Looking forward to a better 2025? As a nightmare year for the Norwegian royals end FEMAIL shares a round-up of some of the family’s 2024 problems

Royal life is often described as living in a gilded cage – while members of these prestige families enjoy the perks of living in palaces and having access to priceless pieces of art and jewellery among other things, this comes at a cost.

And that cost is public scrutiny: any wrong step, or activity considered inappropriate for a royal is often dissected, with many people interested, or having an opinion.

The late Queen Elizabeth II described 1992 as her ‘annus horribilis’ after three of her four children separated from their spouses, and a major fire hit Windsor Castle.

Perhaps it would be fair to say that some negative attention on some of Norway’s royals this year could prompt some to describe 2024 as the family’s own annus horribiilis.

Among some of the negativity experienced by the family is controversy surrounding Crown Prince Haakon’s stepson, Marius Borg Hoiby, who has been accused of rape more than once this year – he has denied any accusations.

More controversy arose in August, when Princess Martha Louise of Norway tied the knot with Shaman Durek in a ceremony that lasted for several days.

Then, in October, it was announced that Crown Princess Mette-Marit would be taking some time off due to illness.

Here, FEMAIL looks at some of the issues the Norwegian Royal Family struggled with in 2024…   

Marius Borg Hoiby

Among the negative headlines surrounding Norway’s royals are those about Marius Borg Hoiby, the son of the future Queen of Norway, Princess Mette-Marit and the stepson of Crown Prince Haakon.

As of December 12, the 27-year-old was reportedly being investigated for a fourth sexual offence amid claims he had violated his parole while awaiting trial on charges of rape and domestic violence.

A day earlier, Norwegian magazine Se Og Hor reported that Hoiby was under investigation for a new offence believed to have occurred ‘a few hundred metres away’ from Crown Prince Haakon and Princess Mette-Marit‘s Skaugum Estate. 

Local news outlet Dagbladet reported that the offence – which could range from sexually offensive behaviour to rape – had occurred when the alleged victim was present with a friend.   

The Norwegian publication added the friend is allegedly the same woman Borg Hoiby is accused of raping in Skaugum on September 26. 

Hoiby was arrested and charged with rape on November 18, before being released from custody on November 27. 

At the time, police said ‘an investigation has been launched into another matter concerning sexual offences’, according to a translated copy of the press release. 

At the time, lawyers for Borg Hoiby declined to comment on the latest investigation into a fourth possible sexual offence.

Crown Prince Haakon’s stepson has previously denied the rape charges.  

The report came weeks after it emerged Hoiby had breached a restraining order against one of his alleged victims.

Hoiby is said to have contacted one of the women after leaving a rehab facility in London, thereby violating the terms of the order, according to Norwegian media.

It was not clear at the time if Hoiby has been arrested again.

His first arrest was on August 4th for an assault, he was then arrested again on September 13 for a different alleged assault and a third time in November on rape charges.

Late last month, Borg Hoiby was released from custody after he was arrested on suspicion of rape.

The 27-year-old – who has since been accused of a second rape – was banned from having visitors and letters during his stay in custody due to the risk of tampering with evidence, NRK reported. 

Police said Borg Høiby was released because they believed there was no longer any danger of evidence being lost or destroyed.  

On top of that, when the Norwegian Royal Family released their annual Christmas photograph – Borg Hoiby wasn’t included in the holiday snap.

Instead, King Harald V of Norway and Queen Sonja were joined by their son Crown Prince Haakon, his wife Crown Princess Mette-Marit, and their 20-year-old daughter Princess Ingrid Alexandra.

But Prince Sverre Magnus, 18, and Borg Hoiby, Mette-Marit’s son from a previous relationship, weren’t included in the festive photograph, where the five beaming royals posed up a storm next to a Christmas tree. 

Sverre Magnus now lives in Trondheim, rather than Oslo with the Royal Family, and wasn’t there when the picture was taken, Head of Communications at the Palace, Guri Varpe, revealed to Dagbladet.

But while he has always featured in the Christmas photo shoot, Borg Hoiby is rarely included in official family snaps. He was raised by the royal couple alongside his siblings. However, unlike them, he has no official public role.

Yet his absence from the image was made even more likely after news broke that the future Queen of Norway’s son is reportedly being investigated for a fourth sexual offence.

In an interview with NRK, Norway’s public broadcasting group on Christmas day, his mother – the Crown Princess said: ‘If I had to choose one word for this year, it would be ‘challenging’.

‘It has been a demanding year and a demanding autumn for us,’ Princess Mette-Marit added.

