Marius Borg Høiby News & Current Events Part 1: December 2023 -

Muhler said:

Yes, yes and yes. Absolutely.
I don't understand what kind of allure such people have but it is an undeniable fact that some of the worst criminals, murderers among them can pick and choose among their infatuated fan-base, which is considerable. Some of them even get married.

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Very true.
I once read that Ted Bundy received 5,000 fan letters per week on average.

As for Marius, I'm not certain his case will negatively affect the RF. It's the old NATURE vs. NURTURE issue; people will probably just point to his biological father and attribute his behavior to that.

I never believe in a million years that his family was completely in the dark about what was going on. This is serious, we all know what comes next after strangling and numerous women now coming forward paint a clear picture. Yes Marius is 27 and fully responsible for his actions but it is irresponsible from a public family with lots of money and offers for help in the background not to draw a line in the sand at some point. There is no way that the stepson on the future king of Norway is a serial girlfriend beater and a regular drug user without anyone in the RF knowing about this. At least there will have been rumors - was the family too naive to thoroughly follow up on them? It’s negligent behavior to let somebody float around hoping it will get better and now has backfired in a spectacular way.

Mbruno said:

Did Haakon and MM know that Marius was hanging out with "people convicted of dealing with cocaine and serious crime - and who have connections to the gang environment"? If they did, someone in the Royal Household should have raised a red flag as any association with criminals could have a potential negative impact on the Royal Family's public image.

Furthermore, if Marius had a pattern of punching and suffocating his girlfriends and trashing their apartments, I find it hard to believe that his mother and stepfather were completely oblivious to those facts, especially considering that the girlfriends took part in different social events with the family.

The question is whether the CP couple were not just lenient with Marius, but were also covering up for him and, therefore, indirectly enabling the continuation of his violent behavior.

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The answer to these questions is unknown.

I offer the following caution: Marius is 27 years old. By all accounts he has been using illicit drugs for a long time. When faced with a family member like this, most families do not initially cut off the addict; instead they try to remain connected to encourage and support treatment and rehabilitation. It is true that there can be a fine line between enabling and support. The challenge is however, that that the adult person with an addiction, behaviour issues and perhaps serious mental disorder usually learns to hide their behaviours and/or avoid situations where they are likely to be caught. In most cases they cannot be legislated into treatment, unless they have a diagnosed mental illness AND they are a danger to themselves or others. Clearly Marius has severe issues--whether they are directly related to mental disorder, addiction, or personality problems remains to be seen. He is likely criminally responsible for his behaviour regardless of other factors, as it is very difficult to demonstrate that a person is not criminally responsible, even when the person has severe addiction or a psychotic disorder (and we don't know if Marius does). These are situations in which families struggle to intervene. There is only so much a family can do, even a family with resources and influence.

" Statistics show while just 10 to 18 percent of those arrested for domestic violence are arrested again within six months, 15 to 30 percent face a second arrest within 28 months, and up to 60 percent are rearrested within 10 years. And it’s pretty safe to say these numbers only tell part of the story, considering most domestic violence is never reported to law enforcement."


Mette-Marit's father Sven Olaf Bjarte Hoiby history of alcoholism. 
Mette-Marit's background in her early years.

Hopefully the court will mandate a battered-reform program conducted by professionals trained in the dynamics of domestic abuse which is very different than mental health counseling.

Caethi, I fully agree to your statements. We all are speculating because of the bits of news that are published, none of us knows all persons involved personally nor do we know the problems they have gone thru during the last years with Marius.
I know from experience with relatives and friends that people like Marius are not stupid and very well know what to keep secret and hide from family or promise never to do it again. It might be his rescue that the woman went public so the dimension of his drug abuse, criminal acts, mental illness and whatever else is known or is still coming up, can be dealt with. I am really glad that so far none of his girlfriends has been killed, which could in the worst possible case have happened

Mbruno said:

Well, Ingrid Alexandra praised Marius on her 18th birthday speech and thanked him for always protecting her. So it would appear to me that whatever opinion or image she might have of her half-brother, it is very different from the picture that has been drawn by Marius’ ex-girlfriends.

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I remember her saying that, and I wondered at the time whether she meant he was "protective" or that she needed to be "protected." If it's the first, maybe he's just a big brother who tries to steer her away from problems. If it's the second, who is threatening her?

As far as the impact of this on the NRF, it's bad news, especially with the princess and the shaman getting married in a few days. Neither situation points to good parenting that develops sensible people with sound judgment.

The article below is elderly but does explain the low rates of recidivism in Norway, and its prison system which concentrates on ‘restorative justice’ and treatment.

