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By Ellie Cook
Senior Defense Reporter
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The son of Norway's crown princess has been convicted of several offenses, including two counts of rape, after a highly-publicized trial from which the Nordic country's monarchy has sought to distance itself.
Marius Borg Høiby, the 29-year-old son of Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit, was sentenced to four years in prison by a court in Oslo on Monday morning.
Høiby was convicted of rape over an incident with an unnamed woman at Skaugum, an official royal estate just outside of Oslo, in 2018, and separately over the rape of another woman in Oslo in 2024.
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He was also found guilty of several other offenses, including assaulting his former girlfriend, Norwegian influencer Nora Haukland. He faced a total of 40 charges and was found guilty of 34 offenses, including abuse in close relationships.
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He was acquitted of two counts of rape related to an unnamed woman at a hotel in the Norwegian capital in November 2024 and another woman in Norway's northern Lofoten islands the previous year.
He had pleaded not guilty to the most serious offenses but admitted some of the lesser charges. The six-week trial ended back in March.
Høiby's defense attorneys said he would appeal the verdict, Norwegian media later reported.
Who Is Marius Borg Høiby?
Høiby is not a working royal but has been closely associated with the monarchy.
Mette-Marit married Crown Prince Haakon when Høiby was 4 years old, and Haakon previously described his stepson as "an important member" of the family.
Høiby is Mette-Marit's eldest son, but the royal couple shares two younger children, Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus.
Høiby previously enjoyed popularity in Norway and became nicknamed "little Marius."
"Everyone adored the blonde, blue-eyed charmer on the palace balcony in 2001, but his part to play has always been hard to discern," said Ole-Jørgen Schulerud-Hansen, a historian and royal commentator.
But over the years, the public perception of the future king's stepson has gradually changed, he told Newsweek.
Mette-Marit herself faced increased scrutiny earlier this year after her name was mentioned hundreds of times in pages relating to convicted pedophile and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
She isn't accused of any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein and has publicly apologized for her contact with him after he was convicted in 2008.
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But the crown princess, who is in line to become queen when her husband accedes to the throne, was put on a lung transplant list earlier this month, and the royal family scaled back their public engagements. She suffers from chronic lung disease.
Appeals courts had ruled Høiby would not be released from custody to visit his mother ahead of the verdict on Monday.
Norway's public support dropped for the royal family midway through Høiby's trial to a record low of 60 percent, although this slightly recovered last month, according to Reuters. The royal court said it would not comment on the outcome of the trial.
Sturla Henriksboe, prosecutor in the trial, called the judgment on Høiby a "victory for our justice system."
"No one can get away with serious criminal acts based on who they are or who they are related to," Henriksboe told Reuters.
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