Following the incident, Høiby became the first ever royal family member to have been charged with a crime and is no longer publicly listed as part of the Scandinavian household.

Controversial ‘money spinner’ wedding

After several days of build-up and parties, Princess Martha Louise and her fiance Shaman Durek Verrett tied the knot in Geiranger, a small town in Norway.

Hailing from California, Durek Verrett, Princess Martha Louise’s second husband, refers to himself as a ‘shaman’ – a type of leader who attempts to heal by connecting to the spiritual world and even counts Gwyneth Paltrow among his celebrity clients.

His association with the princess has been a source of controversy for several reasons.

For example, he found himself in hot water in 2022 when claims from his book, Spirit Hacking, published in 2019, resurfaced when he and Martha Louise got engaged.

He claimed that children ‘can get cancer from being unhappy’ and was dropped by his publisher shortly after the couple announced their engagement in June 2022. 

Martha, who describes herself as ‘spiritual’ and claims to be a clairvoyant, got into a relationship with Durek after overcoming the loss of her first husband, Ari Behn, who died by suicide in 2019.

But things have not been easy for Martha, as she was forced to leave her role as a working member of the royal family because of her fiancé’s controversial views.

Their nuptials were equally controversial, with some details emerging that surprised a number of royal watchers, and prompted some to brand the event a ‘money spinner’.

It was reported that exclusivity deals with Hello! magazine and Netflix were signed by the couple

As a result, according to Se og Hør, guests were told not to post images to social media – with the alleged ban thought to be linked to these exclusivity agreements.

According to the Norwegian publication, ahead of the wedding, a message was sent out to their invitees asking them not to share anything on their social media profiles. 

‘Please remember that mobile phones or cameras are not allowed at any of the events throughout the weekend. In addition, we ask that you do not post anything on social media,’ it states, according to an email that the website obtained.

It then reiterates that it is ‘very important’ that ‘everyone’ follows the guidelines and asks guests to ‘take them seriously’.

At the time, the Daily Mail’s Richard Eden reported that ‘Norwegians are not happy’ about the exclusivity agreements.

A spokesman for the Royal Family also said ‘it denies other outlets fair access’, and it was revealed that the royals would not only pose for exclusive images.

In addition, there were claims that rather than having an open bar, guests were given five drink tokens, which they were to use at both Friday’s pre-wedding party, and Saturday’s reception.

According to Se og Hør, despite guests forking out an average of £2,300 (NOK 32,000) to attend the event – a sum which does not include the cost of a wedding gift – they had to cover the cost of additional beverages at the Hotel Union in Geiranger, where the reception was hosted.

According to the outlet, it is traditional for Norwegian weddings to have open bars, but after the vouchers ran out, guests could purchase drinks from a menu, featuring cocktails made with the couple’s customised gin they made with Oslo Håndverksdestilleri. The drinks were priced at £16.50 (NOK 225).

The exclusivity deals, pop-up shop, and pricey drinks prompted some to accuse the couple of hosting a ‘money spinner’ wedding. 

The gin served at the reception also provoked criticism of the royal: earlier this year, it was reported that the couple had been involved in creating the beverage which was made by Oslo Håndverksdestilleri (OHD).

The label on the gin bottle said: ‘We created this gin for the wedding of Princess Martha Louise and Durek Verrett in Geiranger in August 2024.’

Princess Martha Louise is not allowed to use her title for commercial gain, and it was at first reported that while OHD generally collaborates on products it makes with celebrities, the couple’s gin had already been in the brand’s line before it was associated with them.

However, according to a letter written by (OHD) to the Norwegian directorate of health, seen by Aftenposten, the princess may have been more involved in the creation of the product than initially thought. 

This letter said that not only were the princess and her partner involved in the design process when it came to the label, it was the royal’s idea to sell the product to the public via the state-run Vinmonopolet alcohol retailer.

OHD had written to the Norwegian directorate of health as it was investigating the product ‘as part of [its] mandate to supervise compliance with the Norwegian prohibition against advertising of alcoholic beverages’.

An invitation to the product’s launch, which was sent to the press, said: ‘Martha Louise and Durek Verrett will present their unique gin and drink made especially for the wedding.’

Attorney Thomas Benson, at Angell law firm, is a specialist in alcohol law. He told Norwegian outlet VG: ‘Seen in isolation, the invitation is not a breach. But when you highlight the gin and this one special product becomes the main focus of the event itself, this is a clear violation.’

Reports say the gin was pulled from Vinmonopolet on the Thursday morning ahead of the nuptials on the Saturday.

