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Detention
of Marius Borg Høiby comes as Epstein files pile pressure on his mother, crown
princess Mette-Marit
Miranda
Bryant Nordic correspondent
Mon 2 Feb
2026 18.22 CET
The son
of Norway’s crown princess, Marius Borg Høiby, has been arrested on new charges
just days before the start of his rape trial, as his mother continues to face
questions over her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
The Oslo
police district said Høiby had been arrested on Sunday evening on suspicion of
assault, making threats with a knife and violating a restraining order.
The
arrest came days before Høiby, 29, stands trial on charges of 38 offences
including four counts of rape, the domestic abuse of a former partner and the
illegal filming of a number of women without their knowledge or consent.
The trial
is expected to start in Oslo on Tuesday and take place over seven weeks. Høiby
has denied the most serious charges, including those of sexual abuse.
Police
have requested four weeks of imprisonment for Høiby on the grounds of
preventing him from reoffending. Oslo district court ruled that he could be
remanded in custody until otherwise decided by the prosecuting authority or
court until 2 March.
Andreas
Kruszewski, a police prosecutor, said: “The Oslo police district can confirm
that Marius Borg Høiby was arrested on Sunday evening and charged with bodily
harm, making threats involving a knife, and breach of a restraining order.
Høiby’s
arrest comes at a moment of great tension for the Norwegian royal family.
Over the
weekend the crown princess, Mette-Marit, was forced to respond to revelations
about her relationship with the late child sex offender Epstein after her name
appeared nearly 1,000 times in the newly unsealed files released by the US
justice department on Friday.
While the
Norwegian public and media have known for a long time that Høiby’s trial was
coming, Mette-Marit’s inclusion in the Epstein files has taken people by
surprise.
In them,
Mette-Marit calls Epstein “very charming”, “soft-hearted” and “such a
sweetheart”, appearing to suggest they were in close contact between 2011 and
2014, years after he pleaded guilty to charges that included soliciting
prostitution from a minor in Florida.
In a
statement issued on Saturday, Mette-Marit said the files “showed poor
judgment”, adding: “I deeply regret having had any contact with Epstein. It is
simply embarrassing.”
Shazia
Majid, a journalist and columnist for the Norwegian tabloid VG, said the emails
had come “at the “worst possible time”. “It has been a hard blow. People are
talking about it everywhere, and there is a strong sense of anger and
disappointment,” she said.
Support
for the royal family had been impacted “at least in the short term”, said
Majid, adding: “The monarchy is undoubtedly facing a serious crisis.” Long
term, however, she expects the public to “rally around” King Harald V, 88,
Queen Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon.
The
Norwegian parliament was due on Tuesday to vote on whether to replace the
monarchy in a ballot that is held once every four years. While it is not
expected to succeed, it may have stronger support than previous years. “Can
Mette-Marit be queen after this?” questioned Aftenposten, a daily newspaper, at
the weekend.
Craig
Aaen-Stockdale, the leader of the organisation Norway as a Republic, said the
Epstein emails had “knocked a lot of people’s confidence in the monarchy”,
including among former supporters. “The popularity of the monarchy has crashed
among the general population. Everybody is pretty angry,” he said.
The
Norwegian prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, said on Monday he expected “the
Norwegians mentioned” in the files to “comment on the truth about what
happened”.
“The
crown princess herself has stated that she has shown poor judgment, which I
agree with,” said the Labour leader.
Inclusion
in the files does not imply wrongdoing.
Mette-Marit,
who has pulmonary fibrosis and recently revealed that she is likely to need a
lung transplant, married Haakon, the future king of Norway, in 2001. Her son,
Høiby, was born from a previous relationship.
In one
email to Epstein in 2012, Mette-Marit asked Epstein if it was “inappropriate
for a mother to suggest two naked women carrying a surfboard for my 15 yr old
sons wallpaper”. Soon before, she emailed Epstein about him being on a “wife
hunt” in Paris in which she said the French capital was “good for adultery” and
said that “Scandis (are) better wife material”.
After
receiving flowers from him when she was feeling unwell, she sent him a thank
you email signed, “Love, Mm.” The files also indicate that she stayed at
Epstein’s house in Palm Beach, Florida, for four days in 2013 when he was away.
The files
show that she had Googled Epstein in 2011 and told him “it didn’t look too
good” with a smiling face emoji.
Mette-Marit
has expressed her “deep sympathy and solidarity” with Epstein’s victims and
said she was responsible “for not having checked Epstein’s background more
closely and not understanding quickly enough what kind of person he was”.
The
palace said Mette-Marit had ended written contact with Epstein in 2014 as she
felt he was “trying to use his relationship with the crown princess as leverage
with other people”.
Among
other Norwegians included in the latest Epstein files release is the former
Labour prime minister Thorbjørn Jagland. Between 2013 and 2014, while Jagland
was secretary general of the Council of Europe and chair of the Nobel
committee, he talked about a potential family visit to Epstein’s island. He has
since said the plan “never came to fruition”.
In 2012,
he wrote in an email to Epstein that he had just been to Tirana, the capital of
Albania, where he said there were “extraordinary girls”. He has since said that
some of his emails have “embarrassing jargon that can be misunderstood”.
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