Norway's Crown Prince's Stepson Found Guilty of Rape, Sentenced to Four Years

The stepson of Norway's Crown Prince Haakon has been found guilty of two counts of rape and other crimes.

Marius Borg Høiby, 29, has been sentenced to four years in prison.

An Oslo court made the ruling on Monday.

Høiby was acquitted of two other counts of rape.

He pleaded not guilty to the most severe accusations against him, including rape, while admitting to some lesser ones, and can appeal against the verdict.

Høiby joined the royal family when his mother Mette-Marit married Haakon in 2001.

Prosecutors had asked that Høiby should be sentenced to seven years and seven months of prison.

The seven-week trial detailed Høiby's drug addiction and self-made videos of sexual encounters. More than 800 electronic messages were entered into evidence.

One alleged rape took place in the basement of the crown prince's family home, the court heard.

Royals' popularity suffers

The case, which coincided with Crown Princess Mette-Marit's apology for maintaining contact with the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after he was convicted in 2008, has contributed to a decline in popularity for the royals.

Interest in the case was also boosted by the contrast between the picture-perfect family and the allegations heard in court, according to Ketil Raknes, an associate professor in political communication at the Kristiania University of Applied Sciences.

"It was … a perfect crisis for the royal family because they had two crises at the same time. And they had a lot of [criticism] for the way they handled the Epstein files," he said.

Crown Princess's illness shifts mood

Høiby's sentence was delivered amid difficult personal circumstances for his mother, Mette-Marit, who is waiting for a lung transplant on Norway's national transplant list.

Mette-Marit suffers from pulmonary fibrosis, a condition that makes it increasingly difficult to breathe, and her health has severely deteriorated.

Without a transplant, she has about a year left to live, her doctors have said.

Her illness had somewhat changed people's perceptions ahead of the verdict, Mr Raknes said.

"The coverage is much more sober," he said.

"People are seeing: 'OK, this is a family who's really struggling and this is not the time for … playing … the moral card as high as we maybe have done earlier in this case.'"