Marius Borg Høiby, 29, the son of Crown Princess Mette Marit and stepson of Crown Prince Haakon but with no royal title, was cleared of two other rape counts in the same Oslo ruling and now faces a defence appeal.
Oslo District Court convicted Marius Borg Høiby, 29, on two counts of rape, sentencing him to four years in prison while acquitting him of two further rape charges in the same indictment. The court handed down the verdict in courtroom 250 in Høiby's absence, with the defendant joining the session by video link, according to BBC reporting on the Oslo ruling.
Høiby is the son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit and the stepson of Crown Prince Haakon. He holds no royal title and is not a working member of the Norwegian royal house, even though his family connection has drawn global attention to the case. The court convicted him of two of the four rape counts he faced and of many of the other offences listed in the indictment, although the BBC's live coverage does not itemise those additional counts.
The four-year sentence sits well below the seven years and seven months prosecutors had asked for. The defence had argued for a term of 18 months and has signalled it can appeal the verdict, leaving the case in a live legal posture rather than a closed one. The gap between the prosecution and defence positions will be the central terrain the appeal tests, with the court's reasoning on the counts Høiby was cleared of likely to draw as much scrutiny as the convictions themselves.
The appeal window now sets the next public beat. The BBC's live page on the case has already shifted its headline from "found guilty of rape" to "found guilty of two counts of rape," indicating the page is being actively updated as further procedural and reaction details land.