London: The Epstein scandal has snared another royal family – and exposed European leaders who cosied up to a sex offender.
Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit is just one of the wealthy and well-connected who treated Jeffrey Epstein like a close friend in the years after he emerged from prison.
The crown princess joked with Epstein about his “neurotic” week with film director Woody Allen, asked his advice about wallpaper and stayed at his Palm Beach home.
Now she has apologised for the “simply embarrassing” revelations in the latest emails released by the US Department of Justice, saying she takes responsibility for not checking his background.
The attention on Epstein has focused for years on his web of contacts in American politics and business, as well his favours for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former prince. His ties to former British cabinet minister Peter Mandelson are generating headlines again because the US documents suggest he sought to influence UK banking policy in 2009 in ways Epstein advised.
Mandelson, who was removed as UK ambassador to the US last year because of his Epstein link, was further embarrassed on Friday by the release of photographs from the US files showing him in his underwear. The documents do not show who took the photo, but it appeared to be common for Epstein to take people by surprise with a camera.
“I have been further linked this weekend to the understandable furore surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and I feel regretful and sorry about this,” Mandelson said in a statement late on Sunday (London time).
“Allegations which I believe to be false that he made financial payments to me 20 years ago, and of which I have no record or recollection, need investigating by me. While doing this, I do not wish to cause further embarrassment to the Labour Party and I am therefore stepping down from membership of the party.”
The latest disclosures reveal more about the full scale of Epstein’s network, well beyond the US and the UK. They show his relentless contact with some of the European elite, including a politician in Slovakia, a former prime minister in Norway, a globe-trotting diplomat and the Norwegian princess.
Whether the gossip was about girls, business or politics, the disgraced millionaire – who was said to be worth $US578 million (about $830 million) when he died – was constantly on his phone swapping information.
Norwegians knew of Mette-Marit’s link to Epstein seven years ago when investigative journalists uncovered the connection, leading her to apologise in 2019 and say she cut off contact in 2013 because he was using their connection to influence others.
But the latest emails include a message from early in 2014, when she asked about his Christmas, and highlight the intensity of their friendship in a way never revealed before.
When he told her he was in Paris in October 2012, she told him it was good for adultery. “I miss my crazy friend,” she emailed him in January 2013.
The crown princess also shot him a question in November 2012: “Is it inappropriate for a mother to suggest two naked women carrying a surfboard for my 15 yr old sons wallpaper?” The document does not show his reply.
The timing is awful for the crown princess and Norway’s royal family. Mette-Marit is the wife of Crown Prince Haakon, the heir to the throne, and is facing a severe health crisis. She is hoping to have a lung transplant to recover from pulmonary fibrosis.
Her son, Marius Borg Høiby, faces court this week on four counts of rape as well as assault and abuse. The case has shocked Norway with the claims from several women about his behaviour including death threats and violence.
Høiby was born to Mette-Marit in 1997, four years before she married Haakon, and is not a member of the Royal House of Norway. He has denied the serious accusations against him but may plead guilty to lesser charges, his lawyer told Reuters last year.
There is no suggestion Mette-Marit did anything wrong. The emails seen by this masthead do not show any awareness of Epstein’s abuse of women. Even so, the crown princess acknowledged on the weekend that she should not have befriended him.
“I showed poor judgment and I deeply regret having had any contact with Epstein. It is simply embarrassing,” she said in a statement.
Others are showing the same regret after being exposed in the new documents.
Epstein was the subject of global headlines in July 2008 when he was convicted of soliciting sex from girls as young as 14. There was no secrecy about his prison sentence, although his plea deal meant some of the claims against him were suppressed.
When he emerged from prison in 2010, his money and connections helped open door. Epstein was in touch with Mountbatten-Windsor almost as soon as he was free. He developed the friendship with the Norwegian crown princess later, around 2012. Many of these European relationships lasted for several years despite Epstein’s reputation.
Norway appeared to be a special focus. One of Epstein’s contacts was Thorbjørn Jagland, a former Norwegian prime minister and foreign minister and, from 2009 to 2015, the chairman of the Nobel Committee that awards some of the world’s most prestigious prizes.
