I feel like we should have a little Märtha Louise primer now, just in case she's not on your royal radar. She should be, by the way: the lady herself might just be zanier than all her fashion choices combined.
She's somewhere around 70th in line to the British throne, but she's got the hat sense to be higher.
Princess Märtha Louise is the oldest child of King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway. When she was born, women weren't given spots in the line of succession, so her younger brother Haakon became the heir to the throne. (The law was changed in 1990, and Märtha is now in the line after her brother and his kids.) She's married to writer Ari Behn, and they have three daughters: Maud Angelica, Leah Isadora, and Emma Tallulah.
She has a purse with her husband's face on it. Norwegians, correct me if I'm wrong: it says something about how handsome he is.
She's always been an interesting one, and I'm not just talking about her fashion sense. She's a storyteller that performs fairytales and the like, an author and editor, and a self-proclaimed clairvoyant that can communicate with angels, animals, and the dead. And she can teach you to do the same: she and her business partner run a school dealing with angel communication, alternative healing, and so forth. She's also co-author of the book Meet Your Guardian Angel.
I should be most disturbed by the cloud suit (is that how the angels find her?), but the right outfit bothers me most: she wore it to Christmas church service!
Despite the fact that she gave up her HRH designation when she married so that she could pursue her business interests with more freedom, she still catches a lot of flack for using her Princess title while out on the promotional round. And, you know, just for the...um...angelic nature of her dealings.
Colorful evening gown adventures, and a modern Norwegian's take on Gone With The Wind
She carries that same alternative spirit right through to her outfits. Not everything she wears is designed to raise eyebrows, mind you (her wedding gown earned itself an honorable mention on my Top 10 list of favorites); but when she really lets loose...well, the outcome is interesting to say the least.
She's at her most entertaining when she ventures into costume territory. She likes to wear her messages loud and proud: at her brother's wedding (above left), she opted for bedazzled hearts. At her own pre-wedding festivites (above center), she had a message written right down her front: "when they met, every moment became an eternity, and every eternal moment embraced a glimpse of their love." But the ultimate has to be the one that landed her a spot on my list of the Top 10 Worst Dressed Royal Wedding Guests: the cartoonish yellow and red concoction worn to Felipe and Letizia's wedding. At least she's having fun with it, right?
What's your favorite Märtha Louise outfit?
Photos: Corbis/Life/TRF/Scanpix