Märtha Louise

Princess Märtha Louise of Norway (born 22 September 1971) is a Norwegian self-described clairvoyant, businesswoman and a member of the extended Norwegian royal family, although she is not a member of the royal house and has no public role. She is married to American conspiracy theorist Durek Verrett.

A member of the House of Glücksburg, she was born in Oslo in 1971 to then-Prince Harald and the former commoner Sonja Haraldsen. At the time she had no inheritance rights to the Norwegian throne. This changed in 1990, when she was included in the line of succession to the Norwegian throne, where she is currently fourth. Her father became king in 1991. While part of the extended royal family, she is not a member of the royal house.

Märtha Louise is active as a businesswoman and alternative therapist, and does not carry out official engagements on behalf of the royal house. From 2007 to 2018 she led her own alternative therapy centre, commonly known in Norway as the "angel school" (Norwegian: engleskolen), which focused on clairvoyance and communication with angels and communication with the dead. She was married to the writer and visual artist Ari Behn from 2002 to 2017. In May 2019, she publicly announced her romantic relationship and professional collaboration with Durek Verrett, a conspiracy theorist and self-described shaman who has served time in prison and who has been characterized by Norwegian media and other critics as a conman. Verrett was included as one of "20 famous conspiracy theorists" alongside David Icke and Alex Jones in an MSN article in 2024.

As part of her withdrawal into private professional life, Märtha Louise lost the style "Royal Highness" in 2002. She has often faced criticism in Norway for her claims of being clairvoyant and for exploiting her constitutional role and title as princess commercially, with frequent calls for her to lose the title and place in the line of succession. For the same reason she has become relatively unpopular in Norway, with an antagonistic relationship with the media, leading her to declare a total boycott of Norwegian media in 2024. She has been derided in Norway as "Princess Plenty More of Have-It-All" (prinsesse Mertakk av Pose og Sekk) due to her insistence on using the title "princess" while promoting alternative beliefs commercially. In 2019, the royal court announced that she will no longer use the title princess in her business activities as a clairvoyant. In 2022, she relinquished her remaining royal duties to concentrate on alternative medicine. She has been criticized for continued commercial exploitation of the title "Princess" and for deliberately disregarding an agreement not to use the title "Princess" or the family connection to the royal family in any commercial activities, interviews or other public activities. A majority of Norwegians favor the removal of her title. Märtha Louise has accused former friends of "racism" over their criticism of Verrett. Verrett's sister Demi DeLaNuit criticized Märtha Louise for abusing her title to intimidate her. Verrett and Märtha Louise sold the rights to their wedding to a British tabloid. Norwegian media described the wedding as "comical" and "embarrassing." Norwegian media criticized King Harald V for legitimizing and endorsing the exploitation of national values and symbols for Märtha Louise's and Verrett's personal financial gain. The royal family's association with Verrett has been cited as contributing to a deterioration in its reputation. Political scientist Torvald Valland Therkildsen described the royal family as a parody that is a source of embarrassment to Norway.