OSLO (AFP) — Princess Martha Louise became the first member of the Norwegian royal family to appear in a court of law Tuesday as she sought to halt publication of a book about angels that she argues exploits her image.
The book is a Norwegian translation of a British book, "Seeing Angels," which chronicles the experiences of people who claim to have communicated with angels, something the princess claims she can do.
Martha Louise generated some critical media attention earlier this year when she announced plans to start a "healing" school that would teach others to "get in contact with (their) angels."
The book the princess objects to carries her picture and her name on the cover, although its contents have nothing to do with her project and her name is only mentioned briefly in the preface.
"We do not want to bar the content of the book, only the way in which it is being put on sale," the princess's lawyer Cato Schioetz was quoted as saying by by the NTB news agency.
Responding to charges of "cynical marketing," publishing house Publicom said it had a right to free speech.
"Since Martha Louise has been so active in this ... it also ought to be possible for others to have their say in the debate," Torgeir Lorentzen, head of Publicom, told the NRK radio station.
Publicom's lawyer Tor Erling Staff was quoted as saying that the princess did not have "a monopoly on damned angels".
Martha Louise, who claims she is clairvoyant, says her school offers students the chance to get in contact with their angels -- those "forces that surround us and who are a resource and help in all the aspects of our lives."
The project has attracted a large measure of criticism and there have even been calls for the 36-year-old princess, a devotee of alternative therapies, to renounce her official title or even get medical help.
The tuition fees amount to 12,000 kroner per semester (1,500 euros, 2,100 dollars) and the programme, which involves alternative therapies such as hands-on treatment and healing, lasts for three years.
Fourth in line to the throne, the princess renounced most of her official duties and title of "her royal highness" after she married Ari Behn, a