Princess gives up royal duties for shaman
The eldest child of King Harald V, Martha Louise, will end her official role due to criticism of her US fiance, a self-styled natural healer who claims he can cure cancer.
Princess Martha Louise of Norway has announced that she will no longer represent the royal family after widespread criticism of her fiance, an American self-styled natural healer who has claimed to be a reincarnated pharaoh and a hybrid “reptilian” capable of curing cancer with his mind.
The princess, the eldest child of King Harald V and fourth in line to the Norwegian throne, will retain her title but will stop carrying out official duties, ostensibly to “create peace around the royal household”.
What a forthright Oprah Winfrey interview and the Woking branch of Pizza Express have been to the British monarchy, Durek Verrett’s supposed magic powers have been to its Norwegian counterpart. The Californian shaman is a friend of Gwyneth Paltrow, the Oscar-winning American actress and businesswoman, and charges almost £1300 ($2301) for spiritualist therapy sessions. He met Princess Martha, 51, in 2016 through a mutual friend, the “energy healer” Millana Snow. The couple, both divorcees, announced their engagement in June.
The princess had been criticised in the press for her forays into the paranormal, including her claims that she was a clairvoyant who could commune with animals and angels. The press dismissed Verrett, 47, as a fraud and one of the country’s largest publishing houses dropped his 2019 book Spirit Hacking, which suggests children are to blame when they get cancer.
King Harald, 85, said he was “sorry” his daughter was giving up her official functions but hinted at his displeasure with Verrett, saying he “probably thought he could do anything without it affecting us”. Queen Sonja, 85, added: “[Verrett] must also take into account what we stand for.”
- The Times
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