The terse announcement early last month that Haakon, his girlfriend Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby and her son from an earlier relationship would move into a spacious flat together near downtown Oslo set off shockwaves even in liberal Norway, where live-in relationships are common and have their own legal status called "samboerskap."
Many Norwegians fretted that the arrangement was inappropriate for a crown prince, and some believe it threatens the monarchy because it's simply too, well, common.
Haakon's parents, however, appear to reluctantly have gone along with their son's desires even though King Harald is on record in a recent book as saying he would opposed "samboerskap" for his own children.
Now it's believed that Tjessem-Høiby, who has refused to meet reporters or be officially photographed, will soon make a formal public appearance with the heir to throne, and that an engagement between the two will be announced before Christmas.
No date has been set, but a palace source told Aftenposten that "Mette-Marit will meet the press when she's ready, or when an engagement is announced."
Many royal watchers remain disappointed in Haakon's choice and Tjessem Høiby's past has brought into question her fitness to be Norway's queen. Haakon himself has confirmed that she was an active member of Oslo's house party scene in the early 1990s, and the father of her son has a criminal record.
