Son of Mette-Marit:

He had video of a rape on his cell phone!

Marius adorns the album cover of Marstein.

(Bild: picturedesk.com/Heiko Junge / NTB)

The police have been investigating Mette-Marit's eldest son Marius Borg Høiby since November 6. According to the latest media reports, investigators found a video of an alleged rape on Høiby's confiscated phone and arrested him shortly before midnight on Monday.

The incident is said to have taken place on Palm Sunday at the home of a woman in her twenties in Oslo. The accusation: "sexual contact with an unconscious or defenceless person".

According to the report, the police established the identity of the woman on the video and then pressed charges. The woman herself did not press charges against the 27-year-old. The woman told Norwegian media that she did not know Høiby. The victim is said to have been unable to resist the attack. "She is having a hard time," the woman's lawyer told the NRK radio station.

Marius Borg Høiby loves motorcycles and partying

(Bild: picturedesk.com/Rodrigo Freitas / NTB)

Lawyer says Marius rejects guilt
Høiby is currently in custody in the Grønland district of Oslo. After the allegations against the Norwegian princess's son were extended, the Oslo police applied for the 27-year-old to be remanded in custody. This was announced to the NTB news agency by the Oslo District Court. A detention hearing will therefore take place in the Norwegian capital in the early afternoon.

Høiby's lawyer Øyvind Bratlien told Norwegian media that his client would appear in court, but that there was no basis for pre-trial detention. They want to show the court that the case looks different and is far more nuanced than what is being conveyed in the media: "The videos, if you look at them in context, show that nothing criminal has happened. Other evidence in this case also shows this. Therefore, no charges should have been brought." 

Høiby is Mette-Marit's eldest son. He comes from a previous relationship with the princess. Together with heir to the throne Crown Prince Haakon (51), she has two other children, Hereditary Princess Ingrid Alexandra (20) and Prince Sverre Magnus (18). Although Høiby is a member of the royal family, he does not bear the title of prince and is not an official member of the Norwegian royal family.

Tough times for the Norwegian royal family
The Oslo court has been experiencing one of its most difficult times in recent history this summer because of Høiby. The controversial wedding of Haakon's sister Princess Märtha Louise (53) to the shaman Durek Verrett (50) at the end of August provided only a brief and questionable distraction.

On August 4, Høiby was arrested for the first time in Oslo on charges of assault and damage to property and released the following day. In a written statement at the time, he admitted that he had been under the influence of alcohol and cocaine and had been violent towards his girlfriend at the time and had destroyed things in her apartment.

Marius and his mother Mette-Marit

(Bild: APA Pool/Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB)

Violence against other women
Since then, the allegations against him have been extended to include abuse in close relationships with two other women. The 27-year-old, who was arrested again on September 13 as part of the investigation, denies this. The police are still investigating these and other allegations, including driving without a valid license. So far, these are only allegations - Høiby has not yet been charged with any of them.

Marius Borg Høiby lives in this house on Skaugum Estate in Asker, the official residence of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess.

(Bild: picturedesk.com/Heiko Junge / NTB / picturedesk.com)

Crown Prince speaks of "serious allegations"
The palace did not wish to comment on the new allegations to Norwegian media. Crown Prince Haakon did, however, comment on the accusations against his stepson during a visit to Jamaica, where he is scheduled to remain until Wednesday as a special envoy for the UN Development Program UNDP.

"These are serious accusations that Marius is facing," Haakon told the NRK radio station. His thoughts are with all those affected and he trusts that the police and judiciary are doing a good job. "Perhaps I may add that I would like to be at home with Mette today. I miss her," he said. Crown Princess Mette-Marit has no major official appointments in November.