Noble Blood - The Princess and the Shaman and the Royal House of Norway

Episode Date: December 13, 2022

While I seldom cover modern royals on this podcast, the recent announcement of Princess Martha Louise of Norway stepping away from royal duties in the wake of her engagement to an American "mystic," we dive into the role of modern royalty and the problems that come from a legitimized platform. Support Noble Blood: — Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon — Merch! — Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and pre-order its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story'See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. What's up, everyone? I'm Ago Vodam. My next guest, it's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. He goes, just give it a shot.

But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, The cat, just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of IHeart Radio and grim and mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised. Hey, this is Dana Schwartz, the host of the podcast you're listening to. A few quick bits of housekeeping before this episode. We have merch that's available. I love the merch. I wear my Noble Blood sweatshirt almost every day in my house. And there are amazing pins and mugs that are beheaded queens.

I just love them. The link is in the bio. We also have a Patreon where you can support the show, get episode scripts, and get access to exclusive seasonal stickers. So if you're at a certain level on the Patreon, every season we send a new exclusive designed stickers. just for patrons. Other bits of housekeeping. Let's see. Oh, I wrote a book called Immortality, A Love Story, that comes out in February. Pre-orders are so important. So if you're interested

and want to pre-order, that would be a huge help to me. It's the sequel to my last book, Anatomy, A Love Story. So you should probably read that one first. You should read both. I think. I think you'll like them a lot. This one, though, the sequel has a big noble blood connection. And I don't want to spoil it, but if you like this podcast, I think the book will be right up your alley. Oh, and finally, I'm leading in August. I'm helping to lead a pilgrimage in Cornwall to talk about the novel Rebecca and Daphne Demoree. I did one of these last year about Mary Shelley and Frankenstein, and it was just incredible. You stay in this beautiful house and you're just talking about books and going on walks and writing and getting in touch with their creative spirit. I just think

their incredible experiences. It's called Common Ground, the company that runs them. Google Dana Schwartz Common Ground, Rebecca, and it'll come up. It's in August and we're going to Cornwall. The place is absolutely beautiful. If that's something that I interest to you, you should absolutely look it up and enjoy the podcast. As a member of the generation that grew up with clickbait articles, it's become alarmingly easy to find myself just glossing over the majority of absurd often misleading headlines that pass through my Twitter feed on a daily basis. It makes sense that in a culture where clicks equal dollars, the methods used to entice readers have become increasingly ridiculous, bordering on desperate,

in order to grab our limited attention. Think about out-of-context quotes designed to anger niche corners of the Internet, or the alarmist headlines about the inevitable end of the world being caused by, well, any, number of things. Considering the onslaught of our daily media diet, it makes sense that we've conditioned ourselves to be able to tune out the perpetual barrage of insanity we find ourselves doom-scrolling through our phones every day. But even with all that in mind, truly, nothing could have prepared me for the November 10th headline tweeted out by the New York Times, a headline in which every clause of the sentence becomes more and more.

and more enthralling. Princess Martha Louise of Norway, who has long claimed to be clairvoyant, has quit her royal duties over public criticism of her fiancée, an American celebrity shaman who sells a $22-hilling amulet and has suggested cancer is a choice. We rarely do episodes of this podcast that focus on modern royals, but in this particular case, I couldn't get the story. story out of my head. The headline itself reads more like a Stefan club from SNL than it does an actual piece of journalism, with as many outlandish scraps of gossip haphazardly crammed into a meager 280 character limit as humanly possible. But incredibly, the clairvoyant princess and her fiance's $222 healing amulets are really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this story.

Even beyond the Times article, researching Princess Martha's life with her fiancé, Durek Barrett, is like opening a Pandora's box of increasingly unbelievable snippets of information. Highlights range from the princess's self-proclaimed shaman fiancé stating in a social media post that he is, quote, a hybrid species of reptilian and Andromeda, end quote, to a moment as recent as June 9th of this year when the couple went, on Instagram live, and five minutes in, Verrett casually mentions his past life as an Egyptian Pharaoh. The Royal House of Norway's official statement claims the withdrawal of the princess from her official royal duties is, quote, intended to draw a dividing line that more clearly separates

commercial activity from the Royal House of Norway, end quote. But with publications waving their metaphorical pitchforks at her fianc's controversial medical opinions, it's enough to make anyone wonder whether, quote, commercial activity is all that the crown is wishing to separate itself from. I'm Dana Schwartz, and this is Noble Blood. As I mentioned earlier, if you're a regular listener of this podcast, you've probably realized I rarely cover modern royals, if only for the fact that I consider this first and foremost a history podcast meant to contextualize the lives of royals as real-life figures within the rigid institutions that they were born or otherwise brought into. Adding fuel to the tabloid inferno of modern royals has never been my aim with the show,

especially since, as I previously mentioned, these are real-life people who, I assume, are similarly just trying to navigate their lives to the best of their abilities. But in the case of Princess Martha Louisa's withdrawal from her royal duties, I feel that her relationship with her fiancé, in connection to her royal title, as well as the Norwegian crown's response to their engagement as a whole, warrants at least a noble blood minisode. Which brings me to my second disclaimer. Obviously, everyone is allowed to believe in whatever they want to believe in.

