NEWS ANALYSIS: A verbal assault on Norway\u2019s King Harald V, broadcast internationally by his new American son-in-law Durek Verrett, has set off public uproar among Norwegians. Protests have come from both monarchists and those favouring a republic, and set off calls for the king to strip Verrett\u2019s wife, Princess Martha Louise, of her royal title.<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s been an unusually rough week<\/strong> for Norway\u2019s otherwise popular royal family. Not only did Verrett, in a new Neftlix documentary, unleash a litany of complaints about his entry into the family<\/a>, his wife nodded as he spoke and seemed to condone them. Then came news that Crown Princess Mette-Marit, already dealing with the criminal drama<\/a> around her son, will be heading off on sick leave again in connection with her chronic lung disease. That came amidst reports that her son\u2019s upcoming trial on charges of rape, vandalism and other forms of violence<\/a> may be carried out behind closed doors, out of consideration to his alleged victims.<\/p>\n Norwegians could only wonder how all of this is affecting the 88-year-old King Harald and Queen Sonja, also 88. The king carried on with official duties on Sunday, appearing at the 850-year anniversary of Nesodden Church just across the fjord from Oslo, but he refused to take any questions.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also been little specific response from the Royal Palace to Verrett\u2019s allegations that neither the king, the queen nor Crown Prince Haakon \u201cknew what racism is\u201d when he first met the family in 2019. Verrett, a self-professed shaman and alternative healer who married Martha Louise last year, has been subjected to racial comments on social media and complains in the new Netflix documentary that no one in the royal family helped him find his place.<\/p>\n King Harald has referred to various criticism of Verrett as being tied to a \u201cculture clash,\u201d but Verrett claims that didn\u2019t help him or satisfy his professed needs for assistance in adapting to life in Norway. Martha Louise had told him to \u201cjust be yourself,\u201d Verrett says in the documentary, but that didn\u2019t help. When he turned up at the palace in Oslo to meet the royal couple, wearing a kimono and cowboy boots, he claims the royal couple simply stared at him. \u201cThey didn\u2019t like my clothes,\u201d he says in the documentary.<\/p>\n What Netflix doesn\u2019t report is how King Harald and Queen Sonja have for years been advocates of openness, acceptance of and assistance for immigrants, and pride in the multicultural society that Norway has become over the past several decades. King Harald was a war refugee himself, growing up in exile in the US while Norway was occupied by Nazi German forces. He has officially apologized to various ethnic- and minority groups in Norway for poor treatment they have received, he has attended religious events in both synagogues and mosques, and both he and Queen Sonja have visited many asylum centers and other organizations for the disadvantaged.<\/p>\n King Harald is perhaps best known,<\/strong> however, for a speech he delivered<\/a> on the occasion of his 25th year as Norway\u2019s monarch in 2016. In it, he shattered the stereotype of Norwegian ethnicity, stressing instead how many Norwegians now have multi-cultural heritage, various ethnic and religious background and sexual orientation. None of that came out in the Netflix documentary, which many Norwegians have branded as lacking any historical perspective.<\/p>\n The king\u2019s speech at the time also endeared him to the thousands of Norwegians who were born outside of Norway or whose parents were. They were rushing to his defense this past week, especially during Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK)\u2019s national broadcast debate program Debatten<\/em>. \u201cThere are few people I\u2019ve met who are more inclusive than King Harald and Queen Sonja,\u201d said Abid Raja, an author, lawyer and Member of Parliament for the Liberal Party whose family comes from Pakistan. He was clearly furious with Verrett\u2019s complaints about King Harald, urging him to \u201cshape up\u201d and \u201cjoin the battle against racism that\u2019s real.\u201d Raja went on to scold Verrett for not being better informed about his own in-laws and what they\u2019ve done to promote integration and inclusion: \u201cStop putting down our king!\u201d<\/p>\n Many other leaders of various affirmative action groups also raved about King Harald and how much he\u2019s done to advance integration and bring people together in Norway. Umar Ashraf, leader of the Anti-racism Center in Oslo, noted that King Harald has taken the challenges of ethnic diversity seriously \u201cto the highest degree,\u201d while Aili Keskitalo, former president of the Sami Parliament in Northern Norway, spoke of how King Harald has engaged himself in Sami issues. He also invited Sami demonstrators, for example, to a meeting at the Royal Palace<\/a> after they\u2019d been protesting in the streets of Oslo for days on end over the government\u2019s failure to recognize their objections to wind turbines in reindeer grazing areas.<\/p>\n Netflix didn\u2019t mention the reasons for much of the criticism<\/strong> of Verrett, for example when he claimed that a medallion he sells on his website helped him recover from Covid, and the controversy that arose over some of his views on cancer causes and treatment. There was no mention of how several health-related organizations in Norway no longer wanted to have ties to Princess Martha Louise, because of conflicts with her own alternative approach to health issues. Verrett and Martha Louise both complained so much in the documentary that critics have charged them with taking on the roles of victims despite all the privileges they\u2019ve enjoyed because of her position in the royal family.<\/p>\n It was Verrett, meanwhile, who claims to have wanted a big \u201croyal wedding\u201d last year, to which the couple sold photo rights to the celebrity magazine Hello!<\/em> and to Netflix, and banned both Norwegian and international media from taking their own photos or attending the wedding ceremony. That clearly disturbed King Harald, who responded by disallowing any photos of royal family members from being taken by Hello!<\/em> or Netflix at the wedding if the rest of the media wasn\u2019t allowed the same access.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsinenglish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_9491-e1758458833339.jpg\")
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