{"id":2268587,"date":"2026-02-05T21:06:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T21:06:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2268587"},"modified":"2026-02-05T21:06:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T21:06:59","slug":"police-believe-son-of-norways-crown-princess-sexually-assaulted-woman-at-party-court-hears-norway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/police-believe-son-of-norways-crown-princess-sexually-assaulted-woman-at-party-court-hears-norway\/","title":{"rendered":"Police believe son of Norway\u2019s crown princess sexually assaulted woman at party, court hears | Norway"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Police believe the son of Norway\u2019s crown princess sexually assaulted a woman at an afterparty at a royal residence, a court has heard.<\/p>\n

Marius Borg H\u00f8iby, 29, pleaded not guilty to four counts of rape on Tuesday, the first day of his trial for multiple offences in a legal saga that has embarrassed the royal family and raised questions over sexual violence in Norway.<\/p>\n

Appearing in front of a packed courtroom at Oslo district court, H\u00f8iby also denied charges including abuse in close relationships and filming women\u2019s genitals without their knowledge.<\/p>\n

The trial comes at a moment of unprecedented pressure on the Norwegian royal family, with H\u00f8iby\u2019s mother, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, also facing criticism over her links with the late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n

Taking the stand in a separate room, the first of H\u00f8iby\u2019s alleged victims to give evidence told the court she had attended a party at Skaugum, the official residence of H\u00f8iby\u2019s stepfather, the crown prince of Norway, and his wife in 2018.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Crown Princess Mette-Marit in January.<\/span> Photograph: Andreas Fadum\/Dana press\/Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The woman, whose identity is being concealed under court orders, said she briefly had sex with H\u00f8iby at the party after he followed her into the toilet but had quickly stopped it and went back to the party.<\/p>\n

She had no memories of what happened later, she said, but was subsequently approached by police who said they had had found videos on H\u00f8iby\u2019s computer allegedly showing him groping her while she was lying on a sofa and not in a position to say no. In Norway, rape can be defined as occurring with or without intercourse.<\/p>\n

Asked by the prosecutor, state attorney Sturla Henriksb\u00f8, how it felt to be in the courtroom, she said it was \u201cthe last thing\u201d she wanted and that she found the experience \u201cincredibly uncomfortable\u201d. \u201cIt\u2019s unfair that I\u2019ve been dragged into it,\u201d she added. \u201cI\u2019m sitting here shaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>The lead prosecutor, Sturla Henriksb\u00f8 (right), in court on Tuesday. He said that despite H\u00f8iby\u2019s status there should be \u2018equality before the law\u2019.<\/span> Photograph: Ole Berg-Rusten\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Earlier, Henriksb\u00f8 had said that despite H\u00f8iby\u2019s status there should be \u201cequality before the law\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defendant is the son of the crown princess. He is part of the royal family. He should still be treated equally like any other person charged with the same offences. He should not be treated more severely or more leniently because of those with whom he is related,\u201d he told the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no requirement for a prosecution request from the victims,\u201d he added. \u201cIt is society\u2019s responsibility to prosecute serious crimes, regardless of whether the victim themself wants it. In several of these cases, it is not the victim who has come to the police and said: \u2018I have been subjected to something criminal\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

H\u00f8iby\u2019s defence lawyer, Ellen Holager Anden\u00e6s, described H\u00f8iby as \u201can innocent boy\u201d. \u201cThe starting point must be that Marius is innocent,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow the case is up for consideration in this courtroom, all information and noise from the outside is completely irrelevant,\u201d she told the court. \u201cOnly what emerges here has weight.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she was not accusing any of the alleged victims of \u201clying about their experiences\u201d, but that \u201call the victims have in common that they had voluntary sex with Marius prior to the circumstances described in the indictment\u201d.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cIt is an environment with a lot of substance abuse. Not just alcohol, but also illegal substances like cocaine and other things. It is also no secret that sex is a very big part of what happens in the environment. It can be surprising how it seems to be and the form it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman testifying, however, said that on the night in question she had drunk some red wine and a few drinks, \u201cbut nothing more than that\u201d.<\/p>\n

H\u00f8iby, who was arrested on Sunday and remanded in custody on new charges of assault, making threats with a knife and violating a restraining order, faces 38 counts in the trial.<\/p>\n

He pleaded guilty to some charges, including sexually offensive behaviour, a serious drug offence, violation of a restraining order and several driving-related offences. He pleaded partially guilty to serious bodily harm, reckless behaviour and violation of a restraining order.<\/p>\n

His pleas for two of the charges, bodily injury and two cases of damage, were inaudible.<\/p>\n

The trial is expected to last seven weeks and is being heard by a panel of three judges.<\/p>\n

Even amid the scandals around H\u00f8iby and his mother, the royal family remains relatively popular. On Tuesday a motion to abolish the monarchy, put forward by republicans by tradition every few years, was rejected by MPs.<\/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.theguardian.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Police believe the son of Norway\u2019s crown princess sexually assaulted a woman at an afterparty at a royal residence, a court has heard. Marius Borg H\u00f8iby, 29, pleaded not guilty to four counts of rape on Tuesday, the first day of his trial for multiple offences in a legal saga that has embarrassed the royal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2268588,"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-2268587","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\/Police-believe-son-of-Norways-crown-princess-sexually-assaulted-woman.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268587","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=2268587"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2268589,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268587\/revisions\/2268589"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2268588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2268587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2268587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2268587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}