December 13, 2022 • 21 mins
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.
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— Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio
and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey 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
(00:21):
wear my Noble Blood sweatshirt almost every day in my
house and they're 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,
(00:43):
every season we send a new, exclusive designed sticker 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
(01:05):
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
(01:26):
lead a pilgrimage in Cornwall to talk about the novel
Rebecca and Daphne Demurier. 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 they're
incredible experiences. It's called common Ground, the company that runs them.
(01:50):
Google Dani Schwartz, common Ground Rebecca, and it will come up.
It's in August and we're going to Cornwall. The place
is absolutely beautiful. If that's something that interest to you,
you should absolutely look it up and enjoy the podcast.
(02:12):
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
passed 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,
(02:37):
bordering on desperate, in order to grab our limited attention.
Think about out of context celebrity misquotes 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
(02:57):
media diet, it makes sense that we've con shtioned ourselves
to be able to tune out the perpetual barrage of
insanity we find ourselves doomed scrolling through our phones every day.
But even with all that in mind, truly nothing could
have prepared me for the November tenth headline tweeted out
by The New York Times, a headline in which every
(03:20):
clause of the sentence becomes 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 fiance,
an American celebrity shaman who sells a two hundred and
twenty two dollar heeling amulet and has suggested cancer is
(03:43):
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 out of my head. The headline
itself reads more like a Stefn Club from SNL than
it doesn't actual piece of journalism, with as many outlandish
(04:03):
scraps of gossip haphazardly crammed into a meager two character
limit as humanly possible, But incredibly, the clairvoyant princess and
her fiance's two twenty two dollar 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
(04:27):
life with her fiance, Dorik Verrett is like opening a
Pandora's box of increasingly unbelievable snippets of information. Highlights range
from the princess's self proclaimed shaman fiance stating in a
social media post that he is quote a hybrid species
of reptilian and andromeda end quote, to a moment as
(04:49):
recent as June nine of this year, when the couple
went on Instagram live and five minutes in Verett 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
(05:11):
draw a dividing line that more clearly separates commercial activity
from the Royal House of Norway and quote. But with
publications waiving their metaphorical pitchforks at her fiance's controversial medical opinions,
it's enough to make anyone wonder whether quote commercial activity
(05:31):
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,
(05:54):
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
(06:18):
with this 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 Louise's withdrawal from
her royal duties, I feel that her relationship with her
fiance in connection to her royal title, as well as
(06:41):
the Norwegian crowns response to their engagement as a whole,
warrants at least a noble blood minisod, 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.
(07:04):
But when someone with a significant platform and ties to
the Norwegian royal family begins spouting that they refused prescribed
medical treatment for COVID nineteen in favor of their two
d and twenty two dollar healing amulet, which they claimed
to use to quote get the poisons out of their
(07:25):
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
(07:46):
or angels that Princess Martha and her fiance Derick 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 how their
beliefs have harmed vulnerable communities. All Right, with that out
of the way, let's get into it. Long before her
(08:08):
name was ever scattered across tabloid headlines, Princess Martha Louise
was the first child of the then Crown Prince Harald
the fifth and Crown Princess Sonja, born on September twenty two,
seventy one. Like most reigning royal families today, the Norwegian
monarchy is largely a symbolic institution, having established a constitutional
(08:34):
monarchy following the end of the Napoleonic Wars in eighteen fourteen.
