Princess Märtha Louise announced her relationship with Mr Verrett with an Instagram post in 2019. Perhaps hoping to pre-empt potential criticism, she wrote: “To those of you who feel the need to criticise: Hold your horses. It is not up to you to choose for me or to judge me. Shaman Durek is merely a man I love spending my time with and who fulfils me.”

However, many Norwegians have not yet fully accepted Mr Verrett. “They think he has said very strange things and there are many cultural differences,” said royal correspondent for Norway’s NRK TV Kristi Marie Skrede. ”Many people here are very critical of what Mr Verrett says and does in his role as a shaman.”

Despite the couple’s spiritual beliefs, this weekend’s wedding ceremony will follow a more traditional canon, with Parish Priest Margit Lovise Holte officiating according to the Norwegian Church’s wedding liturgy.

When the engagement was first announced, Norway’s state broadcaster NRK reported Mr Verrett would move to Norway and join the royal family without holding a title. He and Märtha Louise have now reportedly bought a house in Norway.

In 2022, the Norwegian palace announced Märtha Louise would relinquish her patronage role  as she and Mr Verrett sought to “distinguish more clearly between their activities and the Royal House of Norway” and to “prevent misunderstandings regarding the Royal House”.

It added that King Harald had decided she would keep her title but that the princess would not use it in her commercial endeavours.

At the time, King Harald told Norwegian reporters that Mr Verrett was “a great guy” and that the two of them “laughed a lot, even in this difficult time. I think both we and he have gained a greater understanding of what this is about, and we’ve agreed to disagree.”

However, over the summer Märtha Louise came under fire after her name and royal title appeared on the label of a commemorative wedding gin created to mark her nuptials.

Ms Skrede said many Norwegians are “tired of this behaviour”, which some feel shows the princess “disrespects” her father. Beloved King Harald, 88, ascended to the throne in 1991 and is one of Europe’s longest-serving monarchs. In April, plans were announced to reduce his public engagements “out of consideration for his age”.

Locals are also upset that Norwegian media is excluded from covering the wedding as the couple has signed deals with Hello! magazine for exclusive coverage. “This means the public won’t know or see anything about it unless they buy the magazine,” Ms Skrede said.

On Wednesday, it was also revealed that the couple has been working with Netflix for a year on what the streaming giant called an “in-depth and moving documentary” on their relationship.

“We’re going more global and there’s nothing more powerful than the love that fuels us,” Mr Verrett wrote on Instagram.

Princess Märtha Louise is King Harald’s eldest child and fourth in line to the throne. Her younger brother, Crown Prince Haakon, will succeed his father as king.

(BBC)