Norway's Queen Mette-Marit to Pause Duties Until Next Summer After Lung Transplant

Norway's Queen Mette-Marit will have no official schedule until next summer while she continues rehabilitation after a lung transplant.

The Norwegian Royal Palace announced the extended pause, as reported by Town & Country. The queen, 53 in September, underwent the transplant in June.

Mette-Marit was diagnosed in 2018 with chronic pulmonary fibrosis, a scarring lung condition that makes breathing progressively harder. She left the hospital in July. At that time the palace said she would take no official engagements for the following six months.

The recovery has kept her from the first ceremonial moments of her husband's reign. After the death of King Harald, his son took the throne as King Haakon VIII. Queen Mette-Marit missed his swearing of the Oath of Allegiance, the formal pledge to uphold the constitution, and his first Opening of Parliament, the formal start of the legislative session. Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra, the couple's daughter and second in line to the throne, stood in for her mother.

The queen has appeared briefly in public during the transition. On Sept. 9, 2026, King Haakon VIII and Queen Mette-Marit came out onto the Royal Palace balcony in Oslo and waved, according to Reuters. For the funeral proceedings for King Harald, she traveled to the cathedral by car with Harald's widow.

For American readers unfamiliar with her story, Mette-Marit met the then-crown prince at a music festival before their marriage and later focused her royal work on promoting literature and reading, Reuters reported. Norway's prime minister said in February that she had shown poor judgment over contacts with Jeffrey Epstein.

The palace has not detailed her medical treatment beyond the rehabilitation. No new date for a return has been set beyond next summer.