Why Norway's prison system is so successful

VG has got the recordings of the two phone calls between Marius and the woman.
Everyone can use Google translator.
The two have had a relationship and the offended woman has also lived in Skaugum with Marius and the crown prince couple for a period during the year, according to VG's information.
Here's a part, Marius wants the woman to come and get her clothes:
Then the woman asks how she can get to him now, after what he had done the night before.
"After what I did to you last night? A little pat on the back. (...) Huh? Hit you with a flat hand. Huh? Hit you with a flat hand. », says Høiby.
The aggrieved woman replies that he hit her a hundred times, that he choked her at least five times so that she could not breathe, her throat hurts and she has a bump on her head, according to the conversation.
During the conversations, a third person is also the subject, which both Høiby and the offended woman know. Høiby says this person is scared.
- Because I'm going to kill him, says Høiby, and repeats that she has to get to him.

It is getting worse all the time. I better go to bed with a good book and dream of nicer things.

Oh dear, oh dear! That's bad!

Additional to LadyFinn's brilliant summary.
The article emphasize that Marius voice was clear and not slurry. Suggesting he was not so high or drunk that he hardly knew what he was saying. IN fact he might even have been quite sober, considering his rage.

He really has serious anger issues! It's not normal to be in this high level of anger for so long time. This must have been 10-12 hours after the episode in the apartment and he is still way up there. He should long since have fallen asleep and calmed down a bit.
Is is correct that long term use of cocaine leads to uncontrollable fits of anger and paranoia? (Paranoia was the word I was looking for.)

So it wasn't just one push, where the woman accidentally hit her head against something. And grabbing her throat can never be an accident. Especially as he is in the habit of doing that.
And that Marius does not consider slapping people to be an issue is very telling. It clearly indicated that whatever therapy he may have got and whatever dressing down or serious talk he may have had with his family, he didn't listen at all.
His arguments and threats also seem very childish to me and extremely immature.
He has no empathy at all IMO. Only for himself. (And probably those he believe are his responsibility.) In a sense Marius acts like a dog. If the owner is not the pack-leader, the dog will try and take over. Marius IMO don't consider his mother, his step dad and I dare say King Harald his "pack-leader."

If they don't do something about Marius this time and seriously re-program him, he will unavoidably at some point face a charge for aggravated assault, perhaps even attempted homicide.

It's getting worse and worse...
I long thought that Marius was a troubled young man but I could never imagine this kind of behaviour. He is really sinister! Now he is threatening to kill someone! Considering his violent outbursts you can not easily dismiss that threat, either. Just shocking!

If he were my son, I would do everything I could to get him into serious inpatient therapy immediately.

But, let us remember, that persons who have mental illness have an illness that needs to be treated, just like other illnesses. And some can be treated, and cured, or at least rehabilitated to a level which enables them to lead a normal, wholesome life.

I’m unwilling to ‘give up’ on a 27 year old man.

And the women who are standing up are women to admire.

As a swede who perfectly understands norwegian (swedish, norwegian and danish are very similar language’s) i’m reading all the new newspaper-articles that comes every day now with a growing sense of stunning disbelief…

Those transcripts of his phone calls sounds to me like it is a man of either longtime alcohol or/and substance dependence or someone with a complicated psychological diagnose of some sort who is arguing…. The way he argues is not a ”normal heated argument” for a person who does not have any problems at all…. His way of threatening her and talking about himself is so immature and sometimes even childish… On top of it all, he threatens to kill a 3:rd (male) person who they both seems to know, and may thus have put himself in even bigger problems…

People who have longtime alcohol dependency and/or substance dependency of some sort often argues this way when they are under pressure OR when someone tells them to stop doing what they are doing…

Aside from all the stuff about Marius' behavior, the new recording raise two points: First, who lives at Skaugum? Is the crown prince couple in the habit of allowing Marius to move back in with his girlfriend du jour? I understand that the royal family owns the property, so it's not a state property, but this makes me wonder what goes on there. Again, this does not strike me as excellent judgment on the royal family's part.

Second, this does make MM's call to the victim more understandable. If she and this girl lived under the same roof for some time, they may have developed their own relationship beyond MM being Marius' mother.

Regarding Ingrid Alexandra's comments of Marius "beeing a protector" I have a somewhat different perspective but it comes from personal experience: If indeed Marius is acting as a protector for his hister is because he knows the type of men that exist in the world and that some women need to be protected from the mens in their lives

How is the ´living at Skaugum´ to be interpreted?
He lives in the actual big house with his parents? Or -as it is an estate- will there be another property on the estate where he has an apartment? If he actually lives with his parents that would be rather odd for somebody his age and his parents' financial circumstances, in a Norwegian context?

