He will remain in detention until his appeal trial, which may not take place until next year.Tove Taalesen, a royal expert at Nettavisen newspaper, told the Associated Press news agency that while Norwegians' opinions of the royal family vary, "In general, I think we still have sympathy for the crown prince and the crown princess."As the eldest son of Mette-Marit — the woman is who is expected to become Norway's queen — Høiby has drawn the broader monarchy into the spotlight.McCreery says it's "impossible" for the royal family to distance itself from the "shocking" case."After all, this is the eldest son of the crown princess Mette-Marit has said she "didn't know" Epstein was a "sex offender or predator".After seven weeks of silence following the release of the files, Mette-Marit sat down with Norway's public broadcaster NRK for a 20-minute interview, for which questions were reportedly provided in advance."It is incredibly important for me to take responsibility for not checking his background more carefully … for being so manipulated and deceived as I was," she said in the interview.Ketil Raknes, an associate professor in political communication and head of department at the Kristiania University of Applied Sciences in Oslo, says the timing of these developments created what he describes as a "perfect crisis for the royal family"."They had two crises at the same time, and they had a lot of critique for the way they handled the Epstein files," Raknes tells the Reuters news agency.In 2022, Mette-Marit's sister-in-law, Princess Märtha Louise announced she would step back from official royal duties to focus on her own projects and business interests.Louise is the daughter of King Harald V and Queen Sonja