Most jaw-dropping moments from Netflix’s Rebel Royals: An Unlikely Love Story

From the outset, Durek introduces himself as a sixth-generation shaman who communicates with energies from the spirit world. His practices range from ringing bells over Zoom to guiding former ITV host Eamonn Holmes through yawns and coughs to “release” bad energy.

At one point, he even addresses the “Council members” on camera and asks them, “Can you release these energies from my mouth and throat?” – before letting out a moan that morphs into a scream. As one baffled journalist puts it: “I don’t understand what this guy does, but he does it.” Some people totally get it, though – including Hollywood names like Gwyneth Paltrow and Glenn Powell.

Angelina Verrett, Durek’s sister, recalls: “He’s always been different. When we were young, he’d talk to the crows. He’d call these birds and I’ll never forget, they all would come.”

Durek admits his powers terrified him when he was young, until a near-death experience in hospital gave him clarity: “It became obviously clear, I have to be the person I was born to be.”

He’s equally candid about his sexuality: “I don’t see myself as straight or gay. Doesn’t matter if it’s a male or a female – or it could be another being from another planet, as far as I’m concerned. It’s about the energy that they exude.” 

While I can’t be sure he isn’t leaving the door open for aliens, his sentiment is clear: he falls in love with energies, not genders – which is why he fell for Märtha.

For me, the press response to Durek is one of the most shocking parts of this documentary. As the first Black man to marry into a European royal family, he explains how he faced extraordinary scrutiny. “The press doesn’t like me,” he admits. “They don’t want a bisexual Black man marrying their princess,” Durek says.

He recalls being chased by cameras the moment he landed in Norway, receiving racist abuse and even death threats. At one dinner at the palace, he was even asked how it felt knowing the portraits on the walls depicted those who had enslaved his ancestors: “Who says that?” he asks – and I couldn’t agree more.

Märtha adds: “Because he’s a shaman, people say that he is dangerous for the royal family, and that I’m brainwashed.” She explains she’s endured press harassment her whole life – a pressure that extended to her ex-husband, Ari Behn, who tragically took his own life on Christmas Day in 2019.

For her parents, King Harald and Queen Sonja, it has also been a balancing act. “They support me,” Märtha says, “but it’s a really fine line – how to balance it all with the press.”

Durek compares his situation to Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. “It was only when Harry and Meghan went into the press with Oprah did I get a message from the King saying, ‘Do you feel that we treated you the same way?'” After Durek said yes, the family had a discussion to try to resolve it.

Despite her royal roots, Märtha is also deeply spiritual. She previously founded an “angel school” – or “spiritual centre” – where she and others communicated with angels. Durek describes her as both psychic and intuitive, even joking that her “witchy” family felt like “walking into Harry Potter land.”

When Märtha first met Durek, she was wearing a raven T-shirt – which Durek recognised as his spirit animal and recalled: “I saw my past life in Egypt. And I saw myself on a throne and she was standing next to me and she’s like, ‘I found you my love.'” 

Between intense spiritual practices, Durek says he has multiple people living inside of him. “I have a little boy inside. I have a woman. I have a diva,” he says. 

There’s a hilarious moment when Märtha stands in the rain while Durek spins around in the background playing dizzy dinosaurs with his umbrella – clearly, his inner child was taking charge that day!

“My thing is, I’m a Scorpio male – so I’m all about how people are going to feel, like what’s the vibe gonna be. And sometimes, I have a diva that comes out. Let’s be real about that,” says Durek. 

The film then cuts to him saying: “Do we have someone to do my make-up? Because I want my pictures to look popping. And then can we go zip lining?”

The couple announced their relationship on Instagram without consulting anyone – which was a breach of royal protocol. One team member recalls telling them: “You guys can’t just announce things and not tell anyone!”

Eight months into their relationship, Durtek was introduced to the King and Queen and was told by Märtha to “be himself”… so he arrived in a kimono and cowboy boots. 

“I had no idea that I’m supposed to wear a suit because I thought I could be myself, as Märtha explained,” said Durek. “And that wasn’t the case obviously, because they hated my clothes. I mean, pretty much everything I did was wrong. And they would always let Märtha know that I was wrong.” 

Märtha and Durek’s shared spirituality only intensifies as the documentary goes on. When planning their wedding, Durek explains they consulted the spirit world to choose the date – August 31st, “when Virgo and Scorpio merge with Venus.” At this point, they’re filmed sitting opposite each other – eyes closed, connecting to the spirit world. Nothing says true love like scheduling your big day around Venus…

Clearly, timing was crucial – so when they’re told the ceremony has to be at three, Durek protests: “But what about what the astrologer told us? That we have to do it between a certain amount of time. One and two o’clock… Okay, I have to get new coordinates then.” 

One of the starkest contrasts between Durek and Norway’s royals is his lack of “Janteloven” – a Norwegian cultural code stressing modesty and humility. Norwegians are told: “You’re not to think you are anything special. You’re not to imagine yourself better than we are… You’re not to think anyone cares about you.”

Durek, meanwhile, cheerfully admits: “I have a huge, super huge, ego,” and “I am the fashion police. If I had it my way, I would run around the world fixing everyone’s clothes because sometimes I think people really need to not step outside with the clothes that they’re wearing.”

When he tries on sunglasses and asks his stylist what they think, they say “bigger please” – to which Durek replies: ‘Yeah, I know. It has to be more flashy.’

The documentary doesn’t shy away from controversies surrounding the couple, which surfaced ahead of their wedding. Old podcast clips showed Durek claiming he was “part reptilian” and “from Andromeda”, as well as divulging intimate things about his and Märtha’s sex life.

Meanwhile, other headlines revisited his sale of “Spirit Optimiser” medallions during the Covid pandemic, which he claimed could “bring high levels of light intelligence”.

A leaked voice note allegedly from Durek to a former friend added further controversial complications – though Durek strongly denies any sexual misconduct and is pursuing legal action against the tabloid.

“Yeah, I made mistakes – but they were digging everything they could trying to attack me from all angles,” said Durek. 

Ultimately, the pressure and media scrutiny led Märtha to step back from official royal duties – and to help fund the wedding, she and Durek sold exclusive photo rights to HELLO! magazine.

“I think a lot of Norwegians were disappointed about her earning money off her marriage from a celebrity magazine,” one journalist says. “It was a bit shocking because it’s so not what we have done before. It’s not how Norwegian society works. And this is not how we usually see our royals.’