Calls for King Harald of Norway to strip Princess Märtha of title develop

King Harald V of Norway has faced renewed calls this week to strip Princess Märtha Louise of her royal title after she reportedly used it in a cease-and-desist letter issued to her estranged 81-year-old mother-in-law.

The monarch’s daughter, 52, was forced to step down as a working royal in 2022 due to her self-professed shaman fiancé Durek Verrett’s controversial views, including that childhood cancer is caused by unhappiness.

But the mother-of-three was allowed to keep her title – a decision that has been hotly contested in Norway because of Märtha Louise using her ‘princess’ name commercially – despite agreeing not to – to sell gins and promote her clothing brand.

Now, the royal has caused further uproar by reportedly using her title when sending a cease-and-desist letter to her estranged mother-in-law, which is thought to have threatened legal action over the 81-year-old’s ‘slander’ and ‘false statements’.

Durek explained on Instagram how they believe their decision is ‘the only remaining option for change’ – and to the trolls that were keen to suggest otherwise, the Shaman hit back at them in the comments.

The controversy comes ahead of Märtha Louise, who describes herself as ‘spiritual’ and claims to be a clairvoyant, wedding her bisexual partner at the Union Hotel in Geirangerfjord on August 31.

News of the couple sending a cease-and-desist letter to Veruschka Urquhart broke this week, with Durek claiming on Instagram that his mother has ‘repeatedly slandered our characters through false statements showing a significant lack of care and love towards Märtha, myself, and our respective families’.

In interviews with celebrity magazine Se og Hør, Veruschka has labelled her son ‘dangerous’, alleging that he had ‘brainwashed’ the princess and that their family was not as wealthy as Durek has tried to make out.

The publication claimed on Thursday to be sharing the ‘shock letter, word for word’, in which Märtha has reportedly threatened her future mother-in-law with a multimillion-dollar lawsuit, if she does not retract what she has said.

The letter from ‘Shaman Durek and Princess Martha Louise’ allegedly reads: ‘We are writing to order you to refrain from defaming, disparaging and making false and provocative statements about Shaman Durek. 

‘If you do not fully and loyally comply with this order, and choose not to deny your statements, Shaman Durek will use the civil remedies at his disposal against you to the extent possible under the law, including seeking damages of millions of dollars. To put it plainly, Shaman Durek will sue you.’

The princess’s manager reportedly confirmed to newspaper VG that the letter was sent from the royal and her partner. 

Following the news, Editor-in-chief of Se og Hør Ulf André Andersen wrote a comment piece calling for King Harald to ‘take action’.

In the text, translated from Norwegian to English, the editor wrote: ‘The title of princess is dignified and hangs high in a strong monarchy. 

‘But now is definitely the time for a family council. The result must be one of two – either Märtha herself allows the title to remain at the Castle, or the king puts his foot down for her.’ 

Norwegian online newspaper Nettavisen’s royal expert, Tove Taalesen, echoed this, saying: ‘I think that King Harald and Crown Prince Haakon should distance themselves more from the princess and Durek, if that is how they are going to act in the future.’

The expert previously said: ‘It is probably time to remove Princess Märtha Louise’s right of succession to the throne.’

It’s not the first time calls have been made for Martha Louise to lose her title; the princess was noted to have broken her ‘Megxit’ agreement with the King seven times in less than two years.

Royal expert Trond Norén Isaksen told Aftenposten, one of Norway’s largest printed newspapers: ‘When the agreement is not respected, it is time to strike Märtha Louise’s princess title before King Harald’s life’s work takes further damage.’

The expert also noted: ‘In October 2022, three different opinion polls showed that more than half wanted Märtha Louise to give up the princess title, while less than a quarter wanted her to keep it.’

The article also revealed how a specially made gin from Oslo Handcraft Distillery for the wedding of Märtha Louise and Durek Verrett had her princess title reportedly referenced on the label of the bottle and the brand’s website. 

Princess Märtha’s manager Carina Scheele Carlsen told Norwegian newspaper VG that it was apparently a ‘mistake’ to include the title and that it would be removed from the next batch of the bottles and the website.

But when asked by the publication why the royal used her Princess title in the letter to her soon-to-be mother-in-law, the manager claimed: ‘Princess Märtha Louise is her name in the national register, and must be used on legal documents such as this,’ according to an English translation of the quote. 

Following the reports about the letter, Durek took to Instagram to explain his reasoning, saying: ‘I wanted to clarify Märtha Louise’s and my recent decision to issue a cease-and-desist letter to my mother, Veruschka.

‘VG’s research earlier this year has uncovered Veruschka being in a paid contract with Se og Hør, and she has, because of this contract, repeatedly slandered our characters through false statements showing a significant lack of care and love towards Märtha, myself, and our respective families. 

