NORWAY’S CROWN PRINCESS’ SON SENTENCED TO FOUR YEARS IN PRISON OVER RAPE CONVICTIONS
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By Aishat Momoh. O.
Marius Borg Høiby, the son of Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit, has been sentenced to four years in prison after being found guilty on two counts of rape by the Oslo District Court.
The verdict was delivered on Monday by a three-judge panel sitting in courtroom 250. Høiby was acquitted of two additional rape charges but convicted on several other offences brought against him during the high-profile trial.
The 29-year-old did not appear physically in court and instead followed proceedings through a video link.
Prosecutors had sought a prison term of seven years and seven months, while the defence argued for a significantly lighter sentence of 18 months. His legal team retains the right to appeal the judgment.
Although Høiby was raised within Norway’s royal household after his mother married into the royal family when he was four years old, he does not hold royal status.
The case involved allegations from six women. The court convicted him of raping two women — one incident linked to an event at the Crown Prince’s Skaugum estate in 2018 and another involving a woman in Oslo in 2024.
He was also found guilty of offences involving abuse and reckless conduct against former partner and Norwegian influencer Nora Haukland.
However, the court cleared him of two additional rape allegations relating to separate incidents involving women he reportedly met in Oslo and during a holiday in the Lofoten Islands.
One of the central convictions stemmed from an incident in March 2024 in which prosecutors argued that the victim was either asleep or unable to resist. Evidence presented reportedly included video recordings made at the time. The woman testified during the trial that she had been asleep and had not consented.
The court ruled that the victim had been incapable of resisting and accepted the prosecution’s account.
All four rape charges in the case involved allegations that the women were asleep or otherwise incapacitated at the time of the incidents.
The court further ordered Høiby to pay compensation totalling 640,000 Norwegian kroner to four women involved in the case.
Meanwhile, Høiby’s lawyers renewed requests for his release following the verdict, citing the deteriorating health of his mother, who is currently receiving treatment for pulmonary fibrosis and has reportedly been placed on a lung transplant list.
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