Marius Borg Hoiby, son of Norway’s crown princess, admits to a life of excess driven by a need for recognition as he faces multiple rape and assault charges.
OSLO: The son of Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit admitted to a life of excess driven by “an extreme need for recognition” as he took the stand in his rape trial.
Marius Borg Hoiby (pic), 29, broke down in tears while addressing the Oslo district court on Wednesday.
He faces 38 charges, including the alleged rape of four women and assaults on ex-girlfriends, which could result in up to 16 years in prison.
Hoiby has pleaded guilty to several minor offences but denies the most serious allegations.
He began his testimony by criticising the media for “hassling” him since he was three years old when his mother’s relationship with Crown Prince Haakon became public.
“I’m mostly known as my mother’s son, not anything else. So I’ve had an extreme need for recognition my whole life,” he told the court.
“And that manifested itself in a lot of sex, a lot of drugs, and a lot of alcohol,” he said, dressed in jeans and a sweater.
The prosecution claims the four alleged rapes occurred after consensual sex, often following heavy drinking when the women were unable to defend themselves.
The investigation began after Hoiby’s arrest in August 2024 on suspicion of assaulting his then-girlfriend.
One alleged victim testified that Hoiby raped her at an after-party at the royal Skaugum estate in 2018.
She said they had a brief consensual encounter, which she ended, but had no memory of subsequent events described by police as rape.
Police contacted her years later after discovering footage they said showed Hoiby assaulting her while she slept.
She told the court she believed “100 percent” that she had been drugged, describing a memory gap as “a big black hole”.
Hoiby testified that he did not recall the exact events but insisted their sexual relations were consensual.
“I don’t remember taking them (the pictures), but, like, we had sex fully awake and willingly. I don’t remember very much about the sex either,” he added.