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's feelings. On the
website for her spiritual education center, her bio goes more
(08:56):
in depth into her sensitivity, detailing how her word with
horses allowed her to quote make contact with the angels
end quote. Despite the inherent public controversy the statements brought forth,
for the most part, Princess Martha's let's say, extracurricular activities
were largely kept separate from her royal persona. This was
(09:20):
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 three her younger brother,
the Crown Prince Hakun, became the next in line of succession,
(09:41):
even though he was second born. It wouldn't be until
nine 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 require
her presence for charities or social gatherings, her role within
(10:04):
the Norwegian royal family didn't stop her from conducting her
own spiritual practices outside of familial obligations, at least until
two thousand eighteen, when she would be introduced to none
other than the amulet wielding shaman himself, Derrick Verrett. By
(10:25):
the time Direc 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 Verett claims to have
been connected to the spirits from the age of three,
when he says from his crib he could quote see
(10:48):
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 two
(11:12):
thousand sixteen, Verett was 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
(11:34):
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 a one hour private healing sessions for
the humble price of two thousand dollars. Of course, if
(11:55):
you can't afford one of his private healing sessions, Verett
encourages per rusers 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
(12:18):
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
(12:39):
truly wild conspiracy theories that Derk Verita has released into
the world, but ultimately his importance to us today only
begins after his introduction to Martha Louise in two thousand eighteen,
much to the dismay of the Norwegian press. The couple
quickly hit it off, so much so that in the
spring of two thousand nineteen, the couple announced their first
(13:02):
speaking tour together, which was titled The Princess and the Shaman.
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
(13:24):
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 Louisa's use of
her title for her and Verett's business ventures, but their
(13:45):
silence could only last for so long. Following the couple's
engagement this past June, on November eighth, two thousand twenty two,
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
(14:08):
Martha Louise and Derek 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 two thousand nineteen, the Princess decided in
(14:30):
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 fiance, Derrick Verrett
as well. While the Princess still remains fourth in line
for the throne, behind her brother and his two children,
(14:51):
it's clear through the Royal House of Norway's statement that
they are attempting to put some space between Princess Martha
and drik Verett's 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
(15:14):
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
(15:37):
from her royal duties. The couple clearly establishes their support
for what they call the school of Medicine, with Veretts
adding quote, I am for the school of medicine and
always have been doubt dot dot. However, I do believe
we should always use all available resources for health on
(15:57):
our planet end quote. 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 end quote. So maybe take that pr statement
(16:18):
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
(16:42):
ever since they went public as a couple back in
two thousand nineteen. Today, royal institutions are largely meant to
be symbolic of their country's values. Hence why the late
Queen Elizabeth the Second was seen more as a grandmother
who favored her coregies than any sort of catalyst of
public change. Royals are at their strongest when they are
(17:06):
really not people, when their 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 monarchy no longer has much of any
say in how they govern the day to day lives
(17:28):
of their citizens, it's clear from the royal family's decision
to have Martha Louise stepped 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,
(17:49):
only time will tell if her and her fiance's beliefs
will be able to remain separate from the crown. That
was a quick minisoda on Princess Martha Louise's engagement to
Derrick Verett, but stick around to hear how Verett's shamanism
(18:13):
is reminiscent of another mystic we've covered on this podcast
in articles analyzing their relationship. Verett has been called everything
from a con man to a conspiracy theorist. There are
Reddit threads dedicated to his resemblance to Gregory Resputin, the
(18:37):
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 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
(18:57):
back to our episode on him from earlier, this called
Ra Ra Rasboutine. If you have listened, you'll know the
morally dubious mystic rose to power by praying off the
beliefs of those, primarily the Czarina of Russia, who were
desperate for some sort of higher power to heal them or,
in the case of the Czarina, heal her son's hemophilia. Yes,
(19:21):
remember when Verett went on Instagram Live to plug his
spirit Optimizer as a cure for COVID same candy, different rapper.
But Resputants and Verrett'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
(19:43):
be as popular as they are by being charismatic and
had respued and had the same access to Instagram that
Derrick Verett 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
(20:21):
a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild
from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by me Danish Sports.
Additional writing and researching done by Hannah Johnston, hannah's Wick,
Mirra Hayward, Courtney Sunder and Laurie Goodman. The show is
produced by rema Il Kali, with supervising producer Josh Thane
(20:42):
and executive producers Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick.
For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the I
heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.
Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio
and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey 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
(00:21):
wear my Noble Blood sweatshirt almost every day in my
house and they're 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,
(00:43):
every season we send a new, exclusive designed sticker 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
(01:05):
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
(01:26):
lead a pilgrimage in Cornwall to talk about the novel
Rebecca and Daphne Demurier. 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 they're
incredible experiences. It's called common Ground, the company that runs them.
(01:50):
Google Dani Schwartz, common Ground Rebecca, and it will come up.
It's in August and we're going to Cornwall. The place
is absolutely beautiful. If that's something that interest to you,
you should absolutely look it up and enjoy the podcast.
(02:12):
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
passed 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,
(02:37):
bordering on desperate, in order to grab our limited attention.
Think about out of context celebrity misquotes 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
(02:57):
media diet, it makes sense that we've con shtioned ourselves
to be able to tune out the perpetual barrage of
insanity we find ourselves doomed scrolling through our phones every day.
But even with all that in mind, truly nothing could
have prepared me for the November tenth headline tweeted out
by The New York Times, a headline in which every
(03:20):
clause of the sentence becomes 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 fiance,
an American celebrity shaman who sells a two hundred and
twenty two dollar heeling amulet and has suggested cancer is
(03:43):
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 out of my head. The headline
itself reads more like a Stefn Club from SNL than
it doesn't actual piece of journalism, with as many outlandish
(04:03):
scraps of gossip haphazardly crammed into a meager two character
limit as humanly possible, But incredibly, the clairvoyant princess and
her fiance's two twenty two dollar 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
(04:27):
life with her fiance, Dorik Verrett is like opening a
Pandora's box of increasingly unbelievable snippets of information. Highlights range
from the princess's self proclaimed shaman fiance stating in a
social media post that he is quote a hybrid species
of reptilian and andromeda end quote, to a moment as
(04:49):
recent as June nine of this year, when the couple
went on Instagram live and five minutes in Verett 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
(05:11):
draw a dividing line that more clearly separates commercial activity
from the Royal House of Norway and quote. But with
publications waiving their metaphorical pitchforks at her fiance's controversial medical opinions,
it's enough to make anyone wonder whether quote commercial activity
(05:31):
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,
(05:54):
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
(06:18):
with this 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 Louise's withdrawal from
her royal duties, I feel that her relationship with her
fiance in connection to her royal title, as well as
(06:41):
the Norwegian crowns response to their engagement as a whole,
warrants at least a noble blood minisod, 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.
(07:04):
But when someone with a significant platform and ties to
the Norwegian royal family begins spouting that they refused prescribed
medical treatment for COVID nineteen in favor of their two
d and twenty two dollar healing amulet, which they claimed
to use to quote get the poisons out of their
(07:25):
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
(07:46):
or angels that Princess Martha and her fiance Derick 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 how their
beliefs have harmed vulnerable communities. All Right, with that out
of the way, let's get into it. Long before her
(08:08):
name was ever scattered across tabloid headlines, Princess Martha Louise
was the first child of the then Crown Prince Harald
the fifth and Crown Princess Sonja, born on September twenty two,
seventy one. Like most reigning royal families today, the Norwegian
monarchy is largely a symbolic institution, having established a constitutional
(08:34):
monarchy following the end of the Napoleonic Wars in eighteen fourteen.