It looks like there are various buildings on the Skaugum Estate, so I assume he would be living in an independent unit on the estate...

Wasn't MM involved in supporting women who have been subjected to violence? If so, this could raise the question of her efficiency or indeed, her devotion if she failed to see that she got a repeated offender in her own immediate family, especially if the NRF did something that could be interpreted as swaying the girlfriends to keep silent. So sad all around. I feel for the victims far more than I do for Marius, though. He's good-looking, a man of means. women will still want to date and change him and his position as a stepchild in the RF can't hurt either. He'll be fine.

This case is getting uglier every time I check in here to get updates. He is now being viewed as a violent individual with more people not afraid anymore to speak out.

Toledo said:

This case is getting uglier every time I check in here to get updates. He is now being viewed as a violent individual with more people not afraid anymore to speak out.

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And I hope he does get treated as such. Not everything should be explained away by 'issues' and 'substance abuse'. He seems to be a poor character who hasnt been put on the spot for far too long by an anti-authoritarian family.

VG publishes part of Marius' call to the woman, only Marius speaking:

Prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre:
- I will not comment on the details of what we have now followed over the last few days, but it is a family with some very clear challenges, which also applies to a good number of other families in Norway. This family, unlike them, has to endure full floodlights on it. I can imagine that is a big burden. This is a moment where we stop and get to know that this is a family. And in families there are also challenges and problems, also in this family, says Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre to NTB.
The party leaders find the situation sad and praise the work the royal family is doing.

Several European newspapers have followed the media coverage heavily, including the DailyMail.
DailyMail journalist Nick Craven tells that he has traveled to Norway to cover the case in a way that is not possible to do from a distance.
He plans to carry out a so called"vox pop"on the streets of Norway, to capture ordinary Norwegians' view of the incident - a method MailOnline has used in many different situations around the world.
- To do that, we came here in person, as I have done in the last couple of years in places like Ukraine and Israel.

Crown Princess Mette-Marit contacted the offended woman in the Marius Borg Høiby case. If the contact was punishable, it is the king who desices whether she should be punished.

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Marengo said:

How is the ´living at Skaugum´ to be interpreted?
He lives in the actual big house with his parents? Or -as it is an estate- will there be another property on the estate where he has an apartment? If he actually lives with his parents that would be rather odd for somebody his age and his parents' financial circumstances, in a Norwegian context?

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The Norwegian press wrote in December 2022:
- Marius Borg Høiby disposes of one of the homes at Skaugum farm for a shorter period, writes communications manager for the Royal House, Guri Varpe, in an e-mail to VG.
According to VG newspaper, he has occupied one of the twelve housing units from which Skaugum farm receives rental income.
- We have no information about the private circumstances, communications manager Varpe writes to VG when asked about how much Borg Høiby pays in rent.

LadyFinn said:

Crown Princess Mette-Marit contacted the offended woman in the Marius Borg Høiby case. If the contact was punishable, it is the king who desices whether she should be punished.

Svigerfar avgjør om hun straffes

Kronprinsesse Mette-Marit tok kontakt med den fornærmede kvinnen i Marius Borg Høiby-saken. Hvis kontakten var straffbar, er det kongen som avgjør om hun skal straffes.

www.dagbladet.no

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From the excerpt above, Dagbladet seems to believe that Mette-Marit is also entitled to immunity under Article 37 of the Norwegian constitution. That is interesting and might explain why she felt she could contact the victim in this case and not risk being charged with witness influence under Section 157 of the Criminal Code.

EDIT After reading the English translation of the article, it appears that the opinion that Art. 37 extends to the Crown Princess is backed by "Marius Gulbranson, barrister and former lecturer at the Faculty of Law in Oslo."

The whole thing is awful, still can't get my head around that little boy pictured at his Moms wedding years ago
turning into this 27-year-old that is totally off his head. I feel very sorry for the young woman plus women, as well as his parents.
having to face that your Son thinks nothing of hitting women.

Mbruno said:

From the excerpt above, Dagbladet seems to believe that Mette-Marit is also entitled to immunity under Article 37 of the Norwegian constitution. That is interesting and might explain why she felt she could contact the victim in this case.

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From what I've read in an article earlier this week Mette-Marit contacting the victim of her son's aggression would most likely only be illegal if there was a restraining order something that's which is mirrored by Professor Eivind Smith's opinion that from what we know she's done nothing illegal in the article posted above.

