The son of Mette-Marit, Norway’s crown princess, has been indicted on multiple charges, including rape, following his arrest in November 2024.

Oslo state attorney Sturla Henriksbø said Marius Borg Høiby could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted. The 32 counts include rape, abuse in a close relationship against a former partner and acts of violence against another. Other charges include making death threats and traffic violations.

“These are very serious acts that can leave lasting scars and destroy lives,” the prosecutor said.

“The fact that Marius Borg Høiby is a member of the royal family should, of course, not mean that he should be treated more lightly or more severely than if similar acts had been committed by others,” Henriksbø added.

Høiby, the eldest son of Norway’s crown princess and stepson of the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Haakon, 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.

He is currently free pending trial, and Henriksbø said there is currently no reason to arrest and jail him. The Norwegian prosecutors’ office estimates that the trial could begin in mid-January and take around six weeks.

Høiby was born before the princess’s 2001 marriage to the crown prince and therefore does not hold a royal title or carry out official duties. His defence team has said that he takes the accusations seriously but doesn’t acknowledge any wrongdoing in most of the cases, particularly those regarding sexual abuse and violence.

The royal palace said that it was up to the courts to handle the case and reach a decision, and it had nothing to add beyond that.

Høiby was arrested on suspicion of rape last November. Police said in a statement that he was accused of carrying out a “sexual act without intercourse” on a victim “said to have been unable to resist the act.”

The accuser is a woman in her 20s who did not know Høiby before she met him on the day of the alleged incident, her lawyer Hege Salomon told CNN. She was not in a relationship with him.

At a detention hearing at Oslo District Court in November 2024, police prosecutor Andreas Kruszewski requested that Høiby remain in custody for an additional two weeks after another rape allegation was reported.

The judge in the case ordered one week of remand for the embattled member of Norway’s royal family.

“Marius is facing serious accusations, which the police and the judiciary will deal with. … I am convinced they will do a good job,” Prince Haakon told public broadcaster NRK before the detention order. “We as a family and as parents have, of course, been very concerned that Marius should get help.”

Prior to that arrest, Høiby had also been charged with one count of “abuse in close relationships,” violating a restraining order and driving without a valid driver’s licence, police said.

Police said Høiby was taken into custody on Aug. 4, 2024, after an incident at the Oslo apartment of a woman he was in a relationship with. Police say they found a knife stuck in one of the walls of the woman’s bedroom. He was accused of causing her bodily harm.

He apologized for the events leading up to his August arrest in a statement to NRK at the time, blaming it on “being intoxicated with alcohol and cocaine after an argument” and “several mental illnesses,” for which he planned to “resume treatment.”

— With files from Global News’ Michelle Butterfield and The Associated Press

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