Princess Märtha Louise of Norway

Princess Märtha Louise of Norway (born 22 September 1971) is a member of the Norwegian royal family, a businesswoman and a self-described clairvoyant.

Märtha Louise is the elder child and only daughter of King Harald V and Queen Sonja.

She is fourth in the line of succession to the Norwegian throne, after her younger brother Haakon and his children, but is not a member of the royal house.

Like her aunts Ragnhild and Astrid, she had no inheritance rights to the Norwegian throne at the time of her birth due to Norway's agnatic primogeniture succession.

Princess Märtha Louise was born on 22 September 1971 at The National Hospital the Oslo University Hospital in Oslo, to the then Crown Prince Harald and Crown Princess Sonja.

Princess Märtha Louise was named after her late paternal grandmother and great-great-grandmother.

Females born between 1971 and 1990 (i.e. only Märtha Louise), were given succession rights, but their brothers would be before them in the line of succession, meaning that Prince Haakon still took precedence over Märtha Louise in the line of succession.

After the births of her brother's two children, Ingrid Alexandra and Sverre Magnus, Märtha Louise was relegated to fourth in line.

Princess Märtha Louise is a certified physiotherapist, following education in Oslo and internship in Maastricht, the Netherlands.

She has not practised her profession, however, choosing instead, from her fascination in traditional Norwegian folk tales as well as a love of music, to establish her own commercial entertainment business based on giving public and televised performances reciting folk tales and singing with well-known Norwegian choirs.

In 1973, Märtha Louise's younger brother, Haakon Magnus, was born.

This only changed in 1990, when the Norwegian parliament adopted male-preference primogeniture succession for those born before 1990, which made Märtha Louise third in line at the time, after her brother.

Märtha Louise is active as a private businesswoman and alternative therapist, and does not carry out official engagements on behalf of the royal house.

At birth, she was not in line to the throne, because until 1990, only males could inherit the Norwegian throne.

She was baptized a few months after her birth.

Her godparents are King Olav V of Norway, Princess Margaretha of Sweden, Count Flemming of Rosenborg, Princess Ragnhild of Norway, Dagny Haraldsen, Haakon Haraldsen, Nils Jørgen Astrup and Ilmi Riddervold.

In 1990 the Norwegian constitution was altered, granting full cognatic primogeniture to the Norwegian throne, meaning that the eldest child, regardless of sex, takes precedence in the line of succession.

This change only affects those born in 1990 or later.

She was married to the late writer and visual artist Ari Behn from 2002 to 2017.

As part of her withdrawal into private professional life, Märtha Louise lost the style "Royal Highness" in 2002; the lower style "Highness" is occasionally used informally.

On 1 January 2002, Princess Märtha Louise started her own business, in order to work with more freedom from her constitutional role as a princess.

She began paying income tax, and the King, after consulting her, issued a royal edict which removed Princess Märtha Louise's style of Royal Highness (she is conventionally accorded the lesser style Highness abroad, although this style has no legal standing in Norway).

However, she retains her place in the line of succession, and though her activities were reduced, she still carries out some public duties on behalf of the King.

In December 2003, she took part in Oslo Gospel Choir's Christmas concert with a solo performance, included on the companion CD album.

After several postponements due to family births and her father's illness, during which the princess took on some representation duties, Princess Märtha Louise and her husband moved to New York City in October 2004.

In 2004, her first book, a children's story about the first royal family of Norway was released – Why Kings and Queens Don't Wear Crowns.

Accompanying the book is a CD version of the Princess reading her story aloud.

Princess Märtha Louise has studied physiotherapy, trained as a Rosen therapist and studied at an academy for holistic medicine.

She claims she can communicate with animals and angels and started her own alternative therapy center named Astarte Education, after one of the oldest goddesses in the Middle East.

Astarte Education offered a three-year course on healing, readings, and angels.

The princess drew criticism in Norway after the announcement that she would start Astarte Education.

The newspaper Bergens Tidende called for her to give up her royal titles.

Norwegian state director of Health Lars E. Hanssen, Norwegian alternative medicine advocate Dr. Bernt Rognlien, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), religious historian Asbjørn Dyrendal and University of Oslo theology professor Inge Lønning all expressed misgivings about the princess's plans.

Swedish author Jan Guillou questioned the princess's mental health.

From 2007 to 2018 she led her own alternative therapy center, commonly known in Norway as the "angel school" (engleskolen), which focused on clairvoyance and communication with angels and communication with the dead.

On 11 August 2007, Märtha Louise defended the school on NRK, the Norwegian public service television network.

In the interview, she regarded her relationship with angels as "creatures of light, which gave her a feeling of a strong presence and a strong and loving support."

In May 2019, she publicly announced her romantic relationship and professional collaboration with Durek Verrett, a conspiracy theorist and self-described shaman who has served time in prison and who has been characterized by Norwegian media and other critics as a conman.

She has often faced criticism in Norway for her claims of being clairvoyant and for exploiting her constitutional title as princess commercially; in 2019, the royal court announced that she will no longer use the title princess in her business activities as a clairvoyant.

In 2022, she relinquished her remaining royal duties to concentrate on alternative medicine.