Princess Martha Louise and her husband, the chaman Durek Verrett, find themselves in the eye of the hurricane. The release of their Netflix documentary "Rebel Royals: An Unlikely Love Story" came out on September 16th, delivering a great surprise to the Royal Palace in Oslo. What appeared to be a film exploring a unique love story has led to racism accusations, the rejection of the royal institution, and accusations of harassment and lack of support from the couple.
The Royal House of Norway has issued a statement claiming that the Princess and Verrett had violated their privacy agreement, a situation that lends itself to comparisons with the explosive case that has developed over the past years involving Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, and the British Royal House.
"It's not easy being the first black man to marry a member of European royalty," said Verrett, who built a career as a chaman in Hollywood, with Gwyneth Paltrow, Nina Dobrev, and more as his clients.
"She fell in love with me first. I wasn't sure, because I thought I would end up with a man, but I decided I'm soulsexual; I'm attracted to the souls of people, so I ended up falling madly in love with her, and that's it."
The documentary starts off exploring their love story, tracing the couple from Los Angeles to Norway. Later on, it focuses on the couple's relationship with Norwegian Royalty. "I've been accused of blackmailing, but it's because they don't want a black bisexual chaman to marry their princess," he said.
For her part, Martha Louisa shares her perspective on her childhood, revealing that she never liked growing up within the royal environment. "That's when I began to realize that I'm completely different than the rest of my family. I'm very sensitive and at first I didn't understand it."
Verrett shares some of the experiences he went through, including criticisms aimed at his clothes. He shared that when he first met King Harald and Queen Sonja, he wore a kimono and some cowboy boots.
"They hated my clothes. Almost everything I did was wrong. And they always made it clear to Martha. Aside from making it clear that he's been the subject of racism and death threats, he also accuses the Royal Family of not supporting him and Sonja. He said that when he confronted the Royal Family about racism, they acted as if they'd never heard of the concept.
Comparisons to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex
The comparisons to Harry and Meghan's story are obvious, with the two making it clear that they didn't feel protected by the institution once they decided to do things their own way.
According to Varrett, he was contacted by King Harald after Meghan and Harry's explosive interview with Oprah aired. Varrett shares that the King asked him if he felt that he was treated the same as Meghan had, with Varrett replying in agreement. The moment prompted a chat between the family and the couple.
"When the King and Queen sat down with me, I told them, 'It's obvious that Martha loves me. You love your daughter. Why don't you protect us?'" shared Varrett. "Then her parents listened to me. The King said that he didn't accept the way they had treated me. They then wrote a statement for the press, discussing racism and how I was treated," he said, referencing the statement that was issued in 2022.