Marius Borg Hoiby, eldest son of Norway’s crown princess, denied four rape charges in the opening day of his high-profile trial in Oslo on Tuesday.
The 29-year-old, wearing a brown wool pullover, khaki trousers and horn-rimmed glasses, clutched rosary beads as he denied the charges. He faces 34 other charges including assault and transporting 3.5kg of marijuana.
State prosecutor Sturla Henriksbo spent 24 minutes reading the indictment before Oslo district court on Tuesday morning, noting that everyone is equal before the law in Norway – even a member of the royal family.
“He must be treated like everyone else,” he added, “neither can he be judged more harshly or mildly because of his familial relationships.”
Hoiby was born before his mother married crown prince Haakon in 2001 and remains outside the line of succession.
On Saturday evening Hoiby reportedly turned up at one of the witnesses’ homes and threatened her with a knife before being detained by police. He has remained in police custody since and is likely to remain behind bars for most of the trial.
Defence layer Ellen Holager Andenaes attributed a major part of his behaviour to a “tsunami” of negative press coverage.
“He has not yet been convicted but that looks like a mere formality,” she said, adding that someone in such a situation “may feel they are losing control of their life. He is afraid of having no chance at all.”
She argued the women complainants had previously had sex with Hoiby and were part of an Oslo party scene.
“It is no secret that sex plays a big role here,” she said.
State attorney and prosecutor Sturla Henriksbo and police prosecutor Andreas Kruszewski at the district court in Oslo. Photograph: Ole Berg-Rusten/NTB/AFP/Getty Images
In a closed afternoon session, the first woman gave her testimony. According to Norwegian tabloid Vg, she denied having any romantic relationship with Hoiby at the time of the first incident in December 2018.
After drinks in a cocktail bar in Oslo she recalled going with him and his friends to the royal estate, Skaugum.
In a bunker-like room, filled with other women she had never seen before, rounds of drinking games took place, including spin-the-bottle. Hoiby accompanied her once to the toilet where they briefly had sex, she said, before she stopped him. Later she returned to the party and, on a sofa, recalls “everything went black”.
Some time later she woke up, found a guard and asked for a taxi.
In one video shown to the closed court, Hoiby was reportedly filmed touching the woman in her genital area. Prosecutors say this happened without her consent.
Earlier in the day, Hoiby pleaded guilty to six lesser charges, including speeding, serious drug charges, disobeying a court order and sexual harassment. He is scheduled to give testimony on Wednesday.
The case is being heard in a special chamber of Oslo district court, remodelled for the trial of Anders Breivik, perpetrator of the 2011 Utoya island massacre.
It is the lowest point in a two-year run of scandals and health setbacks for Norway’s royal family. Over the weekend it emerged that Hoiby’s mother Mette-Marit, who is living with a chronic lung condition, was friendly with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and in 2012 stayed in his Palm Beach home.
She is not attending the trial and, on Monday, faced unusually sharp remarks from leading Norwegian media outlets.
The bestselling Aftenposten asked: “Can Mette-Marit become queen after this?”
Answering that question, Norway’s leading financial newspaper argued: “She’s going to be queen. It says so in the constitution. Still: she can’t stay queen. Everyone knows why.”