‘The cease-and-desist letter directly addresses these issues and is a standard procedure in the United States when defamatory situations occur. 

‘Regrettably, we have found the cease-and-desist letter to be the only remaining option for change. We are sorry that it has come to this step. We see no other options.’

He continued in the post: ‘Veruschka has been estranged from much of our family for a considerable period. 

‘As previously expressed in VG @vgnett, our family is deeply concerned for her mental health and well-being and has made numerous efforts to help her achieve a better quality of life. 

‘Unfortunately, she has rejected the guidance and support offered by most of her children, including myself. Instead of communicating with us as a family, she has chosen to go to the press with continuous fabrications. 

‘Her false claims about me are regrettably a ploy to secure a position with Se og Hør to support her livelihood.

‘This estrangement extends to my younger brother Brandon and his family, my older sister Angelina and her family, Martha, and myself. Despite this, our family remains united in our stance against her actions.

‘We hope this clarifies our position on this matter. Sincerely, Durek D. Verrett,’ he concluded his post, in which he shared a picture of him and his partner, posing on a beach in sunglasses and vibrant outfits.

In the comments, one person who clearly wasn’t a fan of the couple’s wrote: ‘You and the princess should rather go to America or any other country than Norway. I am just happy that you will NEVER get a royal title here in Norway.’

It appeared Durek couldn’t help but reply, writing: ‘Do you actually think I care about a title. Please, if you’re going to write on my page, please have something intelligent to say. I wish you great success and good health always.’

Elsewhere, another person wrote: ‘So sad to find it necessary to expose family drama on social media. Everything you do doesn’t need to be seen or heard! Live life and stay low key. Only very few care – all the rest are just curious.’

Again, Durek replied: ‘Actually, I’m answering the press in my way. The media exposed the family, FYI. I know you’re looking out for us. Thank you. However, this is an intelligent way to answer the press.’

MailOnline has contacted the Royal House of Norway for comment. 

In April, Martha Louise furiously hit back at her future mother-in-law’s claims that Durek ‘was not from a wealthy family’.

In a defiant Instagram post, the royal included comments from one of Durek’s former classmates who insisted he was ‘one of the richest kids’ in their school.

Martha Louise’s social media rant comes after her future mother-in-law Veruschka gave another interview to celebrity magazine Se og Hør – having previously labelled her son ‘dangerous’ and alleging that he had ‘brainwashed’ the royal.

In the bombshell interview, Veruschka commented on the family’s finances and claimed they were not as wealthy as Durek – who previously told Vanity Fair that he had access to a private plane growing up – has tried to make out. 

Accusing the publication of ‘spreading lies’, the royal wrote: ‘This time they are repeating the lie that Durek was not from a wealthy family as a child […], when the truth is that he grew up in a good neighbourhood, his mom left him at an early age and it was in reality his mom not having money, not him.

‘She wasn’t even around. Durek’s father’s bankruptcy came after Durek moved out, so he was not affected by his father’s bankruptcy.’

Martha Louise then proceeded to share photos of the Californian mansion Durek claims to have grown up in, which was listed for over $3m when it was last on the market.

She continued: ‘This is the house Durek grew up in in Foster City, California. It is worth more than NOK 30mill today and is 321 square meters(3460 square feet).’ 

The images show a sprawling open-plan living and kitchen area and large front garden. 

The final image in the Instagram carousel was a statement from a woman called Danielle Washington, who claims to have attended school with Durek. 

It read: ‘Many kids were jealous of his family’s wealth as it seems like he had it all when it came to material items. It didn’t help that Durek was the ONLY person in school that had limos and taxis outside of the ones taking him to school because that wasn’t what people did here in Foster City. 

‘However, it always felt like his parents were too busy to take time out of their lives (and happiness) to take care of him.

‘When Durek became a shaman, it didn’t surprise me. He has lived his entire life dedicated to sharing love with all. You’d think growing up with tons of money and very little parental love would make him bitter or arrogant. 

‘He is neither bitter, arrogant or acts like he is better than the next person. Durek is still the same jovial spirit I met many years ago who is open to sharing his gifts with all and someone I’m proud to call a friend.’ 

The Princess added: ‘It is not important to me wether he was from a family with money or not as a child, but the fact is that he was, and I am sick and tired of Se og Hør’s lies about us. And about Durek.’ 

Signing off the post, the royal wrote: ‘Please don’t believe what Se og Hør says about Durek or me leading up to the wedding. 

