Son of Norway princess charged with four counts of rape

THE SON OF Norway’s crown princess has been charged with 32 offences including four rapes and assault, a Norwegian prosecutor has said.

Marius Borg Hoiby, who was born as a result of a relationship before Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s marriage to Crown Prince Haakon, has been under investigation since his arrest on 4 August last year on suspicion of assaulting his girlfriend.

The arrest led to a slew of allegations against the 28-year-old that have shaken the royal family.

In addition to the four rapes, the 28-year-old is charged with intimate partner abuse, acts of violence, deprivation of liberty, and filming and recording videos without consent, Attorney General Sturla Henriksbø said at a press conference.

In June, police attorney Andreas Kruszweski told reporters the 10-month investigation had been completed.

Hoiby’s lawyer Ellen Holager Andenaes told news agency NTB her client rejected three rape allegations put to him at the time.

Hoiby has previously admitted to assault and vandalism in the August 2024 incident.

In a public statement 10 days after his arrest, he said he had acted “under the influence of alcohol and cocaine after an argument”, having suffered from “mental troubles” and struggling “for a long time with substance abuse”.

Advertisement

Police said previously that Hoiby was also suspected of four counts of sexually offensive behaviour, one count of abuse in a close relationship, two counts of bodily harm, one count of vandalism, one count of issuing threats, five violations of restraining orders, one count of insulting a police officer, and five traffic offences.

Growing up with royals

Hoiby was propelled into the spotlight at the age of four when his mother married Norway’s crown prince, with whom she went on to have two more children.

He was raised by the royal couple alongside his step-siblings Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus, aged 21 and 19.

Unlike them, however, he has no official public role.

Despite Mette-Marit’s attempts to shield him from the public eye, he has made headlines over the years.

“He has been put in a virtually impossible position: one foot in, one foot out. He is not technically part of the royal household but he grew up in it,” said Sigrid Hvidsten, royals commentator at the newspaper Dagbladet.

“He has lived in a grey zone, a kind of gilded cage,” she told AFP in December 2024.

A cage that has not stopped him from keeping bad company in recent years.

According to media reports, he has hung out with gang members, Hells Angels bikers and members of Oslo’s Albanian mafia.