Earlier this year, Norway’s Princess Martha Louise got engaged to her longtime boyfriend, business partner and lover, Shaman Durek Verrett. The reaction from Norway’s royal house was pretty muted, although I should note that Martha has been based out of LA for years now, and she only returns to Norway for “visits” throughout the year. She’s already built a life for herself outside of the Norwegian royal system, and the royals banned her from using her royal status from hawking her spiritual, holistic and shaman-related stuff two decades ago, and in 2019, she was no longer allowed to used “princess” commercially either. There was a lingering question as to whether the Norwegian royals had gone far enough, and whether they would take away everything “royal” now that she’s engaged to a shaman. Her brother, Crown Prince Haakon tried to thread the needle last month, basically saying that the family was fine with Martha marrying a a Black man, but they didn’t want to associate the family with Martha’s shaman-related commercial ventures. Well, the family has finally stripped Martha of her royal role. She seems fine with it:
Princess Märtha Louise of Norway is stepping away from her royal role. The 51-year-old daughter of King Harald V and Queen Sonja has renounced the royal responsibilities she inherited at birth, the Royal House of Norway announced Monday. The decision was made so that Märtha Louise can more freely pursue other interests without the restrictions of being affiliated with the crown, and comes ahead of her wedding to her fiancé Shaman Durek.
“Princess Märtha Louise wishes to differentiate more clearly between her own activities and her relationship to the Royal House of Norway. The Princess has therefore decided, in consultation with His Majesty The King and other close family members, that she will not carry out official duties for the Royal House at the present time,” the palace said in a statement.
“The Princess is patron of various organisations, and today she informed them that she is relinquishing her patronage role, which has provided the framework for her official duties. The Princess is taking this step to create a clearer dividing line between her business activities and her role as a member of the Royal Family. The organisations previously under her patronage will be offered the patronage of other members of the Royal Family,” it continued.
The release specified that Märtha Louise and Durek “are seeking to distinguish more clearly between their activities and the Royal House of Norway,” and will not use her princess title or reference other members of the royal family on social media, in media work or for other commercial purposes. An exception has been made for Märtha Louise’s @PrincessMarthaLouise handle on Instagram, and her father the King is allowing her to keep her princess title.
“The King and Queen wish to thank Princess Märtha Louise for the important work she has carried out in her official capacity for several decades. She has performed her duties with warmth, care and deep commitment,” the statement added.
Martha confirmed the news on her Instagram and basically repeated the party line from the palace, that it was her choice, in “consultation” with her parents, to step away from everything. From a PR perspective, this was handled pretty well – it definitely feels like there was an actual conversation and consultation, and that Martha has been able to set up a separate life for herself in California for years, almost like her family was like “try it out, if it doesn’t work out, you can come back.” And she decided not to come back. Now, if you told me that there was some shady stuff happening behind the scenes, sure, I’d believe that. There’s shady sh-t happening in most families, especially old royal houses in countries without a lot of diversity. But the Norwegian royals are doing a much better job than the Windsors and the Dutch royals for keeping their familial infighting quiet and civil in public.
Photos courtesy of Martha’s IG.
TL;DR Her commercial ventures are far more lucrative than whatever royal salary she may received.
She had to sell the place she inherited from her grandfather, so I’m not so sure about that.
She voluntaraly gave up her royal apanace in 2002, long before all off this bc she wanted to make her own money. It was about 16000 dollars a year.
The Dutch royals aren’t infighting—do you mean the Danes?
The Dutch royals had official photos taken a few days ago: https://www.nu.nl/koningshuis/6234144/willem-alexander-en-maxima-met-volledig-gezin-bij-fotosessie.html
People still confusing Dutch and Danes is priceless.
I like the photos from the summer photo call better, the fashion choices are more interesting. With 3 princesses in their late teens to early twenties for the next decade or so the Dutch royal family is going to be interesting for fashion lovers.
Really most of the european royal families, outside of GB, have young adult princesses that will hopefully be fun to watch.
As long as everyone is getting along, no worries.
This….
Martha has children in school age, and it seems she’s very close to her children, so she can’t be LA based and just do drop-ins to Norway.
Are they with her in the US or in Norway? She is their only parent now.
The children and Martha lives in Noway. She’s part of horse360 and tried out as an actor in a resent film, playing a truck driver.
Her youngest is 14/15 and should be able to stay in Norway if she chooses. She shouldn’t have to uproot her and move away from most of her stable family because of her mom’s new marriage.
Her three daughters are still in their teens, and lost their father recently. Martha-Louise needs to live where her children are established until they are all old enough to be on their own. If that means limiting her personal life choices for a few years, so be it. She signed on to be a parent — she needs to act like one.
This is just further confirmation that royalty has no place in the modern world.
Isn’t she the royal that speaks to angels and who’s ex-husband was voodoo-ed to death by her new shaman man?
Her ex husband died by suicide and was one of the men who was assaulted by Kevin Spacey. It’s very sad so voodoo jokes are not funny and just kinda racist.
Not sure this is going to go far enough for the Norwegian people. Letting her keep the Princess title and her princess handle on SM, etc. might not work. I look forward to the Norwegian CB posters weighing in.
good for her, separating herself from an antiquated structure. also thriving in the US without a royal title and living on her own terms. maybe food for thought for meghan and harry as they continue their careers.
What is “Princess” if not a royal title? It reads as if she is giving up “working royal duties”, but says her father is allowing her to keep her title.
She’s keeping the Princess title and being allowed to use it on Instagram.
I really would not want to make any comparables to H&M here – this couple routinely spout nonsense like how cancer is a choice. They are ridiculous and the NRF is right in this case to distance them and their dangerous beliefs
She stopped using her HRH years ago so this seems to be a natural evolution. Plus when her and her fiance make potentially dangerous ventures because of their beliefs, the royal family doesn’t have to be tied into it. Officially at least. I’m sure the news/tabloids will highlight that her parents are King and Queen of Norway anyway.
Apparently the King called Americans clueless and not understanding a monarchy.
That is out of context, and the norwegian media is getting their asses hauled for that. The context was that the shaman apparently has had a hard time understanding how people connect him to the monarchy, even though he is not a royal. Our king was partly raised in America, and his family is mostly not norwegian born (our monarchy is new, and the royals were elected back then).
The King and queen emphasised that they Are very happy that their daughter is happy, and that they think the shaman is a nice dude that they welcome into the family.
Personalet I think the shaman in completely bonkers for his anti vaxx stuff. As a norwegian i do not have a problem with her keeping her title, and I think its good that the title cant bit be mixed into the alternative crap they shell.
To be fair, he did it to defend Durek. His point was just that Americans don’t necessarily get the institution of monarchy, so he couldn’t be expected to know how to behave from the start
It seems like the same arrangement the Sussexes got without all the rage and toxicity.
😂
Please don’t confuse the Danish monarchy with the Dutch one. The latter is laid-back. Remember their king with Harry at the invictus games.