Marius Høiby entered today's court hearing visibly shaken.

Everyone took their seats.

Defense lawyers, judges, and jurors, assistant prosecutors, and some of the women who were allegedly victimized.

Finally, he entered—29-year-old Marius Borg Høiby, the eldest son of Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit.

He was dressed in dark pants, a white shirt, a sweater, an earring, and glasses.

As he sat down, he reached for a napkin in front of him. His hands trembled. In fact, his entire body did.

Since Sunday evening, he has been in police custody, and for the next four weeks, he will remain in preventive detention.

Today, the trial against him began in Oslo District Court.

He is charged with 38 offenses, including rape, assault, abuse of an ex-partner, threats, multiple traffic violations, drug-related crimes, and several breaches of a restraining order against a woman.

He denies guilt in the most serious charges of rape and abuse of an ex-partner.

Over the next seven weeks, the prosecution will attempt to convince the court of his guilt through witnesses and technical evidence.

The two representatives from the prosecution, Chief State Prosecutor Sturla Henriksbø and police lawyer Andreas Kruszewski.

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**Massive Evidence**

Chief State Prosecutor Sturla Henriksbø spent most of the morning presenting the case to the court.

In court, he provided insight into the vast amount of evidence police have collected since August 4, 2024, when the case began.

Norwegian police were called to an apartment where a woman had been subjected to violence. Additionally, several items in the apartment were destroyed—and a knife was stuck in the wall.

Subsequently, an ex-partner, Nora Haukland, went public and stated that she had been subjected to both physical and psychological violence throughout the year she was with Marius Borg Høiby.

Police also searched Høiby’s mobile phone, where they found multiple video clips and images of women allegedly asleep while being subjected to assaults.

Today in court, it emerged that one of the women, who police claim was fully raped, had met Marius Borg Høiby during a vacation. Crown Prince Haakon was also present on the trip.

Another of the so-called "sleep rapes" allegedly took place at Skaugum, which is the Norwegian royal couple’s residence.

The victimized woman gave a statement in court today, saying she only discovered this when she was called for questioning by police, where she was shown the video.

Marius Borg Høiby is not part of the Norwegian royal family. But he is part of the family. Here with his younger brother, younger sister, Ingrid Alexandra, who is the heir to the throne, and the royal couple.

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**"Innocent Boy"**

Chief State Prosecutor Sturla Henriksbø repeatedly stated in court that this was an ordinary criminal case.

*"He is part of the royal family. He must be treated like anyone else charged with the same crimes."*

*"He should not be treated more harshly or leniently because of who he is related to,"* the prosecutor said, looking at the court members.

When defense lawyer Ellen Holager Andenæs spoke, she made it clear that she believed her client had been treated differently.

*"He hasn’t been convicted yet. But it’s quite obvious that this is a formality."*

*"The starting point must be that Marius is innocent. He came here as an innocent boy,"* she said.

Marius Borg Høiby’s sole defense lawyer, Ellen Holager Andenaes, believed that Marius Borg Høiby had not received fair treatment in the public eye.

She explained that efforts had been made to keep the interrogations conducted with Marius Borg Høiby secret to prevent leaks to the media.

*"A person subjected to such a long tsunami of coverage can feel like they’ve lost control of their life,"* she said.

*"He feels the pressure weighing on him. And he fears being completely hopeless."*

She also emphasized in her presentation that all four women Marius Borg Høiby is charged with raping had had consensual sexual relationships with him beforehand. And that this had occurred in an environment where sex and drugs played a significant role.

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**Massive Media Presence**

Norway’s Oslo District Court was far from its usual self today.

Over 200 journalists from around the world were accredited—and three separate listening rooms had been set up in addition to the main courtroom where the trial was held.

Images were taken in the hallways, and live broadcasts were made.

But the main figure of the day avoided the media frenzy today. There was, in fact, a ban on taking pictures of him both during the trial and as he arrived at and left the courthouse.

Oslo District Court was packed, with journalists having to apply for accreditation months ago.

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