Son of
Norway’s crown princess ‘does not remember’ taking videos of alleged sexual
assault
Marius
Borg Høiby, 29, on trial accused of 38 crimes, broke down in tears as he
claimed press had harassed him for years
Miranda
Bryant Nordic correspondent
Wed 4 Feb
2026 19.37 CET
Marius
Borg Høiby, the son of Norway’s crown princess, has told a court he does not
remember taking pictures and videos found on his phone that police say show him
sexually assaulting a woman at a royal residence.
Høiby,
Mette-Marit’s son from a relationship before her marriage to Crown Prince
Haakon, is on trial accused of 38 crimes, including four rapes and assaults.
He has
pleaded not guilty to the most serious offences, including the alleged rapes,
and faces up to 16 years in prison if convicted.
The trial
comes at a moment of unprecedented pressure on the Norwegian royal family, with
Mette-Marit also facing criticism over her links with the late sex offender
Jeffrey Epstein.
Taking
the stand at Oslo district court on Wednesday, Høiby gave his account of an
afterparty in 2018 during which he is accused of groping a woman while she was
unconscious.
Høiby,
29, said he could see that the woman, whose identity is being concealed under
court orders, appeared to be sleeping in the videos, but he denied any charges
of rape. In Norway, rape can be defined as occurring with or without
intercourse.
The party
had taken place in the basement of Skaugum, the official residence of the crown
prince and princess, while they were upstairs, he said.
On
Tuesday, the court was shown four films and 10 pictures apparently taken
between 7:12am and 7:17am one morning in December 2018. The prosecution
believes the rape without intercourse took place during this time.
When on
Wednesday the judge asked Høiby about the videos and photos found on his phone,
Høiby said: “I don’t even remember taking them.”
He told
the three judges that he and the woman did have consensual sex, but not while
she was asleep. She must have been awake, he said, because “I don’t sleep with
women who are not awake.”
Within
minutes of taking the witness stand, Høiby broke down in tears after saying he
found it “incredibly difficult to speak in front of so many people”. The press,
he said, had “harassed and tormented” him since he was three years old.
He said
he had lived a life that “very few here can relate to”, in which there had been
a lot of partying and drinking. “I am known for being my mother’s son. Nothing
else. I have had an extreme need for validation,” he told the court. “And that
manifested itself in a lot of sex, a lot of drugs, and a lot of alcohol.”
His
testimony came after that of the alleged victim from the party. She told the
court she remembered briefly having sex with Høiby earlier in the evening
before she stopped it, but had had no recollection of the alleged rape until
she was contacted by police who showed her the footage.
She told
the court that in the footage she had been “completely unconscious” and that
learning of it felt like “a betrayal and a shock”.
She said
she had never seen herself like that and had never experienced that kind of
memory loss. She said she believed she had been drugged.
Breaking
down in tears, she said she did not want to be a victim, adding:
“Unfortunately, I have been, thanks to Marius Borg Høiby.”
Høiby
said he believed that alcohol and drugs were consumed at the party, but that:
“Before this came up, this is not an evening that has lingered so much in my
mind.”
Asked
whether he remembers taking any pictures, he said: “I don’t remember taking
them myself, but we had sex completely awake and voluntarily. I don’t remember
much of that sex either.”
He said
he stored sexual photos and videos in a separate app on his phone because “I
don’t want to scroll past a lot of nude photos”. He added: “It’s never been for
anyone else but me anyway.”
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