Tried for rape and violence, Marius Borg Høiby, son of the Crown Princess of Norway, will be decided on his fate on Monday in a resounding case which has damaged the image of the monarchy.
Born from a relationship prior to the marriage of his mother Mette-Marit to Crown Prince Haakon in 2001, Høiby, who has no official position or fixed profession, faced 40 charges during his trial from February 3 to March 19.
This 29-year-old man contests the most serious accusations, namely the rapes of four women who were in no condition to resist, and repeated violence against an ex-partner.
The Oslo court is due to deliver its verdict from 8:30 a.m. In pre-trial detention since the beginning of February, Høiby will follow his reading remotely, by video link, for unspecified health reasons.
The prosecution requested seven years and seven months in prison. For its part, the defense requested his acquittal on the rape charges and pleaded for a sentence of one and a half years in prison for other charges.
Unless there is a huge surprise, Høiby is expected to spend some time behind bars since he admitted to certain facts, including transporting 3.5 kg of marijuana, physical harm and threats.
Life full of excess
The legal proceedings exposed the life full of excess of the young man, propelled into the public sphere at the age of three by the romance between Mette-Marit and Haakon.
“I am best known as my mother’s son, not anything else. So I have had an extremely high need for recognition all my life,” he declared on the second day of the trial.
“And that meant a lot of sex, a lot of drugs and a lot of alcohol,” he added.
The alleged rapes, including one at the princely couple’s home, were allegedly committed between 2018 and 2024 after festive evenings during which Høiby consumed alcohol and drugs.
According to the prosecution, consensual sexual relations were each time followed by other acts, illegal ones, the young women then appearing to be asleep.
The legal debate focused in particular on the state of consciousness of the alleged victims and on what Høiby could perceive at the time of the events.
In his indictment, prosecutor Sturla Henriksbø described a defendant “who believes he has everything allowed”.
Despite his confusing explanations and his memory lapses, Høiby insisted that he was not “in the habit of having sex with women who are sleeping”.
He also denounced the media pressure which, he said, made him “a monster”, “a target of hatred from all of Norway”.
Regime of terror
The affair broke out on August 4, 2024 when Høiby was arrested on suspicion of having attacked his partner the previous night in the beautiful neighborhoods of Oslo. The press then published a photo of a knife stuck in a wall and a broken chandelier on the ground.
Another woman, the influencer Nora Haukland, then claims to have also suffered physical and psychological violence – a “regime of terror”, the prosecution will say. At the trial, Høiby will admit that jealousy can make him lose his mind.
It was by analyzing his phones and computers that investigators found videos documenting what they consider to be rapes.
Although Høiby is not formally part of the Royal Household, the affair has embarrassed the Norwegian monarchy and contributed to weakening public support, which nevertheless remains relatively high.
It adds to other scandals, notably recent revelations about sustained correspondence between Mette-Marit and sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein between 2011 and 2014, when the American financier had already been convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor.
Suffering from an incurable lung disease, the 52-year-old princess has seen her health deteriorate significantly in recent months, to the point that doctors have placed her on a waiting list for a delicate transplant.
Claiming to want to be with his seriously ill mother, Høiby asked to be released pending the verdict, without being successful.