as long as those beliefs aren't causing harm to others, then it's really no one's business how someone decides to live their life. But when someone with a significant platform and ties to the Norwegian royal family begin spouting that they refused prescribed medical treatment for COVID-19 in favor of their $22 healing amulet, which they claimed to use to, quote, get the poisons out of their system, and quote, then suddenly one person's beliefs aren't so innocuous.

And again, the connection to a royal family adds legitimacy, stature to those beliefs and statements. All this is to say, while I personally don't believe in the types of spirits or angels that Princess Martha and her fiancé Durek Verrett claim to be beholden to, I think the criticism I may have toward the couple is less to do with their specific spiritual beliefs and more to do with how their beliefs have harmed vulnerable communities. All right, with that out of the way, let's get into it. Long before her name was ever scattered across tabloid headlines, Princess Martha Louise was the first child of the then-crown prince, Harold V, and Crown Princess Sonia,

born on September 22, 1971. Like most reigning royal families today, the Norwegian monarchy is largely a symbolic institution, having established a constitutional monarchy following the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1814. From a young age, the princess claims to have been what she calls highly sensitive, a trait which she believes has enabled her to sense other people,

feelings. On the website for her spiritual education center, her bio goes more in depth into her sensitivity, detailing how her work with horses allowed her to, quote, make contact with the angels, and quote. Despite the inherent public controversy, the statement brought forth, for the most part, Princess Martha's, let's say, extracurricular activities, were largely kept separate from her royal persona. This was predominantly due to the fact that, despite her being the firstborn child to the king and queen, at the time of her birth, the Constitution of Norway prohibited women from inheriting the throne. This meant that in 1973, her younger brother, the crown prince Hawken, became the next in line of succession, even though he was secondborn. It wouldn't be until 1990 that the Constitution would be

amended to allow women to inherit the throne, but with a stipulation that still kept Princess Martha behind her brother in the line of succession. So while she may have had royal duties that required her presence for charities or social gatherings, her role within the Norwegian royal family didn't stop her from conducting her own spiritual practices outside of familial obligations, at least until 2018, when she would be introduced to none other than the amulet-wielding shaman himself, Durek Verrett. By the time Durek and Martha met, the self-identified, sixth-generation shaman, was already well on his way, making a name for himself within Hollywood.

Raised in the suburban northern Californian town of Foster City, Dirk Verrett claims to have been connected to the spirits from the age of. of three, when he says from his crib he could, quote, see other beings in the room, such as ancestors and family members that had already passed, end quote. Rather than capitalizing on his spiritual connections early on, Verrett first began his career in Hollywood as a model, with sporadic appearances on television before he began cultivating his brand as a shaman, working his way up in elite Hollywood circles. By 2016, Verrett was a peasant. appearing on social media alongside Gwyneth Paltrow,

who described him as her, quote, light and shining armor. On his website, he claims to, quote, demystify spirituality and, quote, redefine what wellness means by putting the power back in the hands of the people, end quote. Though exactly whose hands that power ends up in seems to depend rather heavily on the depth of their wallets.

Apart from the infamous overpriced amulets, which he calls spirit optimizers, the shaman also offers one-hour private healing sessions for the humble price of $2,000. Of course, if you can't afford one of his private healing sessions, Verrett encourages perusers of his website to sign up for one of the many, quote, woke shops available through his online shaman school. Or to pick up a copy of his book, spirit hacking, where he goes into detail about his belief that, quote, the walls of a woman's uterus are literally encoded with geometric symbols, which act as

portals, end quote. Or how he talks about how his client's shadows told him he had cancer, quote, because the client hated his job and felt confined in his marriage, end quote. Frankly, I could go on for days with the amount of truly wild, conspiracy theories that Dirk Veritas released into the world, but ultimately his importance to us today only begins after his introduction to Martha Louise in 2018. Much to the dismay of the Norwegian press, the couple quickly hit it off, so much so that in the spring of 2019, the couple announced their first speaking tour together, which was titled The Princess and the Shalman.

Now, this is where things for the new couple begin to take a turn. Predictably, news and media outlets had a field day with the couple utilizing the princess's royal title in their joint speaking engagement. After all, public engagements as a princess on behalf of the Royal House of Norway obviously means something vastly different than a seminar on spirituality with a clairvoyant princess and her shaman boyfriend. predictably, the Crown did not comment on Martha Louise's use of her title for her and Verrett's business ventures, but their silence could only last for so long. Following the couple's engagement this past June, on November 8, 2022, the Royal House of Norway finally released an official statement in which they announced Princess Martha Louise would be stepping down from all of her remaining royal duties.

