Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit has been placed on a waiting list for a lung transplant after a further deterioration of her health, the royal household said in a statement on Friday (June 5).

The 52-year-old wife of Crown Prince Haakon, the heir to the Norwegian throne, was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis in 2018, a chronic disease that causes scarring in the lungs and leads to a reduced oxygen uptake.

"As a result of her life-threatening chronic lung disease and after thorough health examinations, her royal highness Crown Princess Mette-Marit has been placed on the lung transplant list," the palace said.

Oslo University Hospital in December said the time was approaching when a transplant must be performed but that the crown princess had not yet been placed on Norway's list of possible recipients.

Crown Prince Haakon earlier this week said Mette-Marit's condition had deteriorated and that she was struggling more to breathe.

Mette-Marit was 25, an unmarried single mother and a commoner when she met Haakon at a music festival in 1999, the beginning of an unlikely royal romance that started with a media furore and ended up winning over the bulk of the nation.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

OSLO, NORWAY (ARCHIVE - AUGUST 25, 2001)(REUTERS - Access all)(ORIGINALLY 4:3)

1. NORWAY'S CROWN PRINCE HAAKON KISSES HIS BRIDE METTE-MARIT TJESSEM HOIBY AS SHE ARRIVES

2. CROWN PRINCE AND HAAKON TJESSEM HOIBY WALK TO CHURCH

3. GIRL WITH NORWEGIAN FLAG

4. CROWN PRINCE COUPLE ARRIVE TO ROYAL PALACE BY CAR

5. CROWN PRINCE COUPLE COME OUT ON PALACE BALCONY, WAVE AND KISS

The New York-based Princess Madeleine, who became engaged in October last year to Christopher O'Neill, will marry before some 600 guests in the Royal Chapel at the Royal Palace of Stockholm on June 8.

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (ARCHIVE - JUNE 8, 2013)(REUTERS - Access all)

6. CROWN PRINCE COUPLE ARRIVE FOR SWEDISH PRINCESS MADELEINE'S WEDDING TO CHRISTOPHER O'NEILL

The Norwegian royal family on January 17 marked King Harold's 25 years on the throne by throwing a ski party outside the royal palace in central Oslo.

Scores of people turned out to greet the royal family and to try out ski-related events including snowboarding, cross-country skiing and the biathlon rifle. There was also an ice slide.

OSLO, NORWAY (ARCHIVE - JANUARY 17, 2016)(TV2 - No use Norway. No use Russia)

7. MINISTER GREETING CROWN PRINCE HAAKON AND CROWN PRINCESS METTE-MARIT AND THEIR CHILDREN IN ROYAL CHAPEL FOR CELEBRATIONS OF KING HARALD'S 25 YEARS ON THE THRONE

8. SKI SLOPE OUTSIDE THE ROYAL PALACE

9. ROYAL FAMILY COMING OUT OF THE PALACE AND GREETING THE PEOPLE

10. VARIOUS OF KING AND QUEEN WALKING OUT OF THE PALACE

11. CROWN PRINCESS METTE-MARIT WAVING

12. MEMBERS OF ROYAL FAMILY ON SKIS

13. CROWN PRINCESS METTE-MARIT HOLDING BIATHLON RIFLE

Swedish Crown Princess Victoria's son was christened Oscar Carl Olof at a ceremony in the Royal Chapel in Drottningholm Palace on May 27.

His Godparents are Denmark's Crown Prince Frederik, Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Sweden's Princess Madeleine, Crown Princess Victoria's cousin Oscar Magnuson and Hans Astrom, who is a cousin to Prince Daniel.

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (ARCHIVE - MAY 27, 2016)(REUTERS - Access all)

14. PARENTS AND GODPARENTS POSE FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS (PRINCESS METTE-MARIT ON LEFT) FOLLOWING SWEDEN'S PRINCE OSCAR'S CHRISTENING

15. PRINCESS METTE-MARIT GREETING CLERGY

16. CROWN PRINCE HAAKON AND DENMARK'S CROWN PRINCESS MARY LEAVE CHAPEL

A remembrance service was held in Oslo on July 22 for the people who were killed when Anders Behring Breivik set off a car bomb in Oslo then gunned down 69 people at a meeting of the Labour Party's youth wing on Utoeya island five years ago.

Eight people were killed and 209 were injured when the bomb went off at government headquarters in the centre of the Norwegian capital on a sunny July afternoon.

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg and Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit, whose step-brother was killed on Utoeya, took part in the ceremony in the government quarters.

OSLO, NORWAY (ARCHIVE – JULY 22, 2016)(NRK - No use Norway)

17. ONE MINUTE SILENCE BEING OBSERVED

18. THEN NORWEGIAN PRIME MINISTER ERNA SOLBERG, CROWN PRINCE HAAKON AND CROWN PRINCESS METTE-MARIT OBSERVING ONE MINUTE SILENCE

19. GOVERNMENT BUILDING THAT WAS BOMBED FIVE YEARS AGO (AUDIO AS INCOMING)

20. WIDE OF SQUARE

21. VARIOUS OF SOLBERG, CROWN PRINCE HAAKON AND CROWN PRINCESS METTE-MARIT LAYING WREATH

Norway's King Harald and Queen Sonja were joined by royals from across Europe for their joint 80th birthday dinner at the royal palace in Oslo on May 9 evening.

