Rape-convicted Norwegian queen's son let off house arrest for king's funeral

Marius Borg Hoiby, the son of Norway's queen, will be allowed to leave his house arrest for a rape conviction to attend the funeral of King Harald V, police said on Monday.

Hoiby, born from a relationship prior to Queen Mette-Marit's marriage to Harald's son, King Haakon, was sentenced in June to four years in prison for two rapes, a conviction he is appealing.

He is serving his sentence under house arrest with an ankle tag while awaiting his appeals trial and was previously granted dispensation to visit Harald in hospital before the late king's death aged 89 on Friday.

"The public prosecutor deemed that there were grounds to grant the requests for leave submitted by Hoiby in connection with the death," police prosecutor Oda Karterud told AFP.

"Leave has been granted... for the funeral on September 9," she added.

Hoiby, 29, was also given permission to attend the transfer of the king's remains to the palace chapel on Monday evening.

Besides the two counts of rape, Hoiby was also convicted of 32 other charges, including violence towards a former partner.

He was acquitted of two other rapes.