Quote, Princess Martha Louise and Durek Verrett are seeking to distinguish more clearly between their activities and their association with the Royal House, the statement reads. In the statement, the Royal House also seems to finally address the Princess and the Shaman controversy, stating, quote, in 2019, the Princess decided in consultation with her family not to use the title of Princess in connection with her business activity. adding for good measure, this principle will now apply to her fiancée, Durek Varet, as well. While the princess still remains forth in line for the throne, behind her brother and his two children, it's clear through the Royal House of Norway's statement that they are attempting to put some space between Princess Martha and Durek Varets' beliefs. The final section of their statement is fully dedicated to their confidence in the Norwegian Health Service and Norwegian Health Authorities. A structure based on established medical knowledge and scientific research,

carried out by skilled health personnel across the entire health service, has resulted in one of the world's best health care systems for the benefit of everyone in Norway. end quote. Similarly, in a joint statement made through the princess's Instagram, following her official withdrawal from her royal duties, the couple clearly establishes their support for what they call the School of Medicine, with Verrett adding, quote, I am for the School of Medicine and always have been.

Dot, dot, dot. However, I do believe we should always use all available resources for health on our planet. Then again, this is the same man who suggested oncologists prescribe chemotherapy, quote, to make a cool million a year off the patient, assuming he lasts that long, and quote. So maybe take that PR statement with a healthy metric ton of salt. In the wake of the statement made by the Royal House of Norway this fall, news outlets around the world have been all but foaming at the mouth to tell their own versions of the story. To be fair, though, there has been a vocal contingent of the population that has been aware of

and adamantly against the princess's relationship with the shaman ever since they went public as a couple back in 2019. Today, royal institutions are largely meant to be symbolic of their country's values, Hence why the late Queen Elizabeth II was seen more as a grandmother who favored her corgis than any sort of catalyst of public change. Royals are at their strongest when they are really not people, when they're symbols instead of individuals, because individuals can have opinions that are wrong.

Individuals can be misguided, they can fall in love with the wrong people. And while the Norwegian-Modews, monarchy no longer has much of any say in how they govern the day-to-day lives of their citizens, it's clear from the royal family's decision to have Martha Louise step down from the remainder of her royal duties that they too wish to project a socially conservative image to the public. Though with the princess still maintaining her title at their quest of the king, only time will tell if her and her fiance's beliefs will be able to remain separate from the crown. That was a quick minisode on Princess Martha Louise's engagement to Durek Verrett,

but stick around to hear how Verrett's shamanism is reminiscent of another mystic we've covered on this podcast. What's up, everyone? I'm Ego Vodom. My next guest, you know from Stepbrothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and The Big Money Players Network, It's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with him one day, and I was like,

and dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place they come, look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved.

And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever, reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat, just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right. It wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to thanks dad on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, everyone? I'm Ago Wodem. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network.

It's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was like, and Dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you. which is really sweet.

Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there.

Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In articles analyzing their relationship, Verrett has been called everything from a conman to a conspiracy theorist. There are Reddit threads dedicated to his resemblance to Gregory Rasputin, the Russian mystic who manipulated his way into the Romanov's inner circle with his mystical healing abilities. And, if I'm being honest, the comparison at least did. in my mind doesn't seem that completely off base. If you aren't familiar with the life and

legendary death of Gregory Rasputin, I highly recommend going back to our episode on him from earlier this year called Rara Rasputin. If you have listened, you'll know the morally dubious mystic rose to power by praying off the beliefs of those, primarily the Tsarina of Russia, who were desperate for some sort of higher power to heal them, or in the case of, of the Zarina heal her son's hemophilia. Yes, remember when Verrett went on Instagram live to plug his spirit optimizer as a cure for COVID? Same candy, different rapper. But Rasputin's and Verit's ideas may seem ridiculous to the vast majority of people, but, giving credit where credit is due, there is no doubt that both problematic figures got to be as popular as they are by being

charismatic. And had Rasputin had the same access to Instagram that Durek Verrett does, I have little doubt he also would be going on multiple hour-long Instagram lives a week to preach his rhetoric to the masses. Noble Blood is a production of IHeart Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Manky. Noble Blood is hosted by me, Dana Schwartz. Additional writing and researching done by Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zwick, Mira Hayward, Courtney Sender, and Lori Goodman. The show is produced by Rima Il Kiali, with supervising producer Josh Thane,

and executive producers Aaron Manky, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from IHartRadio, visit the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. What's up, everyone? I'm Ego Vodom. My next guest, it's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo.

My dad gave me the best advice ever. He goes, just give it a shot. But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that.

There's a lot of luck. Listen to thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or we're wearing a lot. wherever you get your podcasts. This is an I-Heart podcast, guaranteed human.