The worrying whispers behind why Norway’s future queen chose to study in Australia – as her family faces a truly harrowing scandal

We may have a king of our own on the other side of the world, but Australians will happily lay claim to any European royal who graces us with their presence.

There’s Mary, Queen of Denmark, of course, who hails from Tasmania and went on to marry a Danish prince.

Now, our latest royal obsession is Princess Ingrid Alexandra, the future Queen of Norway, who recently moved here to study a three-year Bachelor of Arts degree, with a focus on international relations and politics, at the University of Sydney.

In a decision few saw coming, she eschewed the great universities of Europe, Britain and North America to embrace life Down Under.

And she’s already thrown herself into campus living, taking up dorms at the prestigious St Andrew’s College and getting to know the local hotspots of Newtown.

Barely a month has passed since she arrived and Ingrid Alexandra has already become an Australian media darling, with paparazzi updates on her whereabouts an almost daily occurrence.

The excitement has spread to Norway too, with outlets taking the unprecedented move of sending reporters and photographers to Sydney to cover her student life.

There were even rumours at a recent journalism awards show of her dating a fellow student from a rival university college.

Amidst all this excitement, however, there are whispers that Ingrid’s decision to enrol at a university on the other side of the world may have been a strategic family move.

Right now, a dark cloud hangs over Norway’s royals as the princess’ half-brother Marius Borg Høiby faces disturbing criminal charges.

Marius, 28, is the eldest son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit, and stepson of Mette-Marit’s husband and heir to the throne, Crown Prince Haakon. He has no official role and was born before his mother’s 2001 marriage into Norwegian royalty.

His biological father is Morten Borg who has a widely reported criminal past, having served time in prison for drugs and violent offences.

Princess Ingrid Alexandra and her 19-year-old brother Prince Sverre Magnus were born to their royal parents and raised alongside Marius, who has always been in their lives and, for many years, lived in the royal household.

But everything changed when Marius was arrested on August 4 on suspicion of assaulting his girlfriend.

He has been under police investigation ever since – and this week, he was charged with 32 offences, including four rapes, Norwegian prosecutors said on Monday.

Horrific new details have now emerged about what Marius is accused of as he faces up to 10 years behind bars. 

According to Norwegian outlet NRK, the charges relate to four rapes of four different women between 2018 and 2024.

On all occasions, Marius allegedly assaulted the women while they were sleeping and filmed the assaults. The assaults allegedly occurred after Marius and the women had consensual intercourse.

Marius has also been charged with making death threats, assaulting a public official and violating the Road Traffic Act.

Presenting the indictment on Monday, August 18, public prosecutor Sturla Henriksbø told NRK that he potentially faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison following a six-week trial in January.

In court last week, the state lawyer outlined the seriousness of the case – and stressed that the accused’s connection to the royal family should not afford him any leniency. 

Separately, Marius has also been accused of physical and psychological abuse by his ex-partner, Nora Haukland, between 2022 and 2023. He is also accused of acting violently towards another former girlfriend.

As the charges against Marius emerged, there has been speculation that they offer an explanation as to why the Norwegian princess has flown to our shores.

Now, it’s certainly not without precedent for a future heir to the Norwegian throne to study abroad: Ingrid Alexandra’s father Crown Prince Haakon studied in the U.S. and Britain, while her grandfather and current monarch, King Harald V, had also once been an international student in America.

But no one had ever ventured as far afield as Australia. Royal commentators openly questioned why she would choose to study so far away when there are plenty of other prestigious universities much closer to home.

Being such a long distance from home also precludes her from quick visits to participate in official royal engagements, like Norway’s national Constitution Day.

Accordingly, royal pundits have offered theories about the princess’ reasons for undertaking a three-year degree Down Under.

The most prominent of these theories is that she has made a deliberate decision to get ‘as far away from home as she possibly can’ while her problematic half-brother’s criminal case plays out in the courts.

With the inquiry now spanning over a year and the trial not due to start until 2026, the princess would be in no hurry to return to that media circus.

And now that she’s established in Sydney with the next three years mapped out, there is no expectation for Ingrid Alexandra to make a homecoming visit anytime soon.

Surely the length of her Bachelor of Arts degree would be enough time to avoid the trial and its aftermath. Indeed, the matter will almost certainly be long resolved by the time she puts on a graduation mortar board and gown.

Once the dust has settled, the princess will finally be able to return to Norway and step up and embrace the duties expected of a working royal and future queen.

But for now, anyone could understand why she would instead choose to stay far, far away.