On trial for rape/New charges against the son of the crown princess of Norway

2026-03-03 20:37:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Prosecutors in Norway have filed charges against the son of Norway's crown princess for reckless conduct and violating a restraining order, a month after he went on trial for rape and dozens of other alleged criminal offenses.

Marius Borg Høiby was arrested the day before his trial was due to begin in early February on suspicion of threatening and assaulting a woman in his Oslo apartment. Police remanded him in custody for the first four weeks of the trial. Although charges of assault with a deadly weapon and threats with a knife were dismissed, prosecutors say the 29-year-old has admitted reckless conduct and breaching a restraining order.

He now faces a total of 40 charges and denies the most serious charges. Marius Borg Høiby is the son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit and was raised in the royal family, but is not a member of the Norwegian royal house. He was four years old when his mother married Crown Prince Haakon in 2001.

He has admitted some of the 40 charges against him, but denies four counts of rape, which involve a woman who was either asleep or incapacitated after they had sex. The latest charges against him relate to a woman from Oslo's upscale Frogner area, with whom he was banned from contact at the time. He already admitted violating a restraining order in relation to the same woman at the start of the trial and partially admits other charges dating back to 2024.

Marius Borg Høiby was first arrested after a violent incident at the woman's apartment in Frogner and at the time spoke of suffering from mental health problems for years. Although it is unusual for further charges to be added during a trial, state prosecutor Sturla Henriksbø explained that this was possible if the defendant admitted to the criminal acts. Reckless behavior can be punished with up to two years in prison. As of Tuesday, the trial at Oslo District Court had gone through 17 of the 28 days allotted for the case, which is being held under strict restrictions that do not require images of either the defendant or the four women he is alleged to have raped.

The only woman who can be identified is a former girlfriend, Nora Haukland, whom he denies abusing. She has already given evidence in court that he kicked, punched and choked her during their relationship between 2022 and 2023. Last week, an audio recording of an argument in which Marius Borg Høiby can be heard directing insults at Ms. Haukland, a Norwegian influencer with more than 100,000 followers on Instagram, was played in court.

He denies being violent and his defence lawyer says his ex-girlfriend did not "live in any way in a regime of fear". During Tuesday's hearing, the court heard from Nora Haukland's ex-boyfriends, including one who spoke of their "peaceful separation" and his respect for her, and another who described their relationship as turbulent. If convicted of the more serious charges, he could spend at least 10 years in prison./CNA, translated by BBC