Royal yes

Princess Märtha Louise marries her shaman

Märtha Louise and Shaman Durek are getting married on a Norwegian fjord at the weekend.

(Bild: APA Pool/Lise Åserud / NTB / NPK)

Frowns and irritation have accompanied them since they revealed their great love to the world five years ago: Now the 52-year-old daughter of the Norwegian King Märtha Louise and her shaman Durek Verrett are saying "I do" on Saturday in front of a picturesque fjord backdrop. 

The wedding preparations have not been spared from controversy - but the biggest negative headlines were recently made by a completely different member of the royal family.

Allegations of violence against Mette-Marit's son
The model family of Märtha Louise's younger brother, the heir to the throne Crown Prince Haakon, is currently experiencing stormy times. Marius Borg Høiby, the eldest son of Haakon's wife Crown Princess Mette-Marit from a previous relationship, has become violent towards his girlfriend under the influence of alcohol and cocaine, as the 27-year-old himself admitted. The investigation is ongoing - also into how Høiby behaved towards his partners in previous relationships. It is said that he is unlikely to accompany his stepfather Crown Prince Haakon, his mother Mette-Marit and his half-siblings Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus to the wedding. 

It is unusual that this time, for once, Märtha Louise is not responsible for the latest negative headlines at the Norwegian court. However, there are also rumblings surrounding the actual bride and groom, not least because of the accusation that the princess is mixing commercial interests with her official title.

Durek Verrett and Märtha Louise

(Bild: Carlos Diaz / EFE)

Official duties resigned
This accusation has existed since the two went on a lecture tour as "The Princess and the Shaman" early on in their relationship - in the same year it was decided that Märtha Louise would no longer use her title for business purposes. In 2022, she finally resigned from all official duties for the royal family in order to separate her role at court and her business activities more clearly.

Märtha Louise is the eldest child of King Harald and his wife Queen Sonja (both 87). Although she is older than her brother Haakon (51), she is fourth in line to the throne behind him and his children Princess Ingrid Alexandra (20) and Prince Sverre Magnus (18).

Märtha Louise therefore has no realistic prospect of taking the throne. Instead, she is concentrating on her self-realization: among other things, she was a successful show jumper for a long time and trained as a physiotherapist. She was previously married from 2002 to 2017: she has three daughters from her marriage to the writer Ari Behn (1972-2019): Maud Angelica (21), Leah Isadora (19) and Emma Tallulah Behn (15).

Princess Märtha Louise and her daughter Leah Isadora Behn

(Bild: Christoffer Andersen / NTB / picturedesk.com)

Sixth generation shaman
According to Durek Verrett, he is the sixth generation of his family to be a shaman. He wants to help people to find their true strength in a spiritual way - with the princess, who is interested in esotericism, he knocked down open doors, but with many Norwegians he was met with incomprehension. "He changed my life," wrote Märtha Louise when she made the relationship public on Instagram in 2019. She responded to the critics in the same breath: "It's not for you to vote for me or judge me. I don't choose my husband to please any of you. (...) I choose out of love."

Durek Verrett and Princess Märtha Louise

(Bild: picturedesk.com/dana / dana press)

Three-day celebration
This love now reaches its temporary climax at the beautiful Geirangerfjord in western Norway. The princess and the shaman want to celebrate their marriage for three days. To kick things off, there was to be a "meet and greet" party (dress code: "sexy and cool") on Thursday in nearby Ålesund, before the wedding party was to be taken by boat through the fjord to Geiranger, where a Latin American-influenced pre-wedding party awaited them. The wedding ceremony by pastor Margit Lovise Holte and the actual wedding celebration took place in the picturesque village on Saturday. 

The bride and groom will be followed every step of the way by the British celebrity magazine "Hello!", which has secured exclusive rights to the wedding ceremony and reception for an undisclosed sum - access for Norwegian media, on the other hand, is severely restricted, contrary to all usual conventions.

The bride and groom want to say "I do" in this hotel complex in Geiranger.

(Bild: picturedesk.com/Cornelius Poppe / NTB)

Norwegian media rage
The number four in line to the throne gets married, her partner joins the royal family - and the local newspapers and TV stations are more or less left out? The Norwegian media are up in arms. The newspaper "Verdens Gang", for example, blasted the princess for allowing herself to be paid for her own wedding. The "Dagbladet" headlined: "Royal house for sale!" The court itself has at least expressed reservations about being photographed exclusively by "Hello!". The royal family, who will be staying on their own royal ship during the wedding celebrations, also wants nothing to do with filming Netflix, to which the couple are also said to have sold rights. 

Own mother shoots against Verrett
The princess and the shaman have thus once again maneuvered themselves into the media crossfire. There had already been other scandals in the run-up to the wedding, including a wedding gin whose labeling was objected to by the state alcohol monopoly as a violation of the strict Norwegian ban on advertising alcoholic drinks.

There was also a public slanging match with the weekly newspaper "Se og Hør" and with Verrett's mother, who accused the couple of saying bad things about their son in the paper in return for payment. "I want to warn all Norwegians about my own son," she is said to have told "Se og Hør". It should be clear that the royal wedding will take place without the mother.