board believes that there are problematic circumstances related to breaches of trust and untruths. The role understanding has been weak, and the values that have emerged are not compatible with the values the Norwegian Library Association stands for.
Reactions from other organizations vary, with several organizations she patronizes satisfied with the answers she gave in an interview with NRK, while some said they were still considering their position after the interview. A number of organizations that awaited an explanation have now announced they are making new assessments in light of the NRK interview. Sex og samfunn made its decision knowing they did not have all information in the case, stating that what was made known is incompatible with what the Skamløsprisen stands for. The Norwegian Girls' Choir will hold a vote among members over 15, parents, and guardians on whether to end the patronage. This will leave deep marks on the monarchy in Norway, according to sources.
In a separate case in Malmö, a 17-year-old boy suspected of murdering a 15-year-old boy confesses to the crime, while a 15-year-old girl, also suspected, denies the crimes, police say. The 17-year-old and 15-year-old girl were requested to be detained for murder during the morning, with the district court deciding that the 17-year-old should be detained after he confessed to both murder and serious weapons offenses during detention hearings. A 35-year-old man is also suspected of aiding and abetting murder, and the girl has also been requested to be detained for a murder in Vårby in Stockholm that occurred the evening before the incident in Malmö, according to authorities.
The board has understanding that this is also a personal tragedy, but ultimately it is a weighing of whether it benefits the association to have the Crown Princess as high patron, and we do not experience that it is today.
In Tensta in northwestern Stockholm, a suspected dangerous object has been found in a bicycle storage room, leading to a cordon set up around the building and residents in the nearest buildings being accommodated elsewhere, police report.
A grass fire has spread in Degerfors, with police reporting it has grown and now 2,000 square meters are in flames, and police are assisting the rescue service on site. There is no information that anyone has been injured in the grass fire. In almost half of Sweden, the risk of grass fire is high or very high on Friday, and around 30 houses are damaged in grass fires each year and on average one person dies per year, according to authorities.
If no new information that put the case in a new light came by March 12, the board would present a recommendation to end the Crown Princess's patronage.
The Chancellor of Justice is closing the investigation into nearly 200 publications on the Nazi site Nordfront, with the site's responsible publisher, 98-year-old Vera Oredsson, no longer risking prosecution because the publications have been deleted. In February, the Chancellor of Justice initiated a preliminary investigation into incitement against an ethnic group regarding the publications, and Oredsson was informed that she could not be held responsible if they were removed within two weeks, officials say.
In Uppsala, a cyclist was hit by a car on Friday, with the driver not stopping and now reported for hit-and-run, causing bodily injury, and failure to yield, police report. The cyclist, a woman in her 20s, injured a foot in the accident.
The unrest is persistent, and on this basis the board recommends that the Norwegian Girls' Choir ends the royal patronage of the Crown Princess.
In Åre, a female skier has been injured and was transported by helicopter to an ambulance and is currently being treated in hospital, according to reports.
I regret that deeply, and this is a responsibility I must take. I exercised poor judgment and regret that I had any contact with Epstein at all. It is simply embarrassing.
It is all the victims who have been subjected to the gross abuses, who deserve justice. I feel such great anger that they have not received it. At the same time, it is important for me to say that if I have done something that has contributed to giving him legitimacy in any way, that is terribly difficult for me, of course.