OSLO, NORWAY (ARCHIVE - MAY 9, 2017)(NRK POOL - No use Norway)

22. CROWN PRINCESS METTE-MARIT AND SWEDEN'S KING CARL GUSTAF ARRIVING FOR KING HARALD AND QUEEN SONJA'S JOINT 80TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS, FOLLOWED BY CROWN PRINCE HAAKON AND DENMARK'S QUEEN MARGRETHE

Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Prince Haakon hopped on a "literature train" in Berlin as they got ready for the Frankfurt Book Fair. Norway is the official guest of honour at the book fair this year and 100 Norwegian writers are expected.

BERLIN, GERMANY (ARCHIVE - OCTOBER 14, 2019) (REUTERS – Access all)

23. VARIOUS OF NORWAY'S CROWN PRINCESS METTE-MARIT AND CROWN PRINCE HAAKON TALKING TO CHILDREN IN FRONT OF "LITERATURE TRAIN"

European royalty gathered in Athens on January 16 for the funeral of former King Constantine of Greece, who ruled for just three years in the 1960s before being forced into exile, with his subjects voting to abolish the monarchy in 1974.

ATHENS, GREECE (ARCHIVE - JANUARY 16, 2023) (REUTERS - Access all)

24. NORWAY'S CROWN PRINCE HAAKON AND CROWN PRINCESS METTE-MARIT ARRIVING AT FUNERAL SERVICE OF FORMER KING CONSTANTINE OF GREECE, GREETED BY FORMER CROWN PRINCE PAVLOS

ATHENS, GREECE (ARCHIVE - JANUARY 16, 2023) (ERT POOL - No resales)

25. INTERIOR OF ATHENS METROPOLITAN CATHEDRAL

26. CROWN PRINCE HAAKON AND CROWN PRINCESS METTE-MARIT SEATED IN ROW BEHIND QUEEN MARGRETHE OF DENMARK, CROWN PRINCE OF DENMARK FREDERIK, KING OF SWEDEN CARL XVI GUSTAF, QUEEN OF SWEDEN SILVIA, GRAND-DUKE HENRI OF LUXEMBOURG, PRINCE ALBERT II OF MONACO, KING OF THE NETHERLANDS WILLEM-ALEXANDER, QUEEN OF THE NETHERLANDS MAXIMA, KING OF BELGIUM PHILIPPE LÉOPOLD LOUIS MARIE, QUEEN OF BELGIUM MATHILDE OF THE BELGIANS, KING FELIPE VI AND QUEEN LETIZIA OF SPAIN

27. CROWN PRINCE HAAKON AND CROWN PRINCESS METTE-MARIT SEATED

Crown Princess Mette-Marit's son and Haakon's stepson stands trial in 2026 on charges of raping four women as well as domestic abuse and other crimes.

OSLO, NORWAY (ARCHIVE - FEBRUARY 5, 2026)(REUTERS)

28. EXTERIOR OF THE COURT HOUSE

ASKER, NORWAY (ARCHIVE - DECEMBER 25, 2017)(TV2 - No use Norway, no use Russia)

29. VARIOUS OF HOIBY ATTENDING THE CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE AT ASKER CHURCH WITH CROWN PRINCE HAAKON AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL FAMILY

OSLO, NORWAY (ARCHIVE - JANUARY 16, 2016)(TV2 - No use Norway, no use Russia)

30. CROWN PRINCESS METTE-MARIT'S SON MARIUS BORG HOIBY STANDING BY CAR, TALKING TO PEOPLE

Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit celebrated the 100th birthday of the royal summer residence, Gamlehaugen, near Bergen in one of her first engagement since her son Marius Borg Hoiby was charged with several offences including rape.

GAMLEHAUGEN, NEAR BERGEN, NORWAY (ARCHIVE - AUGUST 26, 2025) (TV2 – No use Norway, No use Russia)

31. CROWN PRINCESS METTE-MARIT AND CROWN PRINCE HAAKON WALKING TO SOUND OF APPLAUSE,

32. CROWN PRINCE HAAKON GIVING SPEECH

33. VARIOUS OF CROWN PRINCESS METTE-MARIT, KING HARALD, QUEEN SONIA AND CROWN PRINCE HAAKON LISTENING, APPLAUDING

Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit waves as she, along with Crown Prince Haakon and Prince Sverre Magnus, greet the children's procession held as part of the National Day celebrations

ASKER, NORWAY (MAY 17, 2026)(NTB - NO ACCESS NORWAY, NO COMMERCIAL USE. NO RESALES. NOT BE USED AS STANDALONE STILL PICTURE - MUST RUN AS PART OF A NEWS BULLETIN, MUST ON-SCREEN COURTESY NTB, NO ARCHIVE)(MUTE)

34. STILL PICTURE OF CROWN PRINCESS METTE-MARIT, CROWN PRINCE HAAKON AND PRINCE SVERRE MAGNUS GREETING CHILDREN'S PROCESSION