OSLO: Prosecutors in Norway called on Wednesday for the son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Marius Borg Hoiby, to serve seven years and seven months in prison for offences including the alleged rape of four women.

Hoiby, the princess’s 29-year-old son from a relationship before her 2001 marriage to Crown Prince Haakon, is on trial on 40 counts that carry a maximum sentence of 16 years in prison.

“Rape can leave lasting scars and destroy lives,” prosecutor Sturla Henriksbo argued on the second-to-last day of the trial that has made headlines worldwide.

“It can be something the victim carries with them for their entire life.” Dressed in jeans and a blue polo shirt that revealed his arm tattoos, Hoiby, who does not formally belong to the royal household, did not react to the sentence called for by the prosecutor in the Oslo court.

He has pleaded guilty to several relatively minor offences but denied the alleged rapes, which the prosecution said took place while the women were asleep or passed out. Central to the case has been whether or not the women were in a condition to consent to having sex.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2026