Marius Borg Høiby, the son of Norway’s Crown Princess Mette Marit, has been convicted of two counts of rape and has been given a four-year prison sentence.
The 29-year-old, who became part of the royal family when Mette-Marit wed Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon in 2001, has refuted the most serious allegations against him, including those of rape, and has the option to contest the ruling.
Høiby, absent from the courtroom during the judgment, participated via video link and had previously requested release from custody to visit his critically ill mother.
Princess Mette-Marit, aged 52, battles pulmonary fibrosis, a condition leading to progressive scarring and stiffening of lung tissue, necessitating her placement on a lung transplant list.
Individuals on the transplant waiting list typically suffer from advanced lung diseases, facing a considerably reduced life expectancy without a transplant, with many at high risk of death within two years.
Prosecutors had sought a sentence of seven years and seven months for Høiby, while his defense team advocated for a shorter term of 18 months.
The high-profile trial, captivating Norway for weeks, revealed that Høiby had allegedly raped four women between 2018 and 2024 while they were asleep or incapacitated, with one reported incident occurring in the basement of the crown prince’s family residence.
Additionally, he faced accusations of physical and psychological abuse towards a former girlfriend spanning from 2022 to 2023, along with violent behavior towards another ex-partner.
His legal representatives maintained his denial of all sexual abuse charges and most violence-related accusations.
Judges recently found Høiby guilty of raping two women, one at the Crown Prince’s estate in Skaugum in 2018 and another involving a woman in Oslo in 2024. He was also convicted of abusing Nora Haukland, an ex-girlfriend and Norwegian influencer.
However, he was acquitted of two additional rape charges concerning encounters with women in an Oslo hotel and the Lofoten islands in 2023.
In a statement issued by his lawyer following his initial arrest in August 2024, Høiby disclosed his struggles with “several mental disorders” and prolonged substance abuse.
His trial coincided with Crown Princess Mette-Marit expressing regret for her association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after his 2008 conviction.
