The Royal Rift Everyone's Whispering About (And I'm Not Talking About Harry and William)

The tensions between Prince Harry, his brother, Prince William, and father, King Charles, are well known (even if things might have thawed slightly with Harry's visit to the U.K. earlier this month). But across the North Sea, another royal rift is quietly making headlines, and it’s every bit as intriguing.

Norway’s Princess Märtha Louise, the daughter of King Harald V, married American shaman Durek Verrett in the summer of 2024, a move that was deemed controversial by many members of the Norwegian public and royal family, according to Vogue. The couple documented the lead-up to their wedding in Rebel Royals: An Unlikely Love Story, a documentary that premiered on Netflix on September 19.

The 100-minute show has divided critics and viewers, with The Guardian writing: “She is Norwegian royalty. He is Gwyneth Paltrow’s healer. Now, the tale of their shocking marriage is shared in this shallow, gushing documentary.”

At the time, the nuptials drew criticism partly because of Verrett's past (he has been accused of promoting pseudoscience including selling a medallion during the pandemic that he alleged could ward off COVID-19), but also because the couple broke royal protocol by not sharing images of their wedding to news outlets at no cost (they instead chose to sell their photos to one outlet exclusively).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it seems like the royal family are also not big fans of the doc, per Hello!. In a rare public statement, the Norwegian Royal House said: “The Royal House wants a clearer distinction between the activities of Princess Märtha Louise and Durek Verrett and the Royal House. This will be the topic of the conversations we will have in the future.”

The princess stepped down from royal duties in 2022, but according to the outlet, there may be concerns that she had breached her agreement with the royal family over her commercial activities.

And that's not all—King Harald, 88, also recently spoke about the documentary. While answering questions from the press as he visited the World Wildlife Fund's premises in Oslo on Thursday, the monarch said: "We have to live on, so we will try to do something about this, through talks. We will continue the talks with them. I think they are more in line with us than it seems," he said, according to Se og Hør.

It seems as though the British royals aren't the only ones with their fair share of drama.