Palace shares family photo after Princess makes headlines

The royal family of Norway has shared a family photo to wish everyone a ‘holly jolly Christmas’ a day after the palace made major announcement about the Crown Princess.

The Norway’s palace announced on Friday that 52-year-old Crown Princess Mette-Marit will likely need to undergo a lung transplant following a deterioration in her chronic lung condition.

The princess announced in October 2018 that she had been diagnosed with a rare form of pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable disease that causes scarring of the lungs and shortness of breath.

"We are approaching the time when a lung transplant must be carried out, and we are making the necessary preparations so that it will be possible when the time comes," Are Martin Holm, head of pulmonary medicine at Oslo University Hospital, said in a statement from the palace.

"It has not yet been decided when the crown princess will be placed on the waiting list for a lung transplant," Holm said.

The princess spoke of a "very trying" time in an interview with public broadcaster NRK published Friday.

"I had always hoped we could keep the disease under control with medication. The progression has been quite slow until now, but it has now taken a turn different from what the doctors and I had hoped," she said.

"We have always known, with this disease, that this was the direction it would take, but it´s happening a bit faster than I imagined and hoped," she added.

Amid these reports, the palace shared a family photo on Instagram saying “Wishing everyone a holly jolly Christmas.”