Royals throughout the globe have renounced their formal responsibilities in recent decades due to scandals, family feuds, or to marry commoners or divorcees. This week, a Norwegian princess renounced her royal responsibilities due to her love for a contemporary shaman.
Princess Martha Louise, the 51-year-old daughter of King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway, is engaged to Durek Verrett in June. Verrett is an American celebrity shaman and the developer of the Spirit Optimizer, a $225 healing amulet sold on his website.
Since their engagement, the Norwegian news media and public have criticised Mr. Verrett for claiming that he utilised the amulet to combat the coronavirus, for suggesting that cancer is a choice, and for claiming to be a “hybrid reptile species.”
“Every time a member of the royal family becomes engaged, media storms ensue,” Martha Louise stated in a joyful Instagram video this week.
She stated that after the recent “media conversations,” she, Mr. Verrett, and the royal family made “some modifications,” including her resignation from her official positions.
The royal family issued a statement thanking the princess for completing her responsibilities “with kindness, care, and great dedication.”
Martha Louise said that the choice was amicable, and in a televised interview, King Harald stated that he and Mr. Verrett “agree to disagree.”
In Norway, her love for the supernatural has raised eyebrows for over a decade. 15 percent of the Norwegian populace, according to a 2012 survey, felt that Princess Martha Louise interacted with angels and the dead, while 47 percent believed that her activities negatively impacted the royal family.
According to surveys, her least popular skill was establishing communication with the dead, which she claimed she could perform in media interviews around 2010. At the time, one of Norway’s most renowned clairvoyants, “the Snasa man,” informed the Norwegian daily VG that it was impossible to communicate with the dead, and the bishop of the Bjorgvin diocese in Western Norway deemed parts of her medium acts “very undesirable.” Another bishop said that there was a border between communicating with angels and communicating with the dead, and advised the princess not to cross it.
However, as the nation’s obsession with ghosts and spirits has increased, she has received some backing from healers and life coaches. Even her mother, the queen, defended her skills in public by comparing her to witches who were killed at the stake for believing the world was round. But it seems that the criticism that followed Martha Louise’s engagement to Mr. Verrett was too much for the newlyweds and the royal family to handle.
The pair met in 2018 in Los Angeles, where Mr. Verrett resided, according to a text message from Martha Louise’s manager, Carina Scheele. In the United States, the shaman had a large number of celebrity customers and friends, including Gwyneth Paltrow, whom he referred to as “my family.” In 2019, the princess asked Mr. Verrett to accompany her on “The Princess and the Shaman” tour in Norway.
In Norway, however, the shaman was criticised for propagating pseudoscientific notions, which the couple primarily rejected as a sort of racism towards Mr. Verrett, who is black. Mr. Verrett removed a pre-engagement Instagram post in which he described himself as a “hybrid species of reptile and Andromeda” who came to “shake up the system,” but the top Norwegian newspaper released screenshots of the post.
Mr. Verrett has said that he has faith in traditional treatment since it saved his life. However, he also extols the virtues of alternative medicine. Mr. Verrett said in his 2019 book “Spirit Hacking” that he questioned cancer patients, including youngsters, “Why do you want this disease?” and identified interpersonal issues as probable reasons. Doctors may recommend chemotherapy because they get “big checks” from drug producers, he noted.
When he obtained Covid, he sought for a purpose and discovered that he was a workaholic who was “constantly there for others” and “giving, giving, giving.” He said that he recognised he needed time to perform his breath work and listen to the ancestors, and that he used his white “Light Bringer” amulet to “remove the toxins out of my system.”
The Norwegian newspaper Nettavisen commissioned experts in Oslo to study Mr. Verrett’s amulets, and Sverre M. Selbach, a professor who evaluated the data, concluded that they were mostly made of plastic, with just one colour distinguishing the “Light Bringer” from the “Ancient Truth.”
In a Facebook post, Norwegian journalist Ingeborg Senneset referred to the amulets as “beautiful shams” and said that the princess’s name should not be used in commercial partnership with someone who promotes pseudoscientific beliefs.
In the Instagram video in which Martha Louise formally announced her retirement, she said that she would no longer support numerous groups and emphasised her support for scientifically proved health care.
She said that acupuncture, yoga, meditation, and crystals might all be helpful.