Norway Crown Princess’s Son Convicted in Rape Case

Marius Borg Høiby, the 29‑year‑old son of Norway’s Crown Princess, was sentenced to four years in prison after a guilty verdict on two counts of rape.

Three judges in courtroom 250 at Oslo District Court cleared him of two other rape charges but found him guilty of raping two women, one on the Crown Prince’s estate in 2018 and another in Oslo in 2024.

Prosecutors had requested seven years and seven months, while his defence lawyers argued for 18 months and announced an appeal. The court rejected a later request for pre‑trial release, citing a risk that Høiby might contact a former victim.

Høiby was also convicted of abusing a former girlfriend, influencer Nora Haukland, and of serious bodily harm to another partner in an August 2024 incident in the affluent Frogner area of Oslo.

The victim in the 2018 case, reported to have been asleep, learned of the assault only last year when videos recovered from Høiby’s phone were presented. All four rape charges involved victims who were either sleeping or incapacitated and unaware when they were assaulted.

Compensation amounts were set at 640,000 kroner (about £50,000) for four of the women, including Haukland, whose name could be named legally. The court ruled that Høiby should pay the sum for the offences he was found guilty of.

The verdict has cast a shadow over the Norwegian royal family. The Crown Princess, who is on a lung transplant waiting list, has received less public attention on her health, with the palace choosing not to comment on the outcome or her condition.

Experts say the case highlights frustrations in Norwegian society over how courts handle rape allegations. One in three cases that reach court ends in acquittal, emphasising the burden of evidence required for conviction, according to criminologist Anja Emilie Kruse.

The scandal has undeniably affected public perception of the royal house, with royal correspondents noting an institutional crisis as the Crown Princess’s declining health shifts public focus onto the monarchy’s resilience.