The Royal Family of Norway has announced that Princess Martha Louise has decided to step down from her royal duties, writes Agence France-Presse. This is due to the fact that the princess chose to focus on a joint business with her fiancé, who is very ambiguous in Norway.
Durek Verrett is an American alternative medicine entrepreneur and spiritual guru. Haitian by father, he calls himself a descendant of voodoo and a "sixth generation shaman." Verrett, in particular, is known for claiming that he knew about the September 11, 2001 attacks in advance, but did nothing because he did not want to interfere in the fate of the dead. In his books, he writes that cancer is a personal choice of a person, and on his personal website he sells a medallion with the inscription “Spirit Optimizer”, which, according to him, helped him recover from covid.
The Norwegian press calls Verrett a charlatan and a sectarian, and the people of the country agree with this. The royal family traditionally enjoys sympathy in Norway, but a September poll showed that 17% of Norwegians have recently changed their minds for the worse, and almost everyone cites the romance of the princess and the shaman as the reason for this.
The court said in a statement that from now on, the princess will not represent the royal house, but "in accordance with the wishes of the king" she will retain her title. Once the princess and Verrett are married, he will become a member of the royal family, but will not have a title or represent the monarchy.
The couple agreed to refrain from any association with the royal family in their social media, media projects and commercial activities. “This is done in order to draw a dividing line that more clearly separates commercial activities from the royal house of Norway,” the palace said. The statement also mentions that the royal family "has complete confidence in the Norwegian health service" and adheres to "well-established medical knowledge and scientific research".
Martha Louise, 51, a divorced mother of three, lost her honorary title of "Her Royal Highness" in 2002 when she decided to work as a clairvoyant because she believes she can speak to angels. In 2019, she agreed not to use the title of princess in her business projects. According to Martha Louise, she "recognizes the importance of knowledge based on research (...) However, I also believe that there are components of a good life and good physical and mental health that may not be easy to generalize." "Spirituality, closeness to other people and animals, yoga and meditation," the princess says, can be just as important as "a warm hand, an acupuncture needle, or a magic crystal".
For Verrett, marriage to the princess will be the second. His first wife was Zhaneta Marzalkova, a Los Angeles resident of Czech origin. Three years after the wedding, Verrett turned her in to the police, saying that she emigrated to the United States illegally, after which Marzalkova was imprisoned and deported from the country.