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31-08-2024
OSLO: Festivities have begun for the wedding of Norwegian Princess Martha Louise and her American partner, self-styled shaman Durek Verrett.
Hundreds of guests are arriving in the town of Alesund, in western Norway, for a “meet and greet” in a historic hotel.
On Friday, they will travel by sea to the scenic town of Geiranger, on the shores of a fjord designated a Unesco World Heritage Site. The wedding program says that guests will enjoy a “light lunch on the boat while witnessing the majestic mountains and waterfalls”.
The couple will then tie the knot at a private event on Saturday. Members of the Swedish royal family are said to be attending alongside various social media influencers and TV personalities, including US reality star and model Cynthia Bailey.
According to Norwegian media, guests have been asked not to use mobile phones or cameras during the celebrations and not to post anything on social media.
Princess Martha Louise, 52, and Verrett, 49, announced their engagement in 2022.
The princess, a former equestrian and the eldest of Norwegian King Harald’s two children was previously married to the late writer and artist Ari Behn, with whom she had three daughters Maud, Leah and Emma. The two divorced in 2017. Behn, who had discussed suffering from depression, died on Christmas Day 2019.
Martha Louise has long attracted controversy in Norway for decades for her involvement in alternative treatments. She lost her honorific “Her Royal Highness” title in 2002 so as to be allowed to start her own business. In 2007, she announced she was clairvoyant and, until 2018, ran a school which she said taught students to “create miracles” and talk to angels.
Last year, Martha Louise told media that there had been so much “turmoil” concerning her decision to take a different path than that of a “traditional royal”.
“There’s been a lot of criticism over the years, especially with me being spiritual and in Norway, that’s taboo,” she said.
Meanwhile, Verrett says on his site that he is a sixth generation shaman, “servant of god and energy activator” who “demystifies spirituality” through his “no-nonsense teachings”. In an interview with Vanity Fair magazine, he claimed to have risen from the dead and said that when he was a child a relative had predicted he would one day marry the princess of Norway.
Princess Martha Louise announced her relationship with Verrett with an Instagram post in 2019. Perhaps hoping to pre-empt potential criticism, she wrote: “To those of you who feel the need to criticize; hold your horses. It is not up to you to choose for me or to judge me. Shaman Durek is merely a man I love spending my time with and who fulfils me.”
However, many Norwegians have not yet fully accepted Verrett. “They think he has said very strange things and there are many cultural differences,” said royal correspondent for Norway’s NRK TV Kristi Marie Skrede. ”Many people here are very critical of what Verrett says and does in his role as a shaman.”
Despite the couple’s spiritual beliefs, this weekend’s wedding ceremony will follow a more traditional canon, with Parish Priest Margit Lovise Holte officiating according to the Norwegian Church’s wedding liturgy.
When the engagement was first announced, Norway’s state broadcaster NRK reported Verrett would move to Norway and join the royal family without holding a title. He and Martha Louise have now reportedly bought a house in Norway.
In 2022, the Norwegian palace announced Martha Louise would “relinquish her patronage role” as she and Verrett sought to “distinguish more clearly between their activities and the Royal House of Norway” and to “prevent misunderstandings regarding the Royal House”. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
