Son of Norway’s Crown Princess Is Arrested on Suspicion of Rape

The eldest son of Norway’s crown princess was arrested on suspicion of rape on Monday, the authorities in Oslo said, the latest accusation in a scandal that has roiled the country’s royal family.

Marius Borg Hoiby, a son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit, was taken into custody on a preliminary rape charge on Monday evening, the police in Oslo said in a news release. The authorities offered few details but said he had violated a section of Norway’s penal code that applies to “sexual intercourse with someone who is unconscious or for other reasons unable to resist the act.”

His lawyer, Oyvind Bratlien, said in an email that Mr. Borg Hoiby was not guilty of the rape accusation.

Mr. Borg Hoiby, 27, has no title or official duties in Norway’s royal family; his mother married Crown Prince Haakon, the heir to the Norwegian throne, in 2001.

Mr. Borg Hoiby, who was 4 when his mother married into the royal family, was once known affectionately as “Little Marius.” In recent years, his behavior toward women has come under scrutiny, including accusations that he abused three women with whom he had been in relationships.

He was arrested in August on charges accusing him of bodily harm and damage in an episode involving a different woman. After that arrest, Mr. Borg Hoiby issued an apology to NRK, in which he admitted to causing bodily harm and destroying objects in an apartment while he was under the influence of alcohol and cocaine. He said he would seek treatment for substance abuse.