After apologizing to King and Queen, Crown Princess defends herself over Epstein links

Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit said ​on Friday she regretted her friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The US Justice Department's release of millions of Epstein documents has sent shockwaves around the world, revealing the disgraced financier's ties to prominent people, including the crown princess and top Norwegian politicians, business executives and diplomats.

"I was manipulated and deceived," Mette-Marit said in a tearful interview with public broadcaster NRK screened on Friday morning.

"Of course, I wish I had never met him," she said of Epstein.

The files showed frequent communication between Mette-Marit and Epstein that occurred long after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting an underage girl. 

The 52-year-old ​crown princess, who apologised to King Harald and Queen Sonja in a February 6 statement, has not been accused of any criminal ⁠wrongdoing.

While earlier media coverage had shown that Mette-Marit had links to Epstein, the new documents showed a more extensive relationship, prompting an unusual rebuke from the prime minister and demands ​that she give a full account.

On Friday, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said it was important Mette-Marit had answered questions about her relationship with Epstein.

"She regretted her contact with ​him and she was genuinely remorseful. She took responsibility for not having checked his background more thoroughly," he said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

The princess, the spouse of Crown Prince Haakon, the heir to the throne, maintained contact with Epstein from 2011 to 2014, and stayed at his Palm Beach house for four days during a private trip in 2013, the US. files show.

"He used ​the fact that we had a mutual friend, and that I'm gullible. I like to believe the best about people. But I also chose to end contact with ​him," Mette-Marit said.

"I've never seen anything illegal," she told NRK.

The Epstein files appeared to contradict a statement she gave in 2019, in which she apologised for not having investigated his past and ‌said she ⁠would never have associated with him had she known the seriousness of the crimes he committed.