A further controversy that has emerged following the big day is that the princess arranged a ‘makeshift clothes shop’ inside the hotel that was hosting the reception, according to Se og Hør.

The outlet says that items from the latest collection from clothing brand Hést! were on sale next to the couple’s gift table. The princess owns a large stake in the brand, which she founded five years ago with two friends.

According to the outlet, it says ‘several sources’ said there were two Hést employees selling the clothing at the pop-up store.

Despite the controversies, guests appeared to enjoy the wedding reception, which didn’t wrap up until 3am. 

However, reports in the Norwegian media at the end of November claimed the couple had still not paid all of their vendors from their August wedding and owed more than a million kroner (£71,496). 

Furthermore, it was recently reportedly that the couple did not spend Christmas with the rest of the family, claiming this was due to due to Durek’s health. 

According to Se og Hør, the spiritual healer – who flits between describing himself as a ‘third and sixth generation shaman’ – was still struggling with ‘severe kidney disease’ in 2023. The couple claim he is still receiving dialysis. 

During a recent Instagram Live, Durek said he is ‘waiting for friends to offer me a new kidney’ – having reportedly previously raised $20,000 for his first kidney transplant surgery in 2012.

Shaman Durek denies sexual assault claims

At the end of October, just months after his August wedding to Princess Martha Louise, Shaman Durek was accused of sexually assaulting a Swedish father-of-two – claims he denied.

Joakim Boström, 49, accused the royal of ‘grabbing his penis’ and ‘trying to have sex with him’ during one of his ‘spiritual’ sessions.

The bisexual American Shaman, real name Durek Verrett, denied the accusations and said he has a ‘legal document’ in place to protect him.  

Speaking to Norweigan newspaper Se og Hør, Mr Boström claimed the pair met in New York in 2015. He said he decided to book one of his sessions because he is ‘spiritually curious’.

Mr Boström alleges that the Shaman, also 49, quickly ‘crossed a line’ and flirted with him.

‘It wasn’t just in the session that he crossed the line. When I think back on it, he always had a sexualised behaviour and he would always touch me. It was tiring.’

He added: ‘The fact that he is inside the Norwegian royal house is absolutely sick! In my opinion, Durek is looking for power and position. That so few see through him is absolutely incredible.’ 

Mr Boström said that after meeting Durek in New York in 2015 the pair became close friends, often hanging out in bars in the evening.

But despite knowing his friend was married to a woman, Durek began ‘flirting’ with him, which became ‘increasingly intense’, according to Mr Boström.

Mr Boström claims he was touched in an ‘inappropriate way’ by Verrett after attending a spiritual session with him, after he claimed he had a cyst in the area.

‘He started touching my penis. I reacted violently and shouted “what do you think is going to happen? You want me to get an erection?”. I told him to stop, but he wouldn’t budge. He seemed determined to persuade me to have sex,’ he told Se oh hor.

In a later session, he said he was then sexually assaulted by the Shaman, who didn’t stop when he asked.

Mr Boström didn’t report Durek’s behaviour at the time – something he now regrets.

In a statement given to Se og Hør, Durek’s representative Jenni Weinman said Boström had been his Swedish agent before being fired for having an inappropriate relationship with a member of staff. 

She claimed the perceived assault was part of the Shaman’s ‘healing methods’, which often require him to ‘remove energy’ in areas around the armpits and groin.

Weinman added that Durek has a ‘legal document’ in place to protect himself from people with ‘evil intentions’ as his work involves touch.

Around two weeks after Joakim Boström made his claims, bombshell audio recordings obtained by Norwegian paper Se og Hor, prompting the Durek Verrett to admit he had ‘crossed the line’ with some of his clients during his work as a ‘spiritual healer’. 

In the three voice messages obtained by the outlet, he admitted he ‘made a mistake’ in sessions with five of his clients.

Speaking in the recordings, Verrett reveals he performed oral sex on one of his male clients after their session and helped a woman ‘clean’ her vagina after she had ‘violent’ sex with her partner. 

The shocking conversations took place with MTV star Eric Nies in 2020, who shared them with the paper in light of the recent allegations against Verrett. Mr Nies’s side of the conversation is not heard in the recordings.

In one recording, the Shaman can be heard saying: ‘I have crossed – I did cross – the line one time with [name redacted]. I did.

‘And it was a mistake and I’m aware of that mistake. And I did cross the line when [name redacted] pulled out his c***.

‘I should have never sucked his c***. I should have just left it and put the sheet back over it, but we finished with the session and I asked him. I said, “do you want to go here?’

