When Netflix released the documentary Rebel Royals: An Unlikely Love Story last week, the world got another glimpse of the unconventional romance between Princess Märtha Louise of Norway and her American husband, Durek Verrett – a self-styled shaman and spiritual healer to Hollywood celebrities. The pairing has been controversial in Norway: Märtha Louise stepped down from her official duties before marrying Verrett, the couple have a history of promoting pseudoscientific beliefs, and Verrett – who is black – has long been the target of racist abuse. It is on this last point that Verrett used the programme to deliver a stinging critique of his in-laws, King Harald and Queen Sonja.
“Most people who are white are trained to listen to white people and not to people of colour,” he says in the film. “Her father, her mom, her brother … they didn’t even know what racism was. They would look at me like I was crazy when I would say there’s racism.”
