Engagement of Princess Märtha Louise and Durek Verrett: June 7, 2022

[iceflower]

The Palace has announced today, June 7, that Princess Märtha Louise and Durek Verrett got engaged:


** Engagement photo **


Princess Märtha Louise's comment on her instagram account:

I am so happy to announce that I am engaged to Shaman Durek, the one who makes my heart skip, the one who sees me and acknowledges me from my highest potential, who makes me laugh and who I can be vulnerable with. Love transcends and makes us grow. And I am so happy to continue to grow with this beautiful man.
Thank you to all my friends and family who have stood steadfast by our side and special thanks to @hegecfossum and @stargatemusic for your generosity and making our day truly special.

** kongehuset: Gratulasjoner i anledning forlovelsen **

Congratulations on the engagement

Princess Märtha Louise and Durek Verrett have today announced their engagement. On that occasion, the King and Queen and the Crown Prince's family have the following greetings.

Greetings from the King and Queen

His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen send their most heartfelt congratulations to Princess Märtha Louise and Durek Verrett on the occasion of their engagement, and wish them all the best for the future.

Greetings from the Crown Prince's family

The Crown Prince's family sends Princess Märtha Louise and Durek Verrett warm congratulations on the occasion of their engagement. They wish the whole family all the best for the future.

07.06.2022

[Princess Luna]

So happy for them

[Blog Real]

Congratulations to the couple.

Will they live in Norway?

[eya]

Not surprise. Congratulations to the couple!!!


Durek:

"She said YES!
When you know you know. There is nothing better than having clarity as a man that the woman that stands in front of you is the one. I'm overjoyed with tears that I get to spend the rest of my life with the most pure hearted, angelic, wise, powerhouse woman who represents all levels of a goddess in my eyes. Together as a soulful spiritual couple, we will use our power to support the people to create a world based in love and acceptance. Changing the world through our love. Love expands beyond all barriers and conditions. Love is free and transparent. It invites growth and foundation. It shows human beings we are more than our fears, our hate or social conditioning. Princess Märtha Louise is the love of my life. She sees all aspects of me, and I see all of her. I am a guy who loves a girl who loves me back. I get to show and demonstrate to this divine woman how much I love her for the rest of my life. I am the happiest I ever been.

Thank you to my beloved family and friends. I love you!"

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cef3oOyLJPW/

[SLV]

Congratulations to the happy couple.

[Somebody]

Congratulations from the family but no word about permission which I assume she needs to remain in the line of succession.

[angieuk]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...man-Durek.html

https://royalcentral.co.uk/europe/no...gement-177801/

At the end of the day, life is too short. If she has a second chance of happiness; then embrace it. I hope they have a lovely wedding, with lots of family and friends. At least he won't have the heavy burden of having to carry out royal duties marrying into a royal family; unlike royal brides.

[Biri]

Congratulations to the couple.

[rominet09]

I saw it coming, I wish them a lot of happiness.

[Tatiana Maria]

The engagement photo is lovely, and the messages of the couple are very personal and evocative, demonstrating how their shared spiritual outlook and unique career paths have contributed to their bond.

It was thoughtful of the Crown Prince Couple to wish the "whole family" well, as the princess and Mr. Verrett's lifelong commitment will play an important part in her daughters' lives.

It is interesting that the official engagement announcement was given by the couple themselves, instead of being addressed in the King's name, which was apparently the approach taken for the princess's first engagement in 2001 to Ari Behn and remains the tradition in European royal families. Of course, the less conventional format this time around might simply be because Princess Märtha Louise is now older and more independently established than most royal brides/grooms.

Originally Posted by angieuk

At least he won't have the heavy burden of having to carry out royal duties marrying into a royal family; unlike royal brides.

The King regulates the duties of members of the Royal Family. In Ari Behn's case, his engagement to Princess Märtha Louise was announced on December 13, 2001 but the royal court did not address his future duties at the time. It wasn't until January 10, 2002 (after Mr. Behn had made controversial comments which were viewed as meddling in politics) that the King issued a statement that Ari Behn would not represent the royal family and would "only seldom accompany the princess at official functions".

