The Norwegian monarchy is in crisis. Not because its future queen is gravely ill, nor even because her son has this week been convicted of serious crimes, but because the institution’s greatest asset – public trust – has been eroded by a series of self-inflicted mistakes.

Yesterday, it was announced that Norway’s crown princess, Mette-Marit, underwent a successful lung transplant after reports of a dramatic deterioration of her pulmonary fibrosis. That initial news prompted an outpouring of sympathy and even a surge in organ donor registrations. Without jumping the queue, she was matched with a compatible set of lungs less than two weeks after being placed on the list.

But the other two issues have elicited a very different public response. First, there are the actions of her son, Marius Borg Høiby. As a child, he stood on the palace balcony with the royal family, waving at the 30,000 children marching by on Norway’s constitution day. This year, he’s been standing trial, accused of 40 offences, including rape, threats and bodily harm. On Monday, Høiby was convicted of 34 of the 40 offences in the original indictment, including domestic abuse and two counts of rape, and sentenced to four years in prison. His lawyers immediately lodged an appeal. The palace had no comment on the outcome.

The second issue is entirely self-inflicted: Mette-Marit’s past contact with Jeffrey Epstein, and her reluctance to fully account for it. A drip of revelations shattered her initial description of a few casual encounters; released emails unveiled what looked more like a close friendship, including visits to Epstein’s Palm Beach house, shopping trips, personal advice and discussions of literature – including Nabokov’s Lolita – as well as a now-infamous 2011 exchange in which........

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