A newly released tranche of US Department of Justice files has revealed an unsettling 2012 email exchange between Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit and the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

In the email, dated November 2012, Crown Princess Mette-Marit asks Epstein whether it would be “inappropriate” to suggest a wallpaper depicting “two naked women carrying a surfboard” for her then 15-year-old son, Marius Borg Høiby. The message appears among roughly three million documents released by US authorities relating to Epstein, who died in custody in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.

The exchange shows the Crown Princess initiating the question directly to Epstein. In a separate message in the same chain, Epstein writes to her: “Weather was too bad, I returned to NY.. how was your wedding.”

The disclosure comes at an acutely sensitive moment for Norway’s monarchy.

This week, Marius Borg Høiby, now 29, appeared at Oslo District Court at the start of what is expected to be a seven-week trial, described by Norwegian media as one of the country’s most significant criminal proceedings in years. Neither his mother, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, nor his stepfather, Crown Prince Haakon, attended court.

Under a court order, no photographs of Høiby will be published during the trial, but international media have descended on Oslo, while the Royal Palace has kept its distance.

Høiby faces 38 charges, including four counts of rape, assault and threats against a former girlfriend, criminal damage, drug offences and driving violations. If convicted on the most serious counts, he could face a prison sentence exceeding ten years.

The palace has emphasised that Høiby is not a member of the royal family and holds no official role, insisting he is not a public figure. Nevertheless, he has long been regarded as close to the royal household.

Crown Prince Haakon has previously spoken of him as a son, and King Harald V, now 88, has known Høiby for most of his life.

“This is a very dangerous moment, because the royal family should be role models,” said Ulf Andre Andersen, editor of the celebrity magazine Se og Hør, which first reported a violent incident in August 2024 after police were called to a woman’s apartment in Oslo’s Frogner district.

Høiby has admitted to some lesser offences. Following his arrest, he acknowledged physical abuse and the destruction of property.

Prosecutors allege he tore down a chandelier, threw a knife at a wall, shattered a mirror and verbally abused the woman, calling her derogatory names.

The four rape charges span from 2018, when incidents allegedly occurred at the family’s official residence on the Skaugum estate outside Oslo, to November 2024, after his initial arrest. One charge from 2023 alleges sexual intercourse with a woman while she was asleep.

The remaining three involve sexual acts against women who were allegedly incapacitated—conduct that constitutes rape under Norwegian law.