I don't know if the King differentiates between royal brides and royal grooms. It would not be fair to compare the treatment of Ari Behn or Durek Verrett to the treatment of Mette-Marit, as the latter married a Crown Prince whereas Ari and Durek married/are marrying a non-member of the Royal House.

[Princess Luna]

Originally Posted by Blog Real

Congratulations to the couple.

Will they live in Norway?

ML has said she will never sell here house in Norway. And they have not decided yet where they are going to live.

[wartenberg7]

I guess they have made this announcement so shortly before Pcss Ingrid´s official coming-of-age celebrations so that they can appear at the festivities at the end of next week together.

[travelguy]

Congratulations to them (:

[Muhler]

They will complement each other fine, I'm sure. - And their threads here on TRF will be alive and well for a long time yet...

[Tatiana Maria]

I wonder if the timing of the couple's announcement might have caught the Palace by surprise. The short congratulatory messages (refer to the link and translations in the OP) are prominently placed on the front page of the official website at kongehuset.no, yet there is no detailed press release about the engagement, couple, wedding plans, and so on from the palace. And, if I'm not mistaken, the photograph accompanying the congratulations is an old one.

Originally Posted by wartenberg7

I guess they have made this announcement so shortly before Pcss Ingrid´s official coming-of-age celebrations so that they can appear at the festivities at the end of next week together.

Interesting observation. Would there have been an invitation for Durek Verrett in the absence of a formal engagement? He was not present, and reportedly not invited, at Princess Ingrid Alexandra's confirmation (even as her brother's then partner Juliane Snekkestad attended as an official member of her maternal family). Nor was he present at any other public official or family events up to now, correct?

[Mbruno]

Although ML is not an HRH, she is still a Princess of the Royal House in the sense of the Norwegian Constitution as a person in the line of succession. So should we assume that her marriage has been consented to by the King, or is she relinquishing her succession rights?

I don’t know either how the consent to royal marriages is declared in Norway. Does it also have to be declared in a Council of State like in Denmark?

[Tatiana Maria]

Originally Posted by Somebody

Congratulations from the family but no word about permission which I assume she needs to remain in the line of succession.

Somebody refers to Article 36 in the Constitution:

https://lovdata.no/dokument/NLE/lov/1814-05-17

Article 36

A Prince or Princess entitled to succeed to the Crown of Norway may not marry without the consent of the King. Nor may he or she accept any other crown or government without the consent of the King and the Storting. For the consent of the Storting two thirds of the votes are required.

If he or she acts contrary to this rule, they and their descendants forfeit their right to the throne of Norway.

Originally Posted by Mbruno

I don’t know either how the consent to royal marriages is declared in Norway. Does it also have to be declared in a Council of State like in Denmark?

The general principle regarding references to "King" in the text of the Constitution is explained on the website of the Royal House as follows:

When the Constitution states that: “the executive power is vested in the King”, this now means that it is vested in the Government.

https://www.royalcourt.no/seksjon.ht...7679&sek=27258

What complicates this is that as Royal Norway discussed in another thread, when Crown Prince Haakon became engaged to Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby, King Harald V asserted that "King" in Article 36 should (contrary to the meaning imputed to it in every other article of the Constitution) be read as denoting the personal approval of the King, without the need for approval from the Government.

Originally Posted by ROYAL NORWAY

To those who are interested, here's some information about it:

Haakon has said in interviews that when he told his parents about MM's past, the King said, "Is it more?" To which Haakon replied "no" - and the King said that "Dette klarer vi!" (''We'll manage this!'')

And then to the constitutional stuff:

According to the then Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg, the King called him to the palace before the engagement - and informed him that Haakon wanted to marry MM.
He told the PM that he knew about Article 36 in the Constitution, which states: [...]

He explained that he understood that when the word "King" is written in the Constitution, it had to be interpreted as "the King in Council of State'' (which, today, means the government).

But after that, the King said the following: ''Men akkurat når det gjelder denne paragrafen om at kongen må godkjenne kronprinsens ekteskap, vil jeg mene at kongen faktisk er kongen, det vil si meg – og ikke deg''.
("But just when it comes to this Article about that the King must approve the Crown Prince's marriage, I would think that the King is actually the King, that means me - and not you.")

