In a high-profile legal decision that has gripped Norway and drawn new scrutiny to the country’s royal household, Oslo’s Court of Appeal has rejected a bid to release Marius Borg Høiby, the son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit, from pre-verdict custody, reversing a lower court’s ruling that would have freed him ahead of his upcoming rape trial verdict.
Høiby, 29, has been held in custody since early February 2026, when he was detained ahead of trial on 40 separate criminal charges, including four counts of rape, multiple counts of assault, violation of a restraining order, drug possession, and traffic offenses. He has consistently denied the most severe allegations, including all rape and relationship violence charges, though he has admitted to some lesser offenses. The case against Høiby first emerged in August 2024, when he was arrested at an ex-girlfriend’s apartment in Oslo’s upscale Frogner neighborhood, where a restraining order barred him from contacting her.
The release request came amid a devastating health update for Høiby’s mother, 52-year-old Crown Princess Mette-Marit, who has lived with a rare, incurable form of pulmonary fibrosis since 2018. Last week, her medical team confirmed her condition has deteriorated sharply over the past three months, placing her on a waiting list for a life-saving lung transplant. Per Norwegian transplant protocol, placement on the list indicates doctors estimate the patient has less than 12 months to live without the procedure. Pulmonary fibrosis causes progressive scarring of lung tissue, restricting breathing and oxygen flow through the bloodstream.
Høiby’s legal team argued that their client should be granted temporary release to be by his mother’s side during her health crisis. “Sitting inside when I know Mum is so sick is unbearable,” Høiby told Oslo District Court earlier this week. On Monday, the lower court sided with the defense, ruling that while there was a small risk of reoffending, Høiby had remained drug-free in custody, and continued detention would be “disproportionately intrusive.”
That ruling was quickly appealed by prosecutors, and on Wednesday the higher court rejected the release order entirely. The Court of Appeal found that the risk of Høiby reoffending and making prohibited contact with the Frogner ex-girlfriend remained “virtually unchanged” from its previous May 13 assessment, with no new evidence to justify altering his custodial status.
“We are very, very disappointed on behalf of our client. One can imagine how he feels,” Ellen Holager Andenæs, one of Høiby’s two defense attorneys, told local Norwegian media outlets after the ruling. Prosecutors have requested a seven-year and seven-month prison sentence for Høiby, and the three judges presiding over the six-week trial are set to deliver their full verdict on all 40 charges next Monday.
Though Høiby was born before Mette-Marit married Crown Prince Haakon, the heir to the Norwegian throne, and is not an official member of the royal family, he has been raised within the royal household. The ongoing legal proceeding, compounded by recently revealed details of a three-year friendship between Mette-Marit and disgraced deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has created significant public controversy and cast a shadow over the Norwegian royal institution.
The royal family has remained visible amid the dual crises: Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit visited Høiby in Oslo prison last Sunday, shortly after her transplant waiting list placement was made public. The couple’s two children, Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus, visited Høiby hours after Mette-Marit was admitted to hospital last Thursday. Høiby was granted a temporary furlough from custody on Monday to meet with his mother’s medical team at the royal family’s Skaugum estate outside Oslo.
Norway’s elderly monarchs, 89-year-old King Harald V and 88-year-old Queen Sonja, have largely stayed out of the recent crises, though during a public royal engagement on Tuesday, Queen Sonja confirmed to reporters that “the situation is serious” regarding the crown princess’s health.