Marius Borg Høiby, the son of Norway’s Crown Princess Mette Marit, has been sentenced to four years in prison after being convicted of two counts of rape.
The 29-year-old, who became part of the royal family when Mette-Marit married Crown Prince Haakon in 2001, has denied the most serious allegations against him, including those of rape, and has the option to challenge the verdict.
The high-profile trial, which has captivated Norway for weeks, revealed that Høiby had sexually assaulted four women between 2018 and 2024 while they were either asleep or incapacitated.
One of the alleged rapes occurred in the basement of the crown prince’s family residence, according to the court proceedings.
Additionally, he was accused of both physical and psychological abuse towards an ex-girlfriend from 2022 to 2023 and of exhibiting violent behavior towards another former partner.
His legal team stated that he refutes all charges of sexual misconduct and most of the allegations related to violence.
Judges have now convicted Høiby of raping two women, one at the Crown Prince’s estate in Skaugum in 2018 and another involving a woman in Oslo in 2024. He was also found guilty of mistreating his ex-girlfriend, Norwegian influencer Nora Haukland.
However, he was acquitted of two other rape charges, one involving a woman he met at an Oslo hotel and another with a woman he encountered in the Lofoten islands in 2023.
Høiby, who did not appear in court but joined via video link, had previously requested to be released from custody to visit his seriously ill mother.
Princess Mette-Marit, aged 52, suffers from pulmonary fibrosis, a condition that causes progressive scarring and stiffening of lung tissue. She has been placed on a waiting list for a lung transplant as a result.
Individuals on this waiting list typically have advanced lung disease and face a significantly reduced life expectancy without a transplant, with many at high risk of death within two years.
Prosecutors had recommended a prison term of seven years and seven months for Høiby, while his defense team had argued for a shorter sentence of 18 months.
In a statement issued through his lawyer after his initial arrest in August 2024, Høiby disclosed that he struggles with “several mental health disorders” and has battled substance abuse issues for an extended period.
The trial unfolded as Crown Princess Mette-Marit expressed regret for her association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein following his 2008 conviction.