Norway's crown princess needs lung transplant, palace says

OSLO - 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.

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.

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere has praised the crown princess for being open about her condition and has said this could help others suffering from similar problems.

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.

-Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Gwladys Fouche/Reuters