Crown princess’s son appeals rape verdict after being sentenced to four years in jail

Lawyers for Marius Borg Høiby have lodged an appeal after the 29-year-old was found guilty of raping two women and sentenced to four years in prison.

Høiby, who is the stepson of Norway’s next king, was found guilty on Monday following a seven-week trial that quickly became the country’s biggest and most talked about criminal cases, while casting a dark shadow across one of Europe’s oldest monarchies.

Soon after the unanimous verdict was delivered inside Oslo District Court, Høiby’s defence lawyer Petar Sekulic asked for his client’s release.

But the court rejected the plea late on Monday, ruling that there was a risk that he might contact a woman he was convicted of assaulting, and who he had broken a restraining order to see in the past.

Høiby has asked to be released to be with his mother Crown Princess Mette-Marit, who is seriously ill and is on the waiting list for a lung transplant.

She has been fighting pulmonary fibrosis since 2018 but the condition deteriorated recently and doctors say a transplant is the only treatment that could save her life.

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Høiby was convicted of raping two women, without intercourse, at Skaugum − the private home of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess − in 2018. Another involved a woman in Oslo in 2024.

He was also convicted of abusing an ex-girlfriend Nora Haukland and of causing serious bodily harm to another partner, known as the “Frogner woman”, in whose apartment he was first arrested in, in August 2024.

However, Høiby was cleared of two other rapes, one involving a woman he met at a hotel in Oslo in November 2024 and another he met while on holiday in the Lofoten islands in 2023.

All four rape charges involved women who had been either asleep or incapacitated at the time. The women had been unaware of the incidents until police found videos on Høiby’s phone after his arrest.

Høiby has also been ordered to pay compensation to three of the six victims, totalling around $100,000.

Prosecutors had asked that Høiby be sentenced to seven years and seven months of prison.

Høiby was not in court for the verdict after hurting his hand last week when his bid for bail on compassionate grounds was rejected. He had been moved to a medical facility for treatment. Instead, he joined the session in Oslo via video link.

While Høiby’s legal team had two weeks to appeal, they met with him at Ila Prison, a maximum security facility housing Norway’s worst offenders, immediately afterwards and confirmed to Norwegian media that the verdict would be appealed.

“He believes he is clearly innocent of the rape charges and has in no way subjected Haukland to a regime of abuse, so he is quite clear that it must be appealed,” lawyer Petar Sekulic said.

“He is naturally very pleased with what we perceive as quite extensive acquittals.”

An appeal means the case will be retried again, in full, likely later this year or early next.

Norwegian historian and author Trond Norén Isaksen toldnine.com.au a retrial was not the outcome the royal family would have wanted.

A retrial would be “unfortunate for the royal family” because “the whole case is therefore re-litigated in great detail in court and in the media over several weeks”.

When Høiby was arrested in August 2024 he became the first member of Norway’s royal family to be charged with a crime. The case has dominated the country’s media ever since and has put the royal family, known as the House of Glücksburg, which has ruled since 1905, into an unwelcome spotlight.

The royal house has not commented on the verdict. Høiby’s mother and stepfather did not attend court as the royal family attempted to maintain its distance from the spectacle.

Isaksen said the verdict was “about as expected”.

“My personal impression was that it appeared unlikely that he would he found guilty on all the rape charges as it seemed there was not enough evidence to conclude both that the alleged victims were asleep and that he was aware of that, and that he would therefore get between three and five years,” Isaksen told nine.com.au

“For the monarchy this is of course unfortunate but I do not think the verdict in itself will make a significant difference.

“This case has been going on for nearly two years now, and the court of public opinion found Marius Borg Høiby guilty a long time ago.”

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Høiby’s lawyers are fighting to have him released from custody to the family’s home so he can be with his mother, Crown Princess Mette-Marit.

“What’s really important to him now is to be close to his mother,” Sekulic said.

“Marius Borg Høiby needs his family and his family, especially his mother, needs him. There is no doubt about that. The proportionality must also be set against the mother’s situation and her desire to be with her son.”

The verdict came months after the Crown Princess’ past friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was revealed to the public, causing anger across Norway and leading to questions over whether Mette-Marit was unsuitable for the role of queen, when the time comes.

Høiby was four years old when his mother married into Norway’s royal family.

Though he’s never held a royal title or carried out official duties, Høiby was raised alongside the Crown Prince couple’s two other children Princess Ingrid Alexandra, 22, and Prince Sverre Magnus, 20.

In 2017, Høiby stepped back from public life after struggling to establish a role for himself, having been part of the royal family but without a title.