Queen Mette-Marit is set for an awkward reunion with Grand Duchess Stephanie next week – for the first time since it was revealed she'd called her wedding "boring".
Grand Duke Guillaume and his wife are confirmed to attend King Harald V's state funeral in Oslo Cathedral on Wednesday, 9 September, representing Luxembourg.
It means they will cross paths with Mette-Marit, who became Queen Consort of Norway last week when her husband, King Haakon, took the throne after King Harald passed away.
His state funeral will be attended by monarchies from all over Europe, though a representative from the British royal family has not yet been confirmed.
© NTB/AFP via Getty ImagesIt comes after Mette-Marit, who has pulmonary fibrosis and underwent a lung transplant in June, pulled out of King Haakon's swearing-in ceremony at the last minute on Monday due to "complications" with her health.
She is currently still scheduled to attend Harald's funeral.
What did Queen Mette-Marit say about Grand Duchess Stephanie?
Queen Mette-Marit, then Crown Princess, featured in the declassification of documents concerning Jeffrey Epstein by the United States Department of Justice in January.
In 2012, Mette-Marit sent an email to the convicted sex offender while she was at the wedding of Guillaume and Stephanie of Luxembourg, who became the Grand Duke and Duchess last year following Duke Henri's abdication.
© © Maison du Grand-Duc / Sophie MargueThe disgraced paedophile asked Mette-Marit: "Weather was too bad, I returned to NY..how was your wedding?"
Her response, sent from a redacted email address under the name HKH Kronprinsessan, read: "I'm dying of boredom. Come save us."
She also complained that the ceremony was "deadly boring," described the venue as "a place full of old people," and compared the scene to "some kind of old movie."
© Photonews via Getty ImagesQueen Mette-Marit's friendship with Jeffrey Epstein
The royal's name featured in several of the Epstein files regarding email exchanges with the sex offender, who died at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City in 2019.
Mette-Marit has said she and Epstein were first introduced in 2011 through mutual friends, before she ended her contact with him in 2014.
© Rune Hellestad - Corbis/Getty ImagesTheir interactions included discussions of their family lives, her meeting him at his Florida home, and Epstein's attempts at "wife hunting".
After the files were released, Mette-Marit issued a public apology, saying: "I would like to express my deepest regret for my friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. It is important that I apologise to all of you for letting you down.
"Some messages between Epstein and me do not represent the person I want to be. I also apologize for the situation I have put the Royal Family in, especially the King and Queen."
In a tearful interview with NRK in March, she said she was "manipulated and deceived", adding that she wished she'd "never met" Epstein.
