Marius Borg Høiby, the eldest son of Mette-Marit, has been sentenced to four years in prison after being convicted of two rapes and a string of other offences in a case that has cast a long shadow over Norway's royal family.
The 29-year-old was found guilty on Monday of two of the four rape charges he faced, as well as repeated violence against a former girlfriend, threats and traffic offences.
One of the rapes took place in 2018 at Skaugum, the royal residence shared by Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Crown Prince Haakon.
The prosecution had sought a prison sentence of seven years and seven months, while the defence argued for acquittal on the rape charges and requested a shorter sentence of 18 months for the remaining offences.
Høiby, who has no official royal duties, attended the reading of the verdict by video link from prison, where he has been held in pre-trial detention since February.
The case, which has dominated headlines in Norway for months, involved 40 charges. Høiby admitted some offences, including transporting 3.5 kilograms of cannabis, assault and making threats, but denied the most serious allegations.
During the trial, which ran from February to March, prosecutors portrayed a man living a life marked by excess, fuelled by drugs, alcohol and destructive relationships.
Several of the offences were alleged to have occurred after parties where Høiby had consumed alcohol and narcotics. Prosecutors argued that the victims were unable to resist, while the court examined whether he could reasonably have understood their condition at the time.
The scandal first erupted in August 2024 when Høiby was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a partner at a residence in an affluent district of Oslo. Subsequent investigations uncovered evidence that prosecutors said documented several of the sexual assaults.
Although Høiby is not formally part of the Norwegian royal household, the case has proved deeply embarrassing for the monarchy and has contributed to a decline in public support, albeit from historically high levels.
The affair has also revived scrutiny of the royal family at a difficult time for Crown Princess Mette-Marit, whose health has deteriorated significantly in recent months as she awaits a lung transplant for a chronic and incurable respiratory illness.
