The highly-publicized trial of the stepson of Norway’s future king began in Oslo on Tuesday, piling fresh attention on a royal family already contending with the unflattering fallout of the newly-released Jeffrey Epstein files.
Marius Borg Høiby, the 29-year-old son of Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit, has pleaded not guilty to four charges of rape. He faces a total of 38 charges.
Why It Matters
Mette-Marit, who is married to Crown Prince Haakon, the heir to the Norwegian throne, herself faced increased scrutiny this week after her name was mentioned hundreds of times in pages relating to Epstein. The crown princess is in line to become queen when her husband accedes to the throne.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday published millions of pages of new documents, files and videos relating to Epstein, the convicted sex offender and disgraced former financier, who died by suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting sex trafficking charges.
The vast volumes of information have often come accompanied by little or no explanation and context, but have nonetheless exposed the staggering network of contacts Epstein had cultivated among the world’s rich and powerful. The Norwegian and British monarchies, the latter through the now-former Prince Andrew, have found themselves firmly in the spotlight.
Appearing in the Epstein files is not an indication of wrongdoing.
What To Know
Høiby appeared in Courtroom 250 of Oslo’s District Court on Tuesday for the first day of the trial, which is expected to last 7 weeks. He was again arrested on Sunday evening local time and charged with bodily harm, making threats involving a knife, and breach of a restraining order, Oslo police told Newsweek in a statement.
The court remanded him in custody for a month on Monday, police added. Police had requested Høiby be detained for four weeks ahead of his trial due to “the risk of reoffending.”
He pleaded not guilty to the most serious of the charges, but pleaded guilty to a handful of driving offenses, breaking a restraining order, aggravated assault and a drug-related offense, according to the Associated Press. Although the trial has attracted broad media attention, journalists present in the courtroom are not allowed to record the proceedings or take photographs.
Criminal proceedings against Høiby began in 2024 after police were called to an apartment in Frogner, an area of western Oslo, following reports of a violent incident. Several more charges were built up against Høiby until he was indicted by Norwegian prosecutors on 32 counts, including four rape charges, in August 2025.
He was later charged by Norwegian prosecutors with a further six counts in January this year. He faces up to a decade behind bars.
Høiby “denies all charges of sexual abuse, as well as the majority of the charges regarding violence,” his defense attorney Petar Sekulic previously said.
Haakon has said neither he nor his wife will be present in the courtroom for the trial. The prince at once emphasized his stepson was not a member of Norway’s royal house but described him as “an important member” of the family.
Mette-Marit said she showed “poor judgement” in her contact with Epstein, calling the association “simply embarrassing.” The files publicized by the DOJ indicate the crown princess was in touch with Epstein between 2011 and 2014. Epstein had become a registered sex offender in Florida after pleading guilty to procuring a person under 18 for prostitution and felony solicitation of prostitution in 2008.
A search of the DOJ’s Epstein file database returns more than 900 hits for an email account publicly visible as H.K.H. Kronprinsessen, which translates to “Her Royal Highness, the Crown Princess” in Norwegian. An email from Epstein’s assistant to this address begins: “Hello Princess Mette.”
In one email, apparently from the crown princess to Epstein in October 2012, the sender described Paris as “good for adultery” before adding: “Scandis better wife material.” The message was a response to an email from Epstein in which he said he was “on my wife hunt.”
The previous month, the princess appears to have told Epstein: “Would be great to catch up over tea one day so you can tickle my brain.”
In an email from November that year, also sent to Epstein, the same account wrote: “You always make me smile…Because you tickle my brain.” In further messages in 2012, the H.K.H. Kronprinsessen account called Epstein “soft hearted” and separately asked the convicted pedophile: “Is it inappropriate for a mother to suggest two naked women carrying a surfboard for my 15 yr old sons wallpaper?”
Another message to Epstein from the H.K.H. Kronprinsessen account in January 2013 reads: “What do you have to do besides seeing me ??????”
“I miss my crazy friend,” the princess said in a separate email at roughly the same time.
Several high-profile Norwegian politicians have been named in the Epstein files, including the country’s former prime minister, Thorbjørn Jagland. Current Norwegian leader Jonas Gahr Støre said he agreed that both had shown “poor judgement” in their associations with Epstein.
Jagland’s lawyer, Sigurd Klomsæt, told the Norwegian NRK broadcaster on Tuesday that an investigation into the former leader’s contact with Epstein will take “several weeks.”
Norway’s foreign minister, Espen Barth Eide, said on Monday that longtime Norwegian diplomat Mona Juul would be relieved of her duties as ambassador to Jordan while the government investigates her links to Epstein. Juul said in a statement to national media that she would “completely open” about her contact with Epstein and was “cooperating fully.”
The files also show contact between Juul’s husband, Terje Rød-Larsen—a former head of the International Peace Institute and ex Norwegian deputy prime minister—and Epstein. An email sent by Larsen in December 2015 appears to show Larsen making a derogatory joke about India to Epstein.
Update 2/3/26, 10:24 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Oslo police and additional information.
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