Nettavisen's Ørjan Greiff Johnsen at his comment among other things:
A monarchy in deep, self-inflicted crisis
The royal family's handling of the case has been a demonstration of how it should not be done.
Haakon's statement: it can be interpreted as meaning that he believes the matter wouldn't have been so serious if the police hadn't been involved.
A royal who really got it wrong was Mette-Marit. She contacted the victim. It is possible that her intentions were the very best; that she apologized on behalf of her son, that she only wanted to show care. Or was she trying to influence the victim? (..)

Nora Haukland thanks at her Instagram stories:
“I want to say thank you so much for all the nice messages regarding my Snapchat share yesterday. I am overwhelmed and deeply moved by the support I have received. It means so much. I have felt so lonely and heavy, but now kilos have been taken off my back".
"I see that I (unfortunately) am not so alone either. Receiving of over a thousand messages, several of which are personal stories of partner violence - it twists my soul. Unbelievable to see how often this happens".
She also thanks lawyer John Christian Elden who came as her lawyer in a short notice.

The Oslo police district does not rule out that the charges against Marius may be extented.
- The police have, on the basis of Nora Haukland's statements about Høiby, established a dialogue with her about carrying out an interrogation. The police have also tried to get in touch with Juliane Snekkestad regarding her statements in social media, says police inspector Henriette Taxt Røstadli in a press release today.
VG published parts of an audio recording made of a conversation between Høiby and the offended woman.
Here she describes several blows, strangulation, breathing difficulties and a bump in the head.
In the press release on Friday, the police confirm that they are aware of the recordings.
- They will be a natural topic in questioning, says Røstadli.

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Not that MBH's domestic violence, drug use, and most likely anger issues, are a very serious matter, I would think that his alledged contacts with members of the Foxtrot network in Sweden will prove to be seen as a more real danger to the Norwegian Royal Family, as it's a security risk.

An article in the Swedish Aftonbladet:

About the Foxtrot network in Sweden:

Meraude said:

Not that MBH's domestic violence, drug use, and most likely anger issues, are a very serious matter, I would think that his alledged contacts with members of the Foxtrot network in Sweden will prove to be seen as a more real danger to the Norwegian Royal Family, as it's a security risk.

An article in the Swedish Aftonbladet:

Borg Høiby pekas ut som säkerhetsrisk – umgås med personer som kopplas till Foxtrot

Den norska kronprinsessans son Marius Borg Høiby, 27, har hamnat i blåsväder efter anklagelser om kvinnomisshandel. Nu pekas han även ut som en säkerhetsrisk fö

www.aftonbladet.se

About the Foxtrot network in Sweden:

Foxtrot (criminal network) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

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As I said in my previous comment on the original Dagbladet article, it is practically impossible that Marius' association with people linked to organized crime was unknown to the Royal Household, especially considering that there are shared photos on social media where Marius is seen traveling and partying together with those people. It is mind-boggling to me that the Royal Household did not see that as problematic and ignored the risks that those kinds of social interactions could pose to the Royal Family.

Mbruno said:

As I said in my previous comment on the original Dagbladet article, it is practically impossible that Marius' association with people linked to organized crime was unknown to the Royal Household, especially considering that there are shared photos on social media where Marius is seen traveling and partying together with those people. It is mind-boggling to me that the Royal Household did not see that as problematic and ignored the risks that those kinds of social interactions could pose to the Royal Family.

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The question is how much MBH's parents have look up the social media sites of his friends and acquaintances. If they did that, there would most likely been warning bells, but if not, by just looking at the photos, it's not certain that only seeing a name or a photo would cause any worries. Swedish media seldom name people who has committed crimes, at least not until they have been sentenced. I'm more curious to know if the NRF's security personel checked the people MBH partied with, and informed his parents about potential security risks. The security staff have other methods to find out information about people.

Meraude said:

The question is how much MBH's parents have look up the social media sites of his friends and acquaintances. If they did that, there would most likely been warning bells, but if not, by just looking at the photos, it's not certain that only seeing a name or a photo would cause any worries. Swedish media seldom name people who has committed crimes, at least not until they have been sentenced. I'm more curious to know if the NRF's security personel checked the people MBH partied with, and informed his parents about potential security risks. The security staff have other methods to find out information about people.

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It is not up to his mother or stepfather to check his social media, but the security staff should monitor him at least to some extent (even if he doesn't have 24/7 protection) because of potential risks to the Royal Family. I would assume that the communications staff should also have some input on his social media content.

It seems, however, that, although he is the Crown Prince's stepson and lives in the same estate as the CP couple and the successors to the throne, he was treated by the Royal Household/Court as a completely free agent.

Mbruno said:

It is not up to his mother or stepfather to check his social media, <-> snip <->

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Shouldn't parents have an interest in whom their children are friends with, and who they might meet, or should they not follow their (grown) childrens social media at all?