A verdict that shook a palace and scarred a family — delivered on a Monday morning in Oslo.
Marius Borg Høiby, the 29-year-old son of Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit, has been found guilty of two counts of rape and sentenced to four years in prison by Oslo District Court. He was not present in the courtroom for health reasons, attending instead via video link.
The court convicted Høiby of raping two women. One on the Crown Prince’s estate at Skaugum in 2018, and another in Oslo in March 2024. In both cases, the victims were asleep or incapacitated at the time. The 2024 rape was captured on video filmed by Høiby himself. He was cleared of two further rape charges.
He was also convicted of abusing Norwegian influencer Nora Haukland and causing serious bodily harm to another partner, in whose Frogner apartment he was arrested in August 2024. The court ordered him to pay 640,000 Norwegian kroner, approximately £50,000, in compensation to four of the women.
Prosecutors had sought seven years and seven months. His defence team had argued for 18 months and confirmed they intend to appeal. Høiby’s lawyers also asked the court to release him so he could be with his mother, whose health is rapidly declining. Crown Princess Mette-Marit is seriously ill with pulmonary fibrosis and has been placed on a lung transplant waiting list. The court of appeal has so far refused his release.
Although Høiby is not himself a member of the royal family, the trial has cast a long shadow over Norway’s monarchy. The palace declined to comment on the verdict, saying only that “the matter has been considered by the courts.”
A family already carrying grief is now carrying something heavier still.
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