OSLO, AUG 29 (AFP/APP): Norwegian Princess Martha Louise is set to marry American self-proclaimed shaman Durek Verrett on Saturday, a union of two alternative therapy devotees that has raised eyebrows in Norway.
Martha Louise, a 52-year-old divorcee, claims to be a clairvoyant who can speak with angels, a gift she has shared — and profited from — in books and courses.
Verrett, 49 and from California, calls himself a “sixth-generation shaman” and sells pricey gold medallions that he says save lives.
“I’m very spiritual, it’s just so nice to be with a person who embraces it,” Martha Louise said on Instagram after the couple announced their engagement in June 2022.
The pair will tie the knot at a hotel in the hills of Geiranger, a picturesque village on the shores of a fjord on Norway’s west coast.
Festivities kick off Thursday with a party for the more than 350 guests, including Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria and her husband Prince Daniel.
According to Verrett, Saturday’s nuptials are actually a renewal of the couple’s vows.
The spiritual guide, who counts Hollywood celebrities Gwyneth Paltrow and Antonio Banderas among his followers, claims he was a pharaoh in a previous life and Martha Louise was his wife.
The couple’s eccentricity has ruffled feathers in no-nonsense Norway, as has their disregard for science and their use of their royal ties for commercial gain.
To avoid confusion over her role, Martha Louise relinquished her royal duties in November 2022. She kept her title but agreed not to use it in her commercial endeavours.
She has however violated the agreement several times since then, most recently when she and Verrett released a “wedding gin” for sale in Norway that bore her princess title on the label.
“Seeing as the agreement has not been respected, it’s time to take away Martha Louise’s princess title before King Harald sees his life’s work destroyed even further,” historian and royal expert Trond Noren Isaksen wrote in an op-ed piece in July.
The couple has also angered Norwegian media by signing deals with Hello! magazine and Netflix for exclusive coverage of the wedding.
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