Crown Princess Mette-Marit had her surgery yesterday, and, according to reports, came through all right.. She will have a few days of recuperation at the hospital, and then some re-training at home.
It is just the latest in the line of unfortunate ailments for the Norwegian Crown Princess. Ever since the marriage in 2001, there have been incidents and cases where she either has been ill, or just plain unfortunate, have ended up on sick leave, or similar.
For a lot of the incidents, it is something that could happen to anyone of us – and most likely do. It just becomes so very visible when it is the Crown Princess, and she has to cancel stuff.
Below are some of them. I highly suspect there are much more. Some which she may have worked through, and some that have gone fairly unnoticed because a light schedule.
February 2002:
Mette-Marit got the flu during the Olympics in Salt Lake City. After a week home, the flu had expanded into pneumonia. She was admitted to the National Hospital for treatment. She was on sick leave for two weeks after her return home. A trip to Mozambique that had been on the agenda was postponed.
March 2002:
Mette-Marit fell during the Easter holiday in Sikkilsdalen, and broke her ankle. It led to little skiing during the family Easter break, but also lead to a six week sick leave with limited official representation. She did show up to some official events with her crutches.
May 2002:
In May 2002, she got massively burnt during an interview with a German television channel. The production company had set up lights that led to both the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess receiving burns. Mette-Marit fared the worst, and also had burns on her corneas.
Mette-Marit’s burns were so bad that the doctors at the National Hospital had only seen similar (or worse) twice in the past 20 years, and then when with use of old solariums.
Mette-Marit stayed at home, while Haakon travelled on the planned visit to Germany on his own. She made the balcony on May 17 for the annual appearance on National Day, but the burns were very visible.
October 2003
The Crown Princess had influenza and couldn’t participate in the Palace dinner.
December 2004
Mette-Marit had the Norovirus, and had to cancel her attendance at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.
August-September-October 2005
Mette-Marit had a difficult pregnancy with Sverre-Magnus, leading to several cancellations due to low blood pressure. Most notably she didn’t attend the official visit to Sweden around the centenary celebrations.
September 2007
Haakon had to step in at a conference as a substitute for a sick Mette-Marit
January 2008
An official trip to Chile was on the programme, but Haakon had to travel alone. Mette-Marit was down with the Norovirus. Haakon admitted that it might have been he who had been the contagion, since he’d had similar issues just before. It was also stated that with two kids in kindergarten and one in school, it was nearly impossible to avoid minor isssues like this.
October 2008
Fell and hit her head during a visit to Ukraine as a special emissary for UNAIDS. She ended up with a minor concussion, and the doctor who treated her in Kiev forbade a continuation of the official programme.
It was after this incident that her worn discs in the neck were revealed.
February 2010
The Crown Princess was prescribed rest for 3 weeks, due to injuries to her worn discs in the neck. It lead to her non-attendance at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
October 2011
Mette-Marit had to postpone a visit to Melhus due to illness. She later fulfilled the goal of the trip.
November 2012
Due to the flu, she had to cancel her attendance at the Virke conference.
December 2012
Because of illness, Mette-Marit had to withdraw from the taping of a children’s Christmas television special. Ingrid Alexandra brought her Dad instead.
It also lead to a non-attendance at the Christmas concert at the Palace.
October 2013
Sick leave for herniated disc. Resulted in surgery in November.
August 2015: following a traffic accident, Mette Marit could not attend UN Women conference in Oslo. Haakon stepped in.
“Det var i utgangspunktet H.K.H. Kronprinsessen som skulle deltatt på mottakelsen i kveld, men på grunn av et mindre trafikkuhell der hun ble påkjørt i bil, vil isteden Kronprins Haakon representere Kongehuset under arrangementet.”
http://www.kongehuset.no/nyhet.html?tid=129034&sek=26939
December 2016: Mette-Marit has light pneumonia and will not be going on the trip to NY, where they were scheduled to attend the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), an awards ceremony for the Human Development Index together with UNDP Administrator Helen Clark and UN Deputy Jan Eliasson, “an event on the implementation of the new sustainability goals at the International Peace Institute (IPI).
In mexico she also fell ill (see http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/kongehuset/mette-marit-syk-etter-presidentlunsj/a/542054/). After the lunch hosted by President Felipe Calderón and his wife Margarita Zavala at Chapultepec Castle, Mette-Marit suffered severe stomach pains and vomiting, which forced her to receive medical care emergency and stay in bed.
The press reported that perhaps the Crown Princess had eaten too much or that food was probably way too spicey (as her stomach isn’t used to that). So the Couple arrived at the Oslo airport on Saturday late at night instead of Friday.