OSLO - The son of Norway's crown princess goes on trial Tuesday accused of raping four women and assaulting several ex-girlfriends in a scandal that has tarnished the royal family's image.
Marius Borg Hoiby, Crown Princess Mette-Marit's 29-year-old son from a relationship prior to her marriage to Crown Prince Haakon, is facing 38 charges, some dating back to 2018.
He was arrested again on Sunday evening on suspicion of assault, making threats with a knife and violating a restraining order.
He was remanded in custody for four weeks on Monday after police warned of a "risk of re-offending".
Hoiby, who faces up to 16 years in prison if found guilty, has admitted to some of the more minor offences but denies the most serious charges.
It comes as his mother was drawn into the Jeffrey Epstein scandal at the weekend, after unsealed US documents revealed her apparently close friendship with the convicted sex offender, who killed himself in prison in 2019.
Hoiby's trial in Oslo, which opens at 9:30 am (0830 GMT), is scheduled to last until 19 March and is expected to attract intense media coverage.
Prosecutor Sturla Henriksbo told AFP that Hoiby would "neither be treated more leniently nor more severely because of his family".
The defence has not made a public statement ahead of the trial. Hoiby will enter pleas for all of the charges on Tuesday and is expected to take the stand for the first time on Wednesday.
A tall strapping blond with slicked-back hair, earrings and tattoos, Hoiby was arrested on 4 August 2024 suspected of assaulting his girlfriend the night before.
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Several days later, he admitted he had acted "under the influence of alcohol and cocaine after an argument", having suffered from "mental troubles" and struggling "for a long time with substance abuse".
The investigation into that incident uncovered a string of other suspected offences, including the rapes of four women while they were sleeping or passed out drunk, some of which he filmed.
The four rapes allegedly took place in 2018, 2023 and 2024, the last one after the police investigation began.
Last month police announced six more counts against him, including a "serious narcotics offence" from 2020 in which he confessed to transporting 3.5 kilos (nearly eight pounds) of marijuana.
By Pierre-henry Deshayes