‘And he says yes. And I’m like, ok, are you sure? And he goes yes. And I’m like, okay. And when the situation happened with [redacted], I did cross the line and I told [redacted] I crossed the line, and I apologised to him and he understood and he spoke with me and we worked it out and that’s what it was.’

Verrett, from California, refers to himself as a ‘shaman’ – a type of leader who attempts to heal by connecting to the spiritual world and even counts Gwyneth Paltrow among his celebrity clients.

In a second audio clip, he said he helped a woman ‘clean her vagina’ after she’d been subjected to ‘violent’ sex by her partner – though did not provide exact details of the process. There is no indication that the process involved the Shaman physically touching the client.

He admitted that the woman had ‘freaked out’ after they’d completed their ‘session’. 

Verrett continued: ‘Oh and one more just so you know, there was a woman who came in who asked me to help her with a situation she had with her boyfriend, who was violently having sex with her.

‘I stood across the room and helped her clean her vagina and then she freaked out and felt like a man shouldn’t have been in the room with her talking about vagina. And that happened, so, that’s what happened.’

Verrett claimed a third client asked him to ‘put his finger beneath his scrotum’ due to having ‘sexual issues’, despite his girlfriend telling him it was inappropriate.

When contacted by Femail around the time the recordings were made public, a spokesperson for Verrett said: ‘That being said it’s very easy to make this a story anyone wants it to be.

‘Without sharing or hearing the full context of the conversation between two people in its entirety, a one sided account doesn’t paint the full picture of the situations being talked about, it’s biased and sloppy journalism.’

Nies, 53, appeared on MTV’s The Real World: New York, The Grind and Confessions of a Teen Idol in the 2000s. 

On his Instagram account, Nies calls himself a ‘soul liberator’ and ‘dragon king’. Like Verrett, he also claims to promote ‘modern Shamanism’ on his website.

The pair are thought to have previously been good friends after meeting in Malibu in 2012, but appear to no longer be in contact.   

Illness

Two key members of the Norwegian Royal Family have been suffering with health issues this year.

In 2018, it was revealed that Crown Princess Mette-Marit had been diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis or the thickening of lung tissue.

According to the NHS, the symptoms of pulmonary fibrosis include shortness of breath, loss of appetite and weight loss, extreme tiredness, a persistent dry cough, and swollen fingertips. 

At the time, Mette-Marit issued a statement explaining that the condition ‘means my working capacity will vary’ to accommodate her treatment including ‘periods of time without an official programme’.

‘For a number of years, I have had health challenges on a regular basis, and now we know more about what is involved,’ the mother-of-three said. ‘The condition means that my working capacity will vary.

‘The Crown Prince and I are choosing to make this public now partly because in future there will be a need to plan periods of time without an official programme to accommodate treatment and when the disease is more active.’

Pulmonary fibrosis is incurable and worsens over time, but the Norwegian royal’s doctor, Professor Kristian Bjøro at the National Hospital, said they’d been monitoring her condition for several years and the ‘disease progression has been slow over this period’.

The fact that the disease was detected at an early stage improves Mette-Marit’s prognosis, the Palace’s official statement released at the time said.

‘Even if such a diagnosis will limit my life at times, I am glad that the disease has been discovered so early. My goal is still to work and participate in the official programme as much as possible,’ the mother-of-three said.

In October this year, it was confirmed by the Norwegian Royal Court that Mette-Marit, 51, was taking some sick leave due to medicinal side effects associated with her chronic lung disease.

‘Due to side effects of the medication that Her Royal Highness is using for her chronic lung disease, she is on sick leave, initially for a week. Her official program during this period will be cancelled or postponed,’ a statement read.

And she is not the only royal with health issues: in February this year, King Harald V was hospitalised with an infection while on holiday in Malaysia.

The royal, 87, who is the oldest monarch in Europe, was enjoying a trip abroad before being admitted to Sultanah Maliha Hospital on the Malaysian resort island of Langkawi.

His hospitalisation followed several illnesses he’d experienced in the preceding months. In addition, the monarch underwent heart surgery in 2020. 

Following his illness in Malaysia, he was fitted with a pacemaker to help compensate for his low heart rate, taking two months sick leave.

While he has sworn that his commitment to being king is a lifelong one, and has said he has no plans to abdicate, the Palace did reveal he would be scaling back his duties.

A statement released in April this year read: The king will make adjustments to his programme in the future, out of consideration for his age. This will entail a permanent reduction in the number and scope of activities in which the king participates.

‘Practical arrangements will also be made in the conduct of his official activity.’