As improper ties between European royalty and Jeffrey Epstein, the notorious American sex offender, come to light one after another, the fallout is growing.
According to The New York Times (NYT) and others on the 2nd (local time), the name of Crown Princess Mette-Marit (52), wife of Crown Prince Haakon, first in line to the Norwegian throne, appeared at least 1,000 times in the Epstein files newly released by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The crown princess immediately said she "lacked judgment and deeply regrets having contact with Epstein," but the backlash shows no sign of easing. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre also said, "I agree with the crown princess that she lacked judgment," while noting that he has not yet been in contact with the royal family about the matter.
Noise is also arising within the Belgian royal family. Prince Laurent (62), younger brother of King Philippe of Belgium, admitted that he had ties with Epstein while he was alive. Prince Laurent said he had two "one-on-one" meetings with Epstein from the 1990s to the early 2000s, but denied ever meeting him publicly or in a group.
Earlier, the British royal family was also hit as the Epstein scandal overlapped with a sex scandal, leading to Andrew, the former prince (65), being stripped of his status in Oct. last year, followed by his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson (66) coming under scrutiny.
Ferguson not only called Epstein "oppa" and requested financial support amounting to tens of millions of won, but it also emerged that the three—along with her two daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, currently 9th and 12th in the line of succession—had lunch with Epstein.
Europe's political circles have not escaped the Epstein fallout either. In the United Kingdom, former Industry Minister Peter Mandelson was found to have given Epstein in advance an internal memo outlining the government's economic policy in 2009, prompting Prime Minister Keir Starmer to order an urgent investigation, and Slovak National Security Adviser Miroslav Lajčák resigned on the day after it emerged that in 2018 he exchanged text messages with Epstein saying, "The girls are amazing."