Marius Borg Hoiby: Crown Prince Haakon breaks silence over stepson’s horror rape charges

The future king of Norway has opened up about the “serious accusations” levelled at his stepson after he was charged with 32 criminal offences this week.

Marius Borg Hoiby, 28, son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit and stepson to Crown Prince Haakon, was charged on Monday with 32 criminal offences, including one count of rape with sexual intercourse and three counts of rape without intercourse, some of which he allegedly filmed on his telephone.

It understood the charges relate to five alleged female victims and one male victim.

The charges came after a year-long police investigation into an incident in August 2024 where he was named as a suspect in an alleged physical assault against a woman with whom he had been in a relationship.

Mr Hoiby, in a statement to the media at the time, admitted to causing bodily harm to the woman while he was under the influence of cocaine and alcohol and of damaging her apartment and said he regretted his acts.

Now, Crown Prince Haakon has addressed the latest scandal, acknowledging the charges were serious and that royal family were “thinking of all those affected”.

“We as a family and as parents have of course been very concerned that Marius gets help,” he told NRK during a three-day trip to Jamaica.

He said getting help and treatment for Hoiby had been a “high priority, but it must happen within the framework set by the legal system”.

Earlier he told local media that he would have liked to have been at home with his wife when the charges were laid.

“The police must also be allowed to do their job, and the judiciary must be allowed to do their job.”

“I have confidence that they will do that in a good way,” he continued. “It is also true of course that this affects, to a large extent, all of us who are around.”

“Perhaps I will be allowed to add that I would like to be at home with Mette today,” Crown Prince Haakon said. “I miss her.”

Mr Hoiby was four years old when his mother married into the royal family, has no royal title and is not in line of royal succession. He was raised alongside the royal couple’s other two children Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus who are second and third in line for the throne, respectively.

— with AAP