Norway\u2019s crown princess<\/a> will go on trial Tuesday on multiple charges including rape in a high-profile case that has been an embarrassment to the royal family.<\/p>\nMarius Borg H\u00f8iby is facing the Oslo district court after being indicted in August following a lengthy investigation. <\/p>\n
The indictment includes 38 counts, among them rape, abuse in a close relationship against one former partner, acts of violence against another and transporting 3.5 kilos (7.7 pounds) of marijuana. Other charges include making death threats and traffic violations.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors have said the 29-year-old could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted at the trial, which is expected to last until mid-March.<\/p>\n
H\u00f8iby is the son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit from a previous relationship and stepson of the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Haakon.<\/p>\n
He has no royal title or official duties. He has been under scrutiny since he was repeatedly arrested in 2024 on various allegations of wrongdoing. He has remained free pending trial.<\/p>\n
The indictment centers on four alleged rapes between 2018 and November 2024; alleged violence and threats against a former partner between the summer of 2022 and the fall of 2023; and two alleged acts of violence against a subsequent partner, along with violations of a restraining order.<\/p>\n
Defense attorney Petar Sekulic said when H\u00f8iby was indicted that \u201cour client denies all charges of sexual abuse, as well as the majority of the charges regarding violence.\u201d He added that H\u00f8iby \u201cwill present a detailed account of his version of events before the court.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a rare statement, Haakon said Wednesday that he and Mette-Marit don\u2019t plan to be in the courtroom for the trial and that the royal house does not intend to comment during the proceedings.<\/p>\n
He emphasized that H\u00f8iby is not party of the royal house and that, as a citizen of Norway, he has the same responsibilities and rights as all others. He said he is confident that all concerned will make the trial as orderly, proper and fair as possible.<\/p>\n
The royals are generally popular in Norway but the H\u00f8iby case has cast a shadow on their image.<\/p>\n
Tove Taalesen, a royal expert at the Nettavisen newspaper, said that it has been \u201ca shocking one and half years for the Norwegian people because we really love our royal family.\u201d She added that \u201cwe respect them and we look at King Harald as like our grandfather.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taalesen said there may be consequences in the future, \u201cbut for now, polls show that we still believe in King Harold and Queen Sonja and we feel we are compassionate also for what the royal family are going through.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe definitely have different opinions about the different members of the royal family,\u201d she said. \u201cBut in general, I think we still have like sympathy for the crown prince and the crown princess.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ahead of the trial, Friday\u2019s release of the latest batch of documents from the Epstein files shone an unflattering spotlight on Mette-Marit. They contained several hundred mentions of the crown princess, who already said in 2019 that she regretted having had contact with Epstein, Norwegian media reported.<\/p>\n
The newly released documents, which include email exchanges with Epstein, showed that Mette-Marit borrowed a property of Epstein\u2019s in Palm Beach, Florida, for several days in early 2013 and the royal house confirmed that she did so through a mutual friend, broadcaster NRK reported.<\/p>\n
In a statement emailed by the royal house, Mette-Marit said that she \u201cmust take responsibility for not having investigated Epstein\u2019s background more thoroughly, and for not realizing sooner what kind of person he was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI deeply regret this, and it is a responsibility I must bear. I showed poor judgment and regret having had any contact with Epstein at all,\u201d she added. \u201cIt is simply embarrassing.\u201d<\/p>\n
She expressed her \u201cdeep sympathy and solidarity\u201d with the victims of Epstein\u2019s abuse.<\/p>\n
Mette-Marit\u2019s contacts with Epstein and the H\u00f8iby trial are not the only source of negative publicity for Norway\u2019s royals. <\/p>\n
The business ventures of Haakon\u2019s sister, Princess M\u00e4rtha Louise, have drawn repeated criticism. In 2024, around the same time H\u00f8iby\u2019s case was making news, she married an American self-professed shaman, Durek Verrett.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.nbcnews.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The eldest son of Norway\u2019s crown princess will go on trial Tuesday on multiple charges including rape in a high-profile case that has been an embarrassment to the royal family. Marius Borg H\u00f8iby is facing the Oslo district court after being indicted in August following a lengthy investigation. The indictment includes 38 counts, among them […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2262711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2262710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770030732_Son-of-Norways-crown-princess-to-go-on-trial-on.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2262710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2262710"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2262710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2262712,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2262710\/revisions\/2262712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2262711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2262710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2262710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2262710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}