And then it was done, neither Stoltenberg nor any other prime minister could do anything about it.

Thus, if King Harald V intends to honor the reading of the constitution which he championed in 2000, he must accept full responsibility for approving (or not) this marriage, and not shift the burden to the Government.

However, a comment from the Royal Court's spokeswoman over a year ago implied that the King was in fact reluctant to assume the responsibility for the decision in the case of his daughter's remarriage. According to a comment from Norwegian historian Trond Norén Isaksen on his official Facebook page in November 2020:

"In a comment to the broadcaster NRK, the royal court spokeswomen, Guri Varpe, says that the King and Queen do not decide whom the Princess should marry and that this is solely up to her (however, she neglects to mention that Article 36 of the Constitution actually says that a prince or princess who is in the order of succession cannot marry without the King's permission)."

[Heavs]

Well it's definitely not a surprise given that the future groom told us he was going to propose two years ago. Good luck to them.

Originally Posted by angieuk

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...man-Durek.html

https://royalcentral.co.uk/europe/no...gement-177801/

At the end of the day, life is too short. If she has a second chance of happiness; then embrace it. I hope they have a lovely wedding, with lots of family and friends. At least he won't have the heavy burden of having to carry out royal duties marrying into a royal family; unlike royal brides.

Well Martha herself doesn't carry out any royal duties and doesn't have an HRH anymore, so there was never any chance of that.

[Mbruno]

Originally Posted by Tatiana Maria

Somebody refers to Article 36 in the Constitution:

https://lovdata.no/dokument/NLE/lov/1814-05-17

Article 36

A Prince or Princess entitled to succeed to the Crown of Norway may not marry without the consent of the King. Nor may he or she accept any other crown or government without the consent of the King and the Storting. For the consent of the Storting two thirds of the votes are required.

If he or she acts contrary to this rule, they and their descendants forfeit their right to the throne of Norway.

The general principle regarding references to "King" in the text of the Constitution is explained on the website of the Royal House as follows:

When the Constitution states that: “the executive power is vested in the King”, this now means that it is vested in the Government.

https://www.royalcourt.no/seksjon.ht...7679&sek=27258

What complicates this is that as Royal Norway discussed in another thread, when Crown Prince Haakon became engaged to Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby, King Harald V asserted that "King" in Article 36 should (contrary to the meaning imputed to it in every other article of the Constitution) be read as denoting the personal approval of the King, without the need for approval from the Government.





Thus, if King Harald V intends to honor the reading of the constitution which he championed in 2000, he must accept full responsibility for approving (or not) this marriage, and not shift the burden to the Government.

However, a comment from the Royal Court's spokeswoman over a year ago implied that the King was in fact reluctant to assume the responsibility for the decision in the case of his daughter's remarriage. According to a comment from Norwegian historian Trond Norén Isaksen on his official Facebook page in November 2020:

"In a comment to the broadcaster NRK, the royal court spokeswomen, Guri Varpe, says that the King and Queen do not decide whom the Princess should marry and that this is solely up to her (however, she neglects to mention that Article 36 of the Constitution actually says that a prince or princess who is in the order of succession cannot marry without the King's permission)."

Thank you for your clear explanation. I got late into the discussion as I don’t normally follow the Norwegian forums and had not seen the previous posts by Royal Norwegian and others.

I must say I am surprised that the PM agreed with the King’s interpretation in 2000, but it will be interesting to see how His Majesty handles the issue this time.

Perhaps it would be better for everybody if ML left the line of succession even though she is unlikely to succeed. But, if the King personally refuses consent to the marriage, it will draw personal animosity from his daughter against him, which is something that he probably doesn’t want. On the other hand, if the decision were left to the government as the King in Council, I am not sure either that they would necessarily object to the marriage, especially considering that ML is not in direct line.

[Prinsara]

Given the announcement of the engagement in all official channels and the "most heartfelt congratulations" from the Palace, I think we are supposed to assume Harald has consented, rather than that Märtha Louise and her daughters will be leaving the line of succession and that's just going to be announced later. But who knows?

It is strange there is no mention anywhere of "His Majesty's consent", though.