UA story worthy of a modern fairy tale. Martha Louise of Norway is marrying Durek Verrett, an American shaman from California, on Saturday, whom she met in 2018 after her divorce from her first husband, Ari Behn. Many guests, including the princess’s family, including her monarch father Harald V, and friends and other European royalty, will gather at a grand hotel on the Geiranger fjord for the ceremony.
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It was also in the same place, 58 years earlier, that the Norwegian royal couple had united before the birth of their daughter in 1971, and of their heir, Prince Haakon Magnus, in 1973. A beautiful tribute for the princess and her fiancé, who seems to have been warmly welcomed by the institution despite its very original status for a European monarchy.
A controversial self-proclaimed shaman, Durek Verrett also presents himself as a spiritual guide and has made several claims that go against medicine, such as that children get cancer because “they wanted to,” and claimed to be able to cure Covid-19 patients through a medallion he marketed during the pandemic.
The absence of the Danish royal house
In 2022, the princess stepped down from her official duties within the royal family, but has drawn criticism from Norwegian media and royal experts by continuing to allude to her royal origins in some sales products. For the wedding, the couple will be counting on representatives of their royal neighbours, such as the Swedish Crown Princess Victoria and her brother, Prince Carl Philip, with the exception of the Danish Crown.
The latter is said to have indicated in the Danish daily Image Magazine that no representative could attend the wedding. A surprising piece of information given that the two families are also related by blood, with Queen Margrethe II being the cousin of the Norwegian monarch.
Martha Louise of Norway and Durek Verrett began their unusual romance after the princess divorced her ex-husband, with whom she had three daughters: Maud, 21, Leah, 19, and Emma, 15. The couple later announced their engagement in 2022.
“I wouldn’t have proposed to her if I didn’t have the conviction, deep down in my soul, that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her and that every breath I took was dedicated to making her happy,” Durek Verrett, who is head over heels for his lady love, recently confided on his fiancée’s podcast, HeartSmart.
The 49-year-old groom-to-be, convinced that he was already in love with Martha Louise in another life, is also preparing to formalize a second crucial role: that of stepfather to his three stepdaughters, who said goodbye to their father who died by suicide in 2019. Fortunately, the alchemy seems to have already worked with the three young girls, whom the groom-to-be described as “wonderful.”
