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Louise Thomas
Editor
It’s one of the most anticipated – and most controversial – royal events of the year.
Today (31 August) Princess Märtha Louise of Norway is set to tie the knot with Durek Verrett, a self-proclaimed shaman from San Francisco who also claims to be a reincarnated Egyptian pharaoh.
But although a royal wedding is normally an occasion for public celebrations, the couple’s nuptials have also been the subject of criticism in Martha Louise’s home country, thanks to Verrett’s outlandish pronouncements on spirituality and health.
News that the pair have made deals with Hello! magazine and with Netflix, rather than working with local media, has also raised eyebrows.
The royal rebel
Märtha Louise is the eldest child of Norway’s King Harald and Queen Sonja, making her fourth in line to the throne. Her younger brother Prince Haakon and his two children are above her in the line of succession due to the country’s primogeniture rules.
The 52-year-old gave up her title of “Royal Highness” in 2002 so that she could start her own business. She believes that she is clairvoyant, and has long been a supporter of alternative medicine practices.
From 2007 to 2018 she ran an alternative therapy centre known as the “angel school”, an organisation that purported to help its clients communicate with angels and with the dead.
She was previously married to Ari Behn from 2002 to 2017, and the former couple shared three daughters, Maud, Leah and Emma. Behn, a Norwegian writer and artist, died by suicide in 2019.
The spiritual guru
Verrett, 49, meanwhile, grew up in San Francisco’s Bay Area and claims that he felt his first connection to the spirit world at the age of just five.
He went on to make a name for himself as a spiritual healer and acquired a celebrity clientele, working with the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Selma Blair and Vampire Diaries star Nina Dobrev.
In a short biography posted on Paltrow’s Goop website, Verrett is described as “a mediator or ‘bridge’ between the spiritual and physical planes” who hails from “a long lineage of spiritual practitioners including Seven Day Adventist ministers, oracles and spiritualist faith healers”.
Verrett, however, also has a criminal past. In 1991, he was convicted of felony arson and trespassing after organising an illegal party in an unoccupied house that was set on fire, and was sentenced to five years.
The couple are thought to have met in 2019, after they were introduced by a mutual friend. Not long after, Verrett became the subject of yet more controversy when his book Spirit Hacking made a number of bizarre claims.
Among the wild theories put forward by Verrett were suggestions that children get cancer if they are unhappy and that casual sex “attracts underworld entities” that are “the origin point for all sexually transmitted disease”. The book was eventually dropped by its publisher due to concerns over its content.
The royal reaction
In 2022, Märtha Louise renounced her royal duties so that she could focus more on the couple’s alternative medicine business, in a move branded the Norwegian equivalent of “Megxit”. She was allowed to retain her princess title, a decision that has since prompted debate in Norway.
The couple announced their engagement that same year, with Verrett presenting his fiancée with an emerald ring.
In a statement, King Harald described his future son-in-law as a “great guy” and said that he and Verrett “laughed a lot” - but have “agreed to disagree” on some matters. He also condemned “the racist attitudes Durek Verrett has been subjected to, especially on social media”, stressing that “it is a strength that the Royal Family reflects the ethnic diversity that exists in Norway”.
The wedding of the year
The run up to the pair’s wedding has certainly not been free of drama. Martha Louise was criticised earlier this year when her royal title appeared on the label of a commemorative wedding gin, and the title was eventually withdrawn from the product.
The decision to strike up deals with Hello! and Netflix rather than liaising with local press wasn’t greeted fondly by Norwegian media either, prompting the royal family to issue a statement confirming that they “won’t be photographed or filmed by these two media, in cases where the press otherwise does not have access”.
The lavish celebrations kicked off on Thursday (29 August) in the Norwegian town of Alesund, before guests travelled to the Hotel Union in the picturesque village of Geiranger, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The dress code for all the events? “Cool and sexy”.
The ceremony itself took place on Saturday afternoon at the Hotel, and was also attended by members of the Swedish royal family.
Intrigued? You might have to wait for the Netflix documentary to find out more.
