3 days before wedding, fiancee of Crown Prince admits wild youth

(22 Aug 2001) STORY
The fiancee of Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon admitted to a past of wild partying on Wednesday, three days before her wedding, but assured Norwegians that she condemned drugs and was ready for sobre palace life.
Tjessem Hoiby, who has a four-year-old son by a previous relationship with a man who has convictions for drug offences, is set to marry Haakon on Saturday in the capital Oslo's cathedral.
The couple have already lived together since last year.
Some Norwegians applaud Tjessem Hoiby, a former waitress, as a modern Cinderella.
Others fear that the monarchy cannot survive as a symbol - even for a liberal-minded Scandinavian nation - if its members become too much like ordinary people.
Tjessem Hoiby had previously refused to answer any questions about her past even though Haakon had said in an interview last year that she had often attended parties where drugs were used.
Pollsters said that most Norwegians shrug off the fact that Tjessem Hoiby is a single mother but many have misgivings about her past and about the fact that the couple chose to live together in an Oslo flat before marrying.
Haakon will be head of the state Lutheran church when he succeeds King Harald. The church is opposed to cohabitation outside matrimony.
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