The son of Norway’s crown princess has been charged with raping four women and committing 28 other offences, including property damage and issuing death threats.
Marius Borg Hoiby, 28, is also accused of abusing two of his former girlfriends and of filming women’s genitals without their consent. The offences carry up to ten years in jail.
Although Hoiby is not a prince or a member of the royal household, the saga since he was arrested last year is taking its toll on the standing of what was once Europe’s most popular monarchy. Nearly half of Norwegians told one poll that Hoiby’s behaviour had given them a more negative view of the royal family.
Membership of the country’s republican association has more than doubled and some surveys suggest more than a third of people would like to abolish the monarchy.
Hoiby is Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s son from a brief liaison with a convicted criminal before she met and married Crown Prince Haakon.
As the first stepson to enter the royal family, he was an object of public curiosity and sympathy in his childhood, nicknamed Little Marius after a schoolboy born out of wedlock in the Norwegian writer Alexander Kielland’s 1883 novel Poison.
Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Crown Prince Haakon, Queen Sonja and King Harald. The monarchy’s standing has been shaken by allegations against the heir’s stepson
JORGEN GOMNAES/GETTY IMAGES
As he grew up his behaviour became a staple of tabloid newspapers and gossip magazines and he drew comparisons to the Little Lord, the entitled and disruptive protagonist of popular novels from the postwar years. In 2017, at the age of 20, he was fined 400 kroner (£29) for being caught with drugs at a music festival.
Last year it emerged he was under criminal investigation for a suspected case of domestic violence after trashing the flat of a former girlfriend.
He was charged with 23 offences, including three rapes, in June. At the time, Hoiby’s defence lawyers said he denied many of the allegations, including the rapes.
The indictment has now expanded after the case file passed from the police to state prosecutors. It includes four alleged rapes between 2018 and 2024, all of which supposedly took place while Hoiby’s victims were sleeping after having consensual sex with him.
Sturla Henriksbo, a state prosecutor, said: “The case is very serious. Rape and violence in intimate relationships are very serious acts that can leave a lasting impact and destroy people’s lives.”
Petar Sekulic, one of Hoiby’s defence lawyers, said his client recognised the seriousness of the charges and would “co-operate by providing his statement to shed light on the matters as well as possible”.
Ellen Holager Andenaes, also acting for Hoiby, said he had pleaded guilty to the charges of violent acts against one woman and her property, but denied “more or less” everything else on the charge sheet.
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The royal household said it was now a matter for the courts to decide.
The monarchy’s popularity has been dragged down not only by the furore around Hoiby but also by the marriage between Princess Martha Louise, who is the crown prince’s older sister and regards herself as a clairvoyant, and an American “shaman” called Durek Verrett, who subscribes to anti-scientific conspiracy theories.
Surveys suggest that the public’s esteem for King Harald, 88, is undiminished.