Epstein messaged Jagland regularly about politics when the Norwegian was the secretary general of the Council of Europe from 2009 to 2019, according to latest documents. The emails show arrangements for Jagland and his wife and children to stay at Epstein’s island in the Caribbean in 2014.
The Nobel committee removed Jagland as chairman without explanation in March 2015. The latest disclosures show that the Norwegian was in regular touch with Epstein for years in his official business around the world.
“I have been in Tirana,” Jagland messaged Epstein in May 2012. “Extraordinary girls.” He said he was on his way from Albania to Jordan, Palestine and Israel.
There is no suggestion Jagland did anything wrong. The emails show him sharing observations with Epstein, not discussing anything illegal, but they confirm regular contact and friendly banter between the two.
Dagens Næringsliv, a newspaper in Oslo, reported in 2020 that Jagland had denied meeting Epstein. It reported he had actually hosted Epstein and Microsoft founder Bill Gates in his Strasbourg residence in 2013.
Jagland was also a key link in documents that suggested a connection between Epstein and Kevin Rudd, the former prime minister and foreign minister.
“Kevin Rudd, a friend of both of us just left my house,” Jagland messaged Epstein in June 2016, while also raising the idea of a visit to the Caribbean island.
Rudd, who will soon leave his position as ambassador to the US and resume his former post as head of the Asia Society, said he had no record of a meeting with Epstein in June 2014, as shown in the Department of Justice documents.
“Dr Rudd also has no reason to believe that he ever met with Jeffrey Epstein at any time,” said a statement from his office.
“We cannot rule out the possibility that they might have attended the same event at some stage, since Dr Rudd has attended literally thousands of functions in New York over the years.”
Another Norwegian, diplomat Terje Rød-Larsen, appears in thousands of the new documents, although many are duplicates of his messages with Epstein over several years.
Rød-Larsen was president of the International Peace Institute, a non-profit group based in New York, from 2004 to 2020, and he was forced out when his link to Epstein was first revealed.
Rudd, who chaired the IPI board when the details first surfaced in 2020, convened an extraordinary meeting to act on media reports that Rød-Larsen had accepted donations to the IPI from Epstein, as well as borrowing personally from him.
“Epstein’s crimes were hideous,” said a statement from Rudd and the board at the time. “The notion that IPI would be in any way engaged with such an odious character is repugnant to the institution’s core values.”
The latest Department of Justice documents show urgent messages from Rød-Larsen seeking phone calls with Epstein, and emails forwarding documents about business and politics. They run from 2011 to 2019, when Epstein died.
The Oslo newspaper that has investigated the Epstein ties, Dagens Næringsliv, reported on the weekend that Rød-Larsen’s two children were named as beneficiaries in Epstein’s will, but this masthead could not verify that claim.
More exposure is certain when there are so many secrets to be discovered in the Department of Justice files. The messages show that Epstein worked his phone incessantly to share information with a network of political and business leaders across the US, the UK, Europe and Asia.
His contacts seemed eager to keep their friendship with Epstein. He offered girls, charter flights, lavish dinners, access to his island and sometimes advice.
But that friendship came at a cost if and when revealed.
“Girls are incredible!” wrote Miroslav Lajčák to Epstein in a message from Moscow in October 2018. Lajčák was the foreign minister of Slovakia at the time, and was also president of the United Nations General Assembly for its 72nd session.
“Duh,” Epstein replied. “It’s their best export. Saudi has oil, Moscow has girls.”
The message did not show any wrongdoing by Lajčák and this masthead is not suggesting he did anything wrong. The messages also canvassed setting up meetings with political leaders in Russia and elsewhere.
On Saturday, within 24 hours of the messages being released, Lajčák resigned as national security advisor to Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico.
“Not because of having done anything criminal or unethical in my actions, but I don’t want [Fico] to bear the political costs for something that’s unrelated to his decisions,” he said.
As more emails are revealed, others may express the same regret.
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David Crowe is Europe correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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