What’s being billed as “an historic royal scandal” in Norway took center stage in Oslo on Tuesday, when the 29-year-old son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit went on trial for 38 criminal offenses. He pleaded not guilty to four rapes, various other assaults and making threats, but at least partially admitted to other charges of inflicting bodily harm, violating restraining orders, transporting drugs and driving recklessly.
The Oslo County Courthouse is the site of the first criminal trial ever to be held in Norway involving a member of the royal family. Norwegian law forbids any photos of the defendant in the case and also protects his alleged victims, so it’s not allowed to take or publish photos from the proceedings. PHOTO: NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
Marius Borg Høiby was also arrested for the fourth time during the weekend, after showing up once again at the home of one of the former girlfriends he’s accused of assaulting. Police won a court order on Monday to keep him in custody for at least four weeks, while they compile even more charges against him, so Høiby arrived at the Oslo County Courthouse from prison.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, are intent on showing that Høiby “won’t be let off easy because he’s a member of the royal family,” as the lead attorney in the case against him, Sturla Henriksbø, recently told newspaper Aftenposten. No other members of the family will be in the courtroom over the seven weeks set aside for Høiby’s case. His stepfather, Crown Prince Haakon, cited official duties while his half-sister, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, needs to get back to her studies at the University of Sydney in Australia.
The crown prince told reporters last week that his mother, Mette-Marit, would be taking off on a “private trip” to a destination that wasn’t revealed. She was a single mother when she met the crown prince in the late 1990s and Marius was only four years old when they married in 2001. He grew up in the royal family, eventually joined by his younger sister who’s in line to be queen someday and then a younger brother, Prince Sverre Magnus, who’s recently been living in Italy and “exploring options” in making videos.
Høiby was never granted a royal title but Crown Prince Haakon insisted in his short meeting with reporters that “he is an important part of our family.” At the same time, the crown prince noted that Høiby’s alleged victims are also important and repeated earlier messages sent by both him and his father, King Harald V, that “we are thinking about them. We know that many of them are going through difficult times right now.”
Marius Borg Høiby (at center) grew up with his younger half-sister Princess Ingrid Alexandra (far left), Crown Prince Haakon, his half-brother Prince Sverre Magnus and his mother Crown Princess Mette-Marit. This family photo is from 2014. PHOTO: Kongehuset/Sølve Sundsbø
Haakon and his father have stressed all along that Norway’s legal system must function as it should, objectively and without any special treatment for the troubled son of the crown princess. As Royal Palace staff also have stated, “Marius Borg Høiby is a citizen of Norway, and through that he has the same responsibility as all others but also the same rights.”
Prosecutors have noted that Høiby shouldn’t be judged any harder or eaiser than others either, just because of who he is. Their job is to present all the evidence they’ve collected over the past 17 months, since Høiby was first arrested after a violent rampage in a girlfriend’s apartment on August 4, 2024. He was released after just a day, and could continue living in a house on the crown couple’s royal estate at Skaugum west of Oslo, until he got into more trouble throughout that autumn. Høiby, who has no higher education and hasn’t held a job, most recently has been living in an apartment in Oslo.
Prosecutor Henriksbø has stressed that the case against Høiby, who’d been on the police radar because of drug use that he’d admitted to earlier, began with “a serious but limited incident.” Further investigations, including not least examinations of his mobile phones, “disclosed many other extremely serious incidents earlier and not least, new incidents after (the first arrest).” He told Aftenposten that the extent of Høiby’s alleged crimes “has surprised me.”
Commentators have been hoping that the trial can help answer questions about what went wrong with Høiby, who grew up with so many privileges and opportunites but landed in trouble instead. Seven weeks have been set aside for the trial, which has attracted major international media coverage. Høiby’s defense attorneys took time to criticize all the coverage, calling it “a tsunami of negative news” and insisted that he be viewed as innocent until proven guilty. He faces up to 16 years in prison if found guilty on all charges.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund