Marius Borg Høiby wants his freedom back. After months on an ankle monitor at the royal estate of Skaugum, Queen Mette-Marit’s eldest son returned to Oslo District Court on Monday for a hearing that could change how he spends the time between now and the start of his appeal in February.
© Patrick van KatwijkThe proceedings were set to begin at 9:15 a.m., with a single question posed before the court: do sufficient grounds still exist to keep the 29-year-old under restriction? Police prosecutor Oda Karterud says they do. She has asked for a four-week extension of his house arrest at Skaugum, arguing there’s still a risk Borg could commit a new offense and that he needs to remain under supervision.
His defense sees things differently. “In our opinion, there are no grounds for him to remain in custody,” his attorney, Alexander Greaker, told the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet.
It marks a clear change of course. Borg agreed to each of the last two extensions, but his legal team, now led by Greaker and Daniel Storrvik, who took over the case in September, says the moment has come to end an arrangement they describe as increasingly hard to bear. According to Greaker, the toll on Borg’s life runs far deeper than anything reported so far.
© Getty Images“The burden is much greater than has come to light,” he said, adding that his client hopes to tell the judge directly how house arrest is affecting him.
The defense also planned to call two witnesses, a healthcare worker and a representative of Norway’s correctional service, both of whom have monitored Borg during his time at Skaugum, according to public broadcaster NRK.
What do these restrictions mean for Borg?
© WireImageFor Borg, the restrictions reach well beyond simply staying at home. He can’t run errands, meet up with friends or have a job, and that, his defense says, has become a weight that’s difficult to manage. A proposal to replace the electronic ankle tag with a security alarm, which would have restored a measure of freedom, still hasn’t materialized.
On Monday, his team also intended to put a concrete job offer on the table, one that, according to his defense, could help him recover some normalcy and begin rebuilding his life.
It’s been a long road to this courtroom. Borg’s life was upended in August 2024, when he was arrested in Oslo for the first time, beginning a chapter of a case that would ultimately land him in prison. So much has happened in the two years since then that Norway now has a new queen: his mother, who took the title when King Harald V died on August 28, and her husband became King Haakon VIII.
The monarchy may be writing a new chapter in its history, but the ghosts of the past haven’t gone anywhere.
Borg has been in custody since February, when his trial began. In June, the Oslo District Court found him guilty of 34 offenses, including two counts of rape, and sentenced him to four years in prison. Because his defense appealed, the verdict isn’t yet final. The Borgarting Court of Appeal is scheduled to take up the case on February 9, with 16 court days set aside, and his lawyers plan to bring new testimony in an effort to clarify what happened in the months covered by the case. It’s a step that could prove decisive.
© ANE HEM
