Norway’s crown princess cries while talking about her friendship with Jeffrey Epstein | World News

Norway’s crown princess said she regretted her friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, and insisted in a tearful interview that she was “manipulated and deceived”.

Release files related to deceased sex offenders has sent shockwaves around the world, revealing his relationships with prominent people, including Crown Princess Mette-Marit.

They point to frequent communications between her and the disgraced financier long after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to seducing an underage girl.

The mere mention of her name in these files does not indicate any wrongdoing, and the crown princess has not been accused of any crime.

While his relationship with Epstein already reported, the new documents suggest a broader connection.

The revelation prompted a rare rebuke from the US side Norway Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said it was important for him to answer questions about his relationship with Epstein.

Speaking to NRK, the country’s public broadcaster, an emotional Mette-Marit said: “I was manipulated and deceived.”

“Of course, I wish I had never met him,” he added.

The files reveal that the crown princess maintained contact with Epstein from 2011 to 2014.

They also show him staying at his Palm Beach home for four days during a private trip in 2013.

“He took advantage of the fact that we had mutual friends, and I was gullible,” he said.

“I like to believe the best about other people. But I also choose to end contact with them.”

“I’ve never seen anything illegal,” he told NRK.

The files also appear to contradict statements she made in 2019 when she apologized for not investigating Epstein’s past, and said she would never have had contact with him if she had known the seriousness of his crimes.

In one email from October 2011 — three years after Epstein’s guilty plea — he told the disgraced financier that he had Googled him.

“It doesn’t look so good” he wrote, followed by a smiley face.

He told NRK that he didn’t remember why he wrote the email.

“But if I find information that makes me aware that he is a violent and sex offender, I will not write a smiley face on the back of it,” he continued.

Mette-Marit is married to Crown Prince Haakon, heir to the throne, who sat beside his wife, and said he supported her in difficult times.

He said marriage was for “good days and bad”, praised her as “caring, thoughtful and very strong”, and insisted he would “always have her on the team”.

The crown princess suffers from a chronic lung disease that ultimately required her to undergo a lung transplant, and she has not appeared in public in recent weeks.

Her interview came after Marius Borg Hoiby, her eldest son from a previous relationship, was tried on charges of rape and other crimes.

The 29-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to rape and domestic violence, but admitted to several lesser charges.

The popularity of Norway’s royal family has taken a hit in recent months, with a survey in February showing about 60% of Norwegians supported the monarchy, down from 70% in January.