Norway’s royal stepson faces verdict after rape trial ends

Marius Borg Høiby is due to face the next stage of Norway’s most closely watched criminal case from behind a video link, nearly three months after a seven-week rape trial ended in Oslo. Prosecutors are seeking seven years and seven months in prison over 40 charges, including four counts of rape, and they say the proceedings have put the country’s institutions under an unforgiving spotlight.

The case has landed with unusual force because Høiby is the son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit and the stepson of Crown Prince Haakon, Norway’s heir to the throne. He has no official public role or royal title, yet he entered the royal family in 2001 when Mette-Marit married Haakon, and unlike Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus, he is not part of the formal royal household.

Police said the investigation involved a double-digit number of alleged victims. More than 800 electronic messages were entered into evidence, alongside testimony about Høiby’s drug addiction and self-made videos of sexual encounters. The charges also include domestic abuse, violence, vandalism, restraining-order violations and filming women’s genitals without their knowledge or consent. Prosecutors said the four alleged rapes took place in 2018, 2023 and 2024, including one after the police investigation had already begun.

Høiby has pleaded not guilty to the most serious accusations, including rape, but admitted some lesser offenses such as offensive sexual behaviour, speeding and driving without a valid licence. During the trial, he told the court that heavy media coverage had made him an “object of hatred” and left him with anxiety and clinical depression. Prosecutors have argued that he should be treated like any other Norwegian, with neither special leniency nor harsher treatment because of his family ties.

The political and institutional stakes extend beyond one defendant. The trial has hurt the monarchy’s popularity in opinion polls and coincided with renewed scrutiny of Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s past contact with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which she apologized for as “poor judgment.” The royal palace has said the case should proceed through the legal system and has nothing further to add.

An Oslo appeals court on June 10, 2026, rejected Høiby’s bid for release from custody before the verdict, saying there remained a strong likelihood he would commit new crimes if freed. That ruling overturned an earlier decision that had briefly ordered his release so he could be with his mother, who has pulmonary fibrosis and is on a waiting list for a lung transplant. His lawyers said they were extremely disappointed.

For Norway, the case has become a test of whether a system built on trust and transparency can apply the law with visible impartiality when the defendant stands close to the crown.