Social media influencers, reality stars and TV personalities were among the guests as the Norwegian king’s eldest child, Princess Martha Louise, married a self-professed US shaman on Saturday in a wedding ceremony following three days of festivities.
The 52-year-old Martha Louise and Durek Verrett, who claims to be a sixth-generation shaman from California, tied the knot in the picturesque small town of Geiranger, one of Norway’s major tourist attractions located on a fjord with stunning views.
Following festivities that started on Thursday, the actual wedding ceremony took place in a large white tent set up on a lush lawn. Guests told media that Norwegian and US artists performed at the event along with a gospel choir and a singer representing Norway’s indigenous Sami.
Photo: NTB via AFP
“It was fantastic! It was Hollywood meets Geiranger,” Norwegian TV personality Harald Ronneberg described the colorful ceremony to public broadcaster NRK. “It was gospel and love. We laughed, we clapped, and we were touched. It was absolutely beautiful.”
The couple has sold the wedding photo rights to British celebrity magazine Hello! and the film rights to Netflix. The deals prompted protests from Norwegian media, which said the arrangement goes against local practices.
The couple have often lashed out against the press while promoting themselves on social media.
The 87-year-old Norwegian King Harald, who has been in fragile health the past few years, attended his daughter’s wedding together with Queen Sonja and other members of the royal house. Swedish Crown Princess Victoria and her husband, Prince Daniel, represented the Swedish royal house together with her brother, Prince Carl Philip, and his wife, Princess Sofia. No other European royals attended the wedding.
The wedding comes amid widespread criticism of the couple’s actions and waning support for the Norwegian royals, who have also been plagued by negative reports about an unruly family member who faces preliminary domestic violence charges.
Martha Louise and Verrett, 49, have attracted headlines with their alternative beliefs. She is fourth in line to the Norwegian throne, but said in 2022 that she would no longer officially represent the Norwegian royal house.
The princess — she has retained the title — has said she can talk with angels, while Verrett claims that he communicates with a broad range of spirits and has a medallion which helps ward off spells and can cure diseases.
They became engaged in 2022. Following their marriage, Verrett would not have a royal title or official duties.
In a 2019 deal, Martha Louise and Verrett agreed not to use her connection to the royal house or her title for commercial purposes.
However, earlier this year Martha Louise labeled bottles of gin with her title and launched the brand in time for the wedding, defying King Harald’s directive that she should not profit from her royal status. The label was eventually changed.
Martha Louise has three children from her previous marriage with author and playwright Ari Behn, whom she divorced in 2017 after 14 years of marriage.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS