King Harald of Norway Breaks Birthday Tradition with Telling Photo amid Royal Family Scandal
King Harald of Norway Breaks Birthday Tradition with Telling Photo amid Royal Family Scandal
Janine HenniMon, February 23, 2026 at 9:34 PM UTC
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Princess Ingrid Alexandra, King Harald and Crown Prince Haakon in a photo released by the Royal House of Norway on Feb. 21, 2026
Ola Vatn / The Royal Court
The Royal House of Norway marked King Harald of Norway’s 89th birthday with a carefully chosen new portrait
The image shows the monarch alongside his direct heirs, underscoring the line of succession
The family photo was released amid ongoing scrutiny surrounding the King’s daughter-in-law, Crown Princess Mette-Marit
As Norway’s royal family faces one of its most turbulent periods in years, King Harald marked his 89th birthday with a strikingly deliberate image — one that appeared less celebratory than strategic.
Rather than releasing a traditional solo portrait, the Royal House of Norway shared a tightly framed photograph showing the King flanked by his immediate successors: Crown Prince Haakon and Princess Ingrid Alexandra. The rare three-generation image, released on Feb. 21, underscores continuity and strength at the very top of the monarchy, signaling a steady hand amid ongoing scandals surrounding the royal family.
"Happy birthday to His Majesty King Harald! 🇳🇴," the palace wrote below a photo shared to Instagram, per a translation into English.
"Today the King turns 89 – we congratulate him and wish him a truly wonderful celebration 🎂," the caption continued. "The photo of the King with Crown Prince Haakon, 52, and Princess Ingrid Alexandra, 22, was taken earlier this winter in connection with the celebration of the Princess's birthday."
The portrait represents a notable departure from how the King’s birthday has typically been marked. In recent years, official birthday photos have often featured Harald alone, while more personal images released around celebratory occasions have included a broader mix of family members. This year’s image, by contrast, is conspicuously narrow in focus — and, notably, in who it leaves out.
Absent from the photo are Harald's daughther-in-law, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, and her son Marius Borg Høiby, both of whom are currently under intense public scrutiny. Mette-Marit has faced renewed attention over past associations with Jeffrey Epstein, while Høiby is awaiting trial on rape charges — developments that have placed significant pressure on the royal household and sparked debate about the monarchy’s judgment and transparency.
Princess Ingrid Alexandra, King Harald and Crown Prince Haakon in a photo released by the Royal House of Norway on Feb. 21, 2026.
Ola Vatn / The Royal Court
By centering the image solely on the reigning monarch and the next two heirs, the palace appears to be drawing a clear visual boundary: reinforcing the line of succession while distancing the institution from controversy elsewhere in the family.
The Royal House typically releases portraits including more of the immediate members of the Norwegian royal family for special occasions like Christmas, bringing King Harald's wife, Queen Sonja, Crown Prince Haakon's wife, Crown Princess Mette-Marit and the Crown Prince couple's son, Prince Sverre Magnus, 20, into the frame.
The last such picture depicting the family of six was released shortly before Christmas in December 2025, along with the happy caption, "Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas 🎄✨."
A photo shared by the Royal House of Norway on Dec. 20, 2025.
Ola Vatn / The Royal Court
The new year proved to bring turmoil for the royal family just a few weeks later, with Crown Princess Mette-Marit, 52, reportedly named over 1,000 times in the latest batch of Epstein files released on Jan. 30, according to Norwegian newspaper VG.
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Late last month, the U.S. Department of Justice released over three million additional pages related to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, including extensive email correspondence between Mette-Marit and the late Jeffrey Epstein. The American financier and convicted sex offender died by suicide while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges in 2019 ,and the emails between Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Epstein unveiled a friendship.
The two emailed about Epstein's "wife hunt" in 2012 and Mette-Marit signed an email that seemingly thanked him for "The beautiful flowers" in 2013 as "Love ….. Mm."
A few days after the Jan. 30 Epstein file drop, the Crown Princess released a statement saying that she "deeply regrets" her ties to Epstein. She then sent a formal apology, expressing her regret at the "situation" she put the royal family in.
(Left) Crown Princess Mette-Marit on Jan. 28, 2026; (Right) Jeffrey Epstein on Sept. 8 2004.
Rune Hellestad - Corbis/Corbis via Getty; Rick Friedman/Corbis via Getty
"I would like to express my deepest regret for my friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. It is important for me to apologize to all of you that I have disappointed. Some of the content of the messages between Epstein and me does not represent the person I want to be. I also apologize for the situation that I have put the Royal Family in, especially the King and Queen," Mette-Marit said in a statement issued by the Royal House on Feb. 6.
The palace update shared more information about the princess' links to Epstein, outlining that she previously borrowed his house in Palm Beach through a mutual friend and outlining how she previously disavowed her association with him in 2019.
The Norwegian royal family was brought into the spotlight by another scandal in early February, as Crown Princess Mette-Marit's son, Marius Borg Høiby, headed to trial in Oslo on 38 charges, including four counts of rape, on Feb. 3.
Norway's Princess Ingrid Alexandra (front C) poses for a family photo with (front L and R) Norway's King Harald V and Norway's Queen Sonja and (back LtoR) Marit Tjessem, Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Norway's Crown Prince Haakon, Norway's Prince Sverre Magnus and Marius Borg Hoiby on the occasion of a gala dinner for her 18th birthday in Oslo on June 17, 2022.
LISE ASERUD/NTB/AFP via Getty
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Marius, 29, is Mette-Marit's son from a relationship prior to her marriage to Crown Prince Haakon in 2001, and was arrested in August 2024.
He pleaded guilty to "several relatively minor offenses" but denies the rapes, CBS News reported on Feb. 18, and if convicted, faces up to 16 years in prison. The trial is expected to run until mid-March.
Marius is not in the line of succession to the throne and does not hold a working royal role. His stepfather, Crown Prince Haakon, previously clarified that he and Crown Princess Mette-Marit would not attend the trial and that the royal family would continue working during this time.
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