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's feelings. On the
website for her spiritual education center, her bio goes more
(08:56):
in depth into her sensitivity, detailing how her word with
horses allowed her to quote make contact with the angels
end quote. Despite the inherent public controversy the statements brought forth,
for the most part, Princess Martha's let's say, extracurricular activities
were largely kept separate from her royal persona. This was
(09:20):
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 three her younger brother,
the Crown Prince Hakun, became the next in line of succession,
(09:41):
even though he was second born. It wouldn't be until
nine 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 require
her presence for charities or social gatherings, her role within
(10:04):
the Norwegian royal family didn't stop her from conducting her
own spiritual practices outside of familial obligations, at least until
two thousand eighteen, when she would be introduced to none
other than the amulet wielding shaman himself, Derrick Verrett. By
(10:25):
the time Direc 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 Verett claims to have
been connected to the spirits from the age of three,
when he says from his crib he could quote see
(10:48):
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 two
(11:12):
thousand sixteen, Verett was 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
(11:34):
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 a one hour private healing sessions for
the humble price of two thousand dollars. Of course, if
(11:55):
you can't afford one of his private healing sessions, Verett
encourages per rusers 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
(12:18):
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
(12:39):
truly wild conspiracy theories that Derk Verita has released into
the world, but ultimately his importance to us today only
begins after his introduction to Martha Louise in two thousand eighteen,
much to the dismay of the Norwegian press. The couple
quickly hit it off, so much so that in the
spring of two thousand nineteen, the couple announced their first
(13:02):
speaking tour together, which was titled The Princess and the Shaman.
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
(13:24):
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 Louisa's use of
her title for her and Verett's business ventures, but their
(13:45):
silence could only last for so long. Following the couple's
engagement this past June, on November eighth, two thousand twenty two,
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
(14:08):
Martha Louise and Derek 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 two thousand nineteen, the Princess decided in
(14:30):
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 fiance, Derrick Verrett
as well. While the Princess still remains fourth in line
for the throne, behind her brother and his two children,
(14:51):
it's clear through the Royal House of Norway's statement that
they are attempting to put some space between Princess Martha
and drik Verett's 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
(15:14):
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
(15:37):
from her royal duties. The couple clearly establishes their support
for what they call the school of Medicine, with Veretts
adding quote, I am for the school of medicine and
always have been doubt dot dot. However, I do believe
we should always use all available resources for health on
(15:57):
our planet end quote. 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 end quote. So maybe take that pr statement
(16:18):
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
(16:42):
ever since they went public as a couple back in
two thousand nineteen. Today, royal institutions are largely meant to
be symbolic of their country's values. Hence why the late
Queen Elizabeth the Second was seen more as a grandmother
who favored her coregies than any sort of catalyst of
public change. Royals are at their strongest when they are
(17:06):
really not people, when their 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 monarchy no longer has much of any
say in how they govern the day to day lives
(17:28):
of their citizens, it's clear from the royal family's decision
to have Martha Louise stepped 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,
(17:49):
only time will tell if her and her fiance's beliefs
will be able to remain separate from the crown. That
was a quick minisoda on Princess Martha Louise's engagement to
Derrick Verett, but stick around to hear how Verett's shamanism
(18:13):
is reminiscent of another mystic we've covered on this podcast
in articles analyzing their relationship. Verett has been called everything
from a con man to a conspiracy theorist. There are
Reddit threads dedicated to his resemblance to Gregory Resputin, the
(18:37):
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 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
(18:57):
back to our episode on him from earlier, this called
Ra Ra Rasboutine. If you have listened, you'll know the
morally dubious mystic rose to power by praying off the
beliefs of those, primarily the Czarina of Russia, who were
desperate for some sort of higher power to heal them or,
in the case of the Czarina, heal her son's hemophilia. Yes,
(19:21):
remember when Verett went on Instagram Live to plug his
spirit Optimizer as a cure for COVID same candy, different rapper.
But Resputants and Verrett'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
(19:43):
be as popular as they are by being charismatic and
had respued and had the same access to Instagram that
Derrick Verett 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
(20:21):
a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild
from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by me Danish Sports.
Additional writing and researching done by Hannah Johnston, hannah's Wick,
Mirra Hayward, Courtney Sunder and Laurie Goodman. The show is
produced by rema Il Kali, with supervising producer Josh Thane
(20:42):
and executive producers Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick.
For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the I
heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.
Host
Dana Schwartz
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