Marius Borg Hoiby faces up to 10 years in prison after being charged with 32 criminal offences, including rape.
The son of Norway’s crown princess has been charged with raping four women, domestic violence, assault and other crimes following a yearlong police investigation, according to prosecutors.
Marius Borg Hoiby, 28, son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit and stepson of the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Haakon, is expected to stand trial early next year and could face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty of the most serious charges, Oslo state attorney Sturla Henriksbo said on Monday.
Hoiby denies the most serious accusations against him but plans to plead guilty to some lesser charges in court when the trial starts, his lawyer Petar Sekulic told the Reuters news agency.
“He does not agree with the claims regarding rape and domestic violence,” Sekulic said of his client.
Hoiby was charged on Monday with 32 criminal offences, including one count of rape with sexual intercourse and three counts of rape without intercourse, some of which he filmed on his telephone, the prosecution said.
Henriksbo estimates the trial could begin in mid-January and take about six weeks.
Princess Ingrid Alexandra, Marius Borg Hoiby, Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit attend the celebrations of Princess Ingrid Alexandra’s Official Day at Deichman Museum on June 16, 2022, in Oslo, Norway [File: Rune Hellestad/Getty Images]
Hoiby does not have a royal title and is outside the line of royal succession.
“It is up to the courts to hear this case and to reach a decision,” the royal palace said in a statement.
The prosecutor said Hoiby, as a member of the royal family, would not be treated “more lightly or more severely” than anyone else in similar circumstances.
Domestic abuse
Police in November last year held Hoiby in detention for one week as part of the investigation.
In August of last year, Hoiby was named as a suspect of physical assault against a woman with whom he had been in a relationship – the only victim identified by the prosecution, Nora Haukland.
“The violence consisted, among other things, of him repeatedly hitting her in the face, including with a clenched fist, choking her, kicking her and grabbing her hard,” the prosecutor said.
Hoiby, in a statement to the media at the time, admitted to causing bodily harm to the woman while he was under the influence of cocaine and alcohol and of damaging her apartment. He had stated then that he regretted his actions.
According to media reports, he spent time with gang members, Hells Angels bikers and members of Oslo’s Albanian mafia. In 2023, police contacted him to discuss his hangouts with “notorious criminals”.
It emerged last year that Hoiby had already been arrested in 2017 for using cocaine at a music festival.
