Europe | Northern exposure
The Epstein files are sullying Norway’s squeaky-clean image
The sex offender corresponded with diplomats, politicians and royals
February 12th 2026
NORWAY IS KNOWN for wealth, beautiful landscapes and do-gooding mediation in far-off wars. Even other Scandinavians see it as annoyingly wholesome. But the country’s image has taken a knock from revelations of prominent Norwegians’ chumminess with Jeffrey Epstein, a dead sex offender.
The royal family had already been having a rough time. Crown Princess Mette-Marit, who married Prince Haakon, heir to the throne, in 2001, has a son from a prior relationship who is on trial on 38 criminal counts, including four of rape. Last month it turned out Epstein’s files included flirtatious exchanges with the princess. “U are very charming u know,” she wrote to Epstein in 2012, four years after his conviction for soliciting sex from a minor. She apologised, saying she had shown bad judgment; Jonas Gahr Store, the prime minister, agreed.
Politicians and diplomats have been caught up too. “Putin is welcome to join for dinner,” Epstein wrote to Thorbjorn Jagland, a former prime minister, in 2013. Mr Jagland seemed to discuss visiting Epstein’s island, and to apologise for bringing his wife: “I can’t keep it going only with young women as you know.” At the time he was head of the Nobel peace-prize committee and the Council of Europe, a democracy watchdog. Norway’s office of economic crimes is investigating him for possible corruption.
It is also investigating two diplomats, Mona Juul and her husband, Terje Roed-Larsen. They helped negotiate the Oslo peace accords between Israel and the Palestinians in the 1990s. Mr Roed-Larsen called Epstein his “best friend”. Ms Juul wrote she was “forever grateful for all you are doing”.
A survey in 2018 found that Norwegians, more than any other western Europeans, rate their culture as superior to others’. They may not appreciate how much of their wealth is due to oil rather than virtue, says Ketil Raknes of Kristiania University in Oslo. The revelations are forcing a look in the mirror. At least Norway’s authorities are taking action, unlike those in some other countries.■
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