By JAN M. OLSEN and STEFANIE DAZIO | Associated Press
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — The Norwegian king’s eldest child, Princess Märtha Louise, will marry American self-professed shaman Durek Verret on Saturday in a picturesque corner of southern Norway.
The wedding comes amid widespread criticism of the couple’s actions and waning support for the Scandinavian royals, who have been plagued by negative reports about an unruly family member who faces preliminary domestic violence charges.
Märtha Louise, 52, and Verret, who claims to be a sixth-generation shaman from California, have attracted headlines with their alternative beliefs. She is fourth in line to the Norwegian throne but said in 2022 that she’ll no longer officially represent the Norwegian royal house in order to work closer with her American fiancé.
The princess — she has retained the title — has said she can talk with angels, while Verret, 49, claims that he communicates with a broad range of spirits and has a medallion which helps ward off spells and cure diseases.
They became engaged in 2022. Once married, Verret will not have royal titles or official duties.
In a 2019 deal, Märtha Louise and Verret agreed not to use her connection to the royal house or her title for commercial purposes.
But earlier this year Märtha Louise labeled bottles of gin with her title and launched the brand in time for the wedding, defying King Harald V’s directive that she should not profit from her royal status. The label was eventually changed.
The couple also sold their wedding photo rights to a British celebrity magazine and the film rights to Netflix. The deals prompted protests from Norwegian media, which says it goes against local practices. The couple has often lashed out against the press while promoting themselves on social media.
Meanwhile Marius Borg Høiby, the eldest son of Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Crown Prince Haakon’s stepson, is suspected of causing bodily harm and criminal damage. He has confessed that he was intoxicated and was taking cocaine when he was briefly arrested Aug. 6 in Oslo. Borg Høiby, who is the son of Mette-Marit from a previous relationship, has no royal titles or official duties.
Haakon has called it “a serious matter.”
The scandal, along with the upcoming royal wedding, have seriously eroded support for the Norwegian monarchy. King Harald has remained silent about the issues.
A Norwegian political party known for its anti-royalist stance is using the recent scandals to campaign for a proposal to change the Constitution and abolish the monarchy.
“These cases show some of the fundamental challenges with the monarchy,” Andreas Sjalg Unneland, a lawmaker of the leftwing Socialist Left Party, told The Associated Press in reference to the royal wedding and the Borg Høiby case.
“Do we have to wait for a scandal that is so big that we abolish the monarchy, or can we give it a dignified ending?” Sjalg Unneland asked, adding that the nation should hold a referendum on the issue.
The proposal, expected to be tabled next month, is not likely to gain support from other lawmakers.
Saturday’s wedding will be officiated following the Norwegian Church’s wedding liturgy. While it is labeled a private event and no guest list has been made public, the royal household in Oslo says Harald, Queen Sonja, the heir to the throne Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit will attend. Norway’s future king and queen will be joined by their children. Borg Høiby will not attend.
Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria and her husband Prince Daniel also are reportedly attending the ceremony in Geiranger, 265 kilometers (165 miles) north of Bergen, Norway’s second-largest city. Denmark’s King Frederik and his Australian-born wife Queen Mary, however, will not attend.
Reality stars, media influencers and TV personalities will round out the ceremony’s guests in the scenic town of Geiranger, which sits on the shores of its eponymous fjord designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Norwegian royal yacht, Norge, has anchored there, surrounded by mountains and rivers. The ship will serve as the dwelling of the king and queen, the royal household in Oslo said.
Märtha Louise has three children from her previous marriage with Ari Behn, whom she divorced in 2017 after 14 years of marriage.
Although she is the first child of the 87-year-old Harald, her brother, who is two years younger than her, will succeed their father as king.
The Norwegian Constitution was altered in 1990 to allow the firstborn, regardless of gender, to take precedence in the line of succession. The change does not apply retroactively and Haakon remains first in line to the throne. His oldest child, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, will one day ascend the Norwegian throne.
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Dazio contributed from Berlin.
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