Norwegian Princess Ingrid Alexandra returns home due to Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s worsening health condition

The Norwegian royal family is going through a tumultuous situation as Crown Princess Mette-Marit is battling pulmonary fibrosis. According to a Norwegian media outlet, as cited by Marie Claire, the Crown Prince stated at a press conference that Princess Ingrid Alexandra will soon be leaving her university in Australia to spend time with her mother.


Due to the health-challenged situation of Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Crown Prince Haakon will not be going to Japan, as announced by the Norwegian royal family on May 29. As per NRK, the crown prince said in a press conference that Ingrid Alexandra wants to be with her mother and “plans to come home soon, and it has to do with the family situation."

Pulmonary fibrosis, as per Cleveland Clinic, is a condition where the lung tissue becomes scarred and thickened, making it hard to breathe deeply. It belongs to a group of conditions called interstitial lung diseases, which affect the tissue between the air sacs in the lungs. Healthy lung tissue is soft and elastic — it stretches with every breath. Scarred tissue doesn't. So the lungs gradually lose their ability to do the one thing they exist to do. Daily life starts to shrink around it, a cough that won't quit, breathlessness after simple things like housework or a short walk, and a bone-deep fatigue that doesn't shift.

Issuing an update on his wife's health few days before, Crown Prince Haakon said, “The Crown Princess is seriously ill, and I think she has gotten a bit worse lately. Crown Princess Mette-Marit was seen wearing a nasal cannula when she appeared in public for the first time on April 10.


The Princess, the next heir to the Norwegian throne, is pursuing international relations and political economy at the University of Sydney. Haakon mentioned that they still do not have clarity on how long Princess Ingrid will stay at her home in Norway, but she is aiming to complete her three-year bachelor's degree in Australia.


The family is concerned as Queen Sonja, the mother of Crown Prince Haakon, was recently hospitalized due to heart-related complications, adding to a difficult period for the royal household.

In December 2025, doctors at Rikshospitalet University Hospital had started the process of evaluating her for a potential lung transplant.


Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby was born on 19 August 1973 in Kristiansand, a coastal city in southern Norway, the youngest of four siblings. Her father, Sven O. Høiby, had worked as a small-scale journalist and advertiser. She married Crown Prince Haakon on 25 August 2001 and became Norway's Crown Princess. Crown Princess Mette-Marit pursued higher education at the University of Agder (formerly Agder University College), the University of Oslo, and SOAS – the School of Oriental and African Studies – at the University of London. She holds a Master of Management degree from BI Norwegian Business School, as per the official website of The Royal House of Norway. She loves to read, and her leisure interests lies in art, design, film, and theatre.