Royal marriage rumpus hits Norway

Norwegian Princess Martha Louise, and her fiance Ari Behn

OSLO, Norway -- Norway is preparing for a royal wedding that will be the reverse of events depicted in most traditional fairy tales.

Instead of the commoner winning the heart of the princess and his place among royals, the country's Princess Martha Louise is to surrender some of her royal privileges to live more or less as a commoner with the man she loves.

The 30-year-old daughter of King Harald V and Queen Sonja will marry Ari Behn, a former bartender and controversial writer, on Friday at Trondheim Cathedral, about 185 miles north of the capital.

Last August the princess' younger brother, Crown Prince Haakon, married the single mother and former part-time waitress Crown Princess Mette-Marit.

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Norway's royals rode out the initial public disapproval over the crown prince's choice, but the latest romance has proved more unpopular.

Behn, whose other previous employment includes being a warehouse worker and daycare assistant, has come in for criticism for being pictured last year with Los Angeles prostitutes who were taking cocaine during his latest job making television documentaries.

At the time, Behn said he was reporting on, not endorsing, their lifestyle.

"He's really not that bad," Martha Louise told the Norwegian television network NRK last week.

The Danish-born Behn was also attacked for making a documentary from the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where he told Taliban supporters on camera he did not support the U.S.-led strikes on Afghanistan.

A 90-page book he wrote received mixed reviews.

Media coverage of Behn is so negative that the couple has stopped reading the papers, The Associated Press reported on Wednesday.

Behn was reported by AP as saying: "When there is a storm around us and a lot of opinions, what we have together is the most important and that gives me strength.

"I can't relate to all the opinions there are about me personally."

The couple will be wed at the Trondheim Cathedral, about 300 kilometres (185 miles) north of the capital.

The princess will arrive at the church in a horse-drawn carriage and will be given away by her father King Harald V in a ceremony attended by Europe's royals.

She said: "We're keeping a tradition going," when asked about an opinion poll this week indicating that her choice of partner was denting support for the monarchy.

Prince Haakon caused a stir when he married a single mother

"And tradition says that it will work out."

A survey in the daily Dagbladet on Monday indicated that 43 percent of Norwegians felt that Haakon's and Martha's choices of partners had undercut support for the royals. Just nine percent believed it had been strengthened.

Only 10 percent rated Behn a good role model for the young.

Martha' father, King Harald, broke with royal tradition in 1968 and married commoner Sonja Haraldsen.

Her great-grandfather, King Olav, also stirred controversy by marrying Princess Martha of Sweden in 1929 -- barely two decades after Norway won independence from neighbouring Sweden in 1905.

Martha Louise, who is personally popular among Norwegians, gave up her 'royal highness' status earlier this year as well as her royal allowance to pursue her career in the media.