The son of Norway’s crown princess has pleaded not guilty to four counts of rape as a trial that has brought fresh scrutiny to a royal family already embarrassed by links to Jeffrey Epstein opened.
Marius Borg Hoiby entered his plea on Tuesday as proceedings got under way at the Oslo District Court. A conviction on the most serious of the charges he faces could result in at least 10 years in prison.
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The son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit and stepson of the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Haakon, Hoiby faces 38 counts, which also include domestic violence, assault and drug possession.
The 29-year-old has no official royal title or role, but the trial has shaken Norway’s royals. Parts of the trial will take place behind closed doors, the court has said.
Hoiby was indicted in August after multiple arrests throughout 2024 but was free pending trial until he was arrested on Sunday over new accusations of assault, threats with a knife and violation of a restraining order.
Defence lawyer Petar Sekulic said the latest arrest followed an alleged “incident” involving another person but declined to give details. The court agreed to keep Hoiby in detention for up to a month based on what it said was his risk of reoffending.
Hoiby is accused of four rapes from 2018 to 2024, violence and threats against a former partner from 2022 to 2023 and two acts of violence against another partner along with violations of a restraining order.
Sekulic has previously said Hoiby “denies all charges of sexual abuse as well as the majority of the charges regarding violence”.
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The trial began as the royal family faces a backlash over Mette-Marit’s contacts with the late American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
A tranche of documents related to investigations of Epstein released by the United States Department of Justice on Friday mentioned her hundreds of times.
In a statement, Mette-Marit said she “must take responsibility for not having investigated Epstein’s background more thoroughly”, calling their exchanges “simply embarrassing”.
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