Members of the royal family are not required to pay duty on goods purchased abroad and brought into Norway. However Tjessem Høiby will not become a royal until August and is therefore obliged to go through the "red" channel and declare certain expensive purchases. Duty must be paid on goods valued above a certain limit and the material for her wedding dress undoubtedly fell into this category.
No statement has been released either about the type of material she had with her, or the duty applied.
All facts concerning the wedding-dress will remain "top secret" until Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby walks down the aisle in Oslo's Domkirken on 25 August to marry Norway's Crown Prince Haakon. The only assumption that can be made is that as Miss Tjessem Høiby has returned to Norway with the material she bought in Paris, she has probably chosen a designer here at home.
According to the celebrity magazine Se og Hør", the future queen of Norway has already started filling up her wardrobe in her new Oslo home at Ullevålsveien 67. She has been shopping on Fifth Avenue and in Madison Avenue, New York where she reportedly spent around NOK 200,000 on Gucci, Fendi and Prada designer wear.
Aftenposten Interactive English Desk
Liz McNamara
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