‘From experience I know it will get worse as we move closer to the wedding. It is so sad that it needs to be this way as a wedding should be a joyous occasion for everyone involved. Also for us…’

In an interview with the magazine, Durek’s mother claimed she had not heard from her son for over a year. In a previous Instagram post, Durek gushed about his ‘amazing and powerful’ mother who ‘raised him to be a leader’. 

The couple announced in September 2023 that they will tie the knot at the Union Hotel in Geiranger, Norway, this coming August. 

In December 2020, Durek told Vanity Fair that he was the son of a wealthy architect and that his family had their own private plane and servants.

The announcement came after several years of difficulty for the Norwegian royals which culminated in Princess Martha’s decision to step down as a working member of the family – which she revealed has been filled with ‘turmoil’.

Eyebrows were raised when the Princess first began dating Verrett, who holds some controversial and pseudoscientific views, including that cancer in children can be caused by ‘being unhappy’.

In November 2022, Princess Martha announced she was stepping down as a senior member of the Royal Family in a move labelled ‘Norway’s Megxit’.

In an interview with the BBC earlier this year, she praised her parents, King Harald an Queen Sonja, for keeping the dialogue open while she made her decision and they worked out the details about how the arrangements would work. 

When asked about her decision in comparison with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who also stepped down as senior royals, she spoke about her ‘amazing’ family, including King Harald and Queen Sonja, and how the dialogue between them has always remained open.

‘What I think has been amazing through this whole cycle has been the conversations we have had through it all,’ she said.

‘From a very young age I remember my mum and dad saying (the King and Queen saying) that we always have to stick together. We always have to talk things through even if it’s hard, we have to put all the cards on the table because we are family and we have to work things through.’ 

The Norwegian royal also discussed how her fiancé’s controversial ‘views’ had contributed to how the public viewed her position in the royal family.

She said: ‘The Norwegian people I guess… have decided it’s best for me to step down because of his views about things.’

Durek, who describes himself as a ‘Shaman’, was dropped by his publisher shortly after the couple announced their engagement in June 2022 over pseudoscientific claims he made in his book ‘Spirit Hacking’.

Among the claims were that children ‘can get cancer from being unhappy’. Durek has also claimed he once came back from the dead, recovering from a month-long coma, by letting his soul ‘burn’ and he has also spoken of having to undergo a kidney transplant from his sister as a child.

It is unclear why he needed the kidney or how he became wheelchair bound, as he has described. The illness which sent him into a coma is also undisclosed.

Elsewhere in the interview, Martha Louise claimed she first began to experience psychic premonitions as a child.

She said: ‘When I was little I would see things in you. If you were sad or if you were happy… if you had a pain in your shoulder I would get a pain in my shoulder.

‘And I understood that that’s a talent and, you know, I could help other people. And that’s when the whole ball started rolling.’

The Princess said she decided she wanted to ‘earn my own money’ which she could only do by giving up her ‘money from the state’ and paying taxes for the first time in her life.

After giving up her position in the royal family, the Princess revealed she has had to deal with ‘lots of scrutiny’ – particularly when she takes on new roles.

‘Everything you do that’s a first, that goes out of the box that you’re put in,’ she said, adding that press scrutiny has ‘continued’. 

She added that, in Norway, spiritual beliefs like the ones she holds are ‘taboo’. Her comments echoed an interview she gave on Swedish TV in March, in which she claimed she had ‘received the most criticism of anyone in Norway’ for her beliefs. 

As she sat down with Anna Hedenmo on Min Sanning – which translates to My Truth – the royal said she felt she needed to step back because of public image.

She said: ‘I am probably the one in Norway who has received the most criticism of all, I think.’ 

Elsewhere in the television special, the mother touched on how her ex-husband Ari Behn – who took his own life in December 2019 – handled being in the spotlight.

Following their wedding in 2002, the royal said the father of her three children – who made a name for himself as an author -said he didn’t receive good reviews of his work.

She added: ‘His mental health depended a lot on him getting criticism in the media. But I am not saying it was anyone’s fault. It is always how you handle criticism. 

‘The press took self-criticism after he died, that they were perhaps a little harsh towards him, and that he only received criticism and was actually a very nice person.’

In June 2022, the newly-engaged couple appeared in a video together on Durek’s Instagram account where the American spiritual guide – whose celebrity clients have included Gwyneth Paltrow, Nina Dobrev and James Van Der Beek – hit back at online trolling they’ve faced.

He said: ‘One, they don’t want to see a black man in the Royal Family because there’s never been one in the history of the European royal family.

‘Second, she’s a female – it’s different when a royal prince chooses a woman of colour because it’s like, “oh he’s a man, he can choose whoever he wants”.

‘But for a princess to choose a man of colour, has never been done in history. So it’s really though for a lot of people to be able to handle that.’