A second woman has testified at a court in Oslo, accusing the son of Norway’s crown princess of raping her while she slept.
Marius Borg Høiby, 29, is the eldest son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit from a previous relationship and the stepson of the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Haakon. Høiby has no royal title or official duties.
He’s on trial for multiple alleged offences with 38 counts against him, including 4 charges of rape, sexual assault, abuse in a detailed relationship against one former partner and acts of violence against one other, in addition to transporting 3.5 kilograms of marijuana, breaking a restraining order and aggravated assault. Others include making death threats and traffic violations.
Høiby stood while prosecutor Sturla Henriksbø read out the 38 counts against him within the Oslo district court on Feb. 3, asking him if he pleaded guilty. He replied “no” to probably the most serious charges, including the 4 counts of rape.
Prosecutors have said that Høiby could resist 10 years in prison if convicted within the trial, which is scheduled to last until March 19. Seven accusers are expected to testify.
Second woman testifies
On Tuesday, throughout the second week of the trial, the lady testified about an alleged rape that the prosecution said took place on Oct. 3, 2023, following an after-party in an apartment, Agence France-Presse reports.
After consensual sex, the lady said she woke up after Høiby had resumed sexual relations along with her, which she said weren’t consensual.
“I remember waking up when he was already underway. I believed, ‘I don’t understand how someone can have sex with someone who’s sleeping,’” she told the court.
“Then, I mostly had the sensation I used to be dissociating, leaving my very own body,” she said. “It was painful. My body wasn’t ready for it.”
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“That’s at all times been my worst nightmare,” she said, adding that she closed her eyes “so I wouldn’t have to participate in my very own assault.”
The prosecution submitted video evidence that was filmed with Høiby’s phone to prove that the sex that took place happened when the lady was not in a state to say no.
Prosecutor Sturla Henriksbro said the five-second video, discovered on Høiby’s phone by police, showed the lady asleep on the time of the alleged assault. Additionally they shared data from the lady’s fitness watch to point out that she was asleep on the time.
The girl told the court that the footage captured by Høiby was taken without her knowledge.
Høiby told the court that the lady “was awake once I had sex along with her,” before correcting himself and saying, “After we had sex together.”
“I don’t have sex with women who’re asleep,” Høiby added.
“I don’t understand: if we had sex three or 4 times before, and I woke her up every time, why the hell would I even have had sex along with her without waking her the last time?”
A court sketch of Marius Borg Hoiby throughout the second day of the trial against him, which is happening in room 250 of the Oslo District Court, Norway, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026.
Ane Hem/NTB Scanpix via AP, Pool
First woman’s testimony
Last week, the court heard testimony from one other woman who claimed that Høiby raped her at an after-party within the basement of his parents’ estate outside Oslo in December 2018.
The girl told the court that she “100 per cent” believes that she had been drugged throughout the after-party, the BBC reports.
The girl said she felt “betrayal and shock” after police showed her videos of Høiby allegedly sexually assaulting her.
She said she had no memory of what happened and referred to her memory as a “black hole.”
When asked in regards to the alleged rape in 2018, Høiby told the court that he didn’t remember taking videos and denied that he had raped the lady. He said that they had consensual sex after other people on the after-party had gone to bed.
When asked by the prosecutor if the lady was awake after they had sex, Høiby said, “I don’t sleep with women who aren’t awake.”
Høiby has been under scrutiny since he was repeatedly arrested in 2024 amid allegations of rape and on preliminary charges of bodily harm and criminal damage.
The royal palace said it was as much as the courts to handle the case and reach a choice.
Royal problems
The royals are generally popular in Norway, however the Høiby case has been an issue for the family’s image.
The trial opened at a very sensitive moment. Mette-Marit faces renewed scrutiny over her past contacts with Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019 in a Recent York jail cell as he faced sex trafficking charges, following the discharge of a brand new batch of documents from the Epstein files.
They contained several hundred mentions of the crown princess, who already said in 2019 that she regretted having had contact with Epstein, Norwegian media reported. The documents, which include email exchanges, showed that Mette-Marit borrowed an Epstein-owned property in Palm Beach, Fla., for several days in 2013. Norwegian broadcaster NRK reported that the stay was arranged through a mutual friend, which was later confirmed by the royal household.
Mette-Marit said in an announcement that she “must take responsibility for not having investigated Epstein’s background more thoroughly, and for not realizing sooner what type of person he was.” She added: “I showed poor judgment and regret having had any contact with Epstein in any respect. It is just embarrassing.”
— With files from The Associated Press
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