Fourth alleged rape victim testifies against son of Norway’s future queen: “He just wouldn’t stop”

A fourth woman at the center of a rape case against the son of Norway’s crown princess testified in an Oslo court on Wednesday over an alleged rape in 2024, when he was already under investigation.

Marius Borg Hoiby, Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s 29-year-old son from a relationship before her 2001 marriage to heir apparent Crown Prince Haakon, faces 38 charges, including raping four women while they were asleep or had passed out.

Hoiby has pleaded guilty to several relatively minor offenses, but denies the rapes. He faces up to 16 years in prison if convicted.

The court heard testimony Wednesday from a woman who recounted an alleged rape on the night of Nov. 1-2, 2024. Hoiby is accused of having engaged in sexual acts while she was asleep and of having filmed the acts without her knowledge.

As with the three other alleged rapes, the events are said to have taken place following a night of drinking — during which Hoiby is alleged to have used cocaine — and after initial consensual sex in the young woman’s hotel room.

“I was getting more and more tired. I felt like I was just lying there and he just wouldn’t stop. The more tired I got, the less I took part,” she told the court.

After she had told him she wanted to sleep, she said she was woken up by “a violent blow” to her genital area.

“It was painful,” she said, adding that “I think I just froze, then I fell back asleep.”

Hoiby is accused of having filmed 27 videos and taken four sexually explicit photos that night, some of which, according to the prosecution, show the woman was asleep.

Hoiby was due to testify Wednesday, but will instead take the stand on Thursday.

From the outset, he has denied rape and maintains that all the sex had been consensual.

At the time of the fourth alleged rape, he was already under police investigation. Hoiby was arrested on Aug. 4, 2024, suspected of having assaulted his partner the previous night.

The investigation into that incident uncovered a slew of other suspected offenses, including video footage on his phone and laptop of what police believed to be rapes.

When confronted by police, none of the women were aware of what had happened to them or that the actions could be considered criminal.

“I had memories of what had happened … but in my mind, I hadn’t defined it as an assault,” the young woman told the court Wednesday.

Just days before the trial, Hoiby was arrested on new charges alleging assault, threats with a knife and violation of a restraining order.

The case has deeply embarrassed the royal family, especially his mother, who suffers from an incurable lung illness and who is torn between her role as mother and future queen.

Crown Prince Haakon released a statement in late January saying neither he nor Mette-Marit would attend the trial.

Hoiby was raised by the royal couple alongside his step-siblings, Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus. Unlike them, he has no official public role.

In his statement, Haakon alluded to Hoiby’s “autonomous” status.

“Marius Borg Hoiby is not a member of the Royal House of Norway and is therefore autonomous. We care about him, and he is an important member of our family. He is a citizen of Norway and, as such, has the same responsibilities as everyone else — as well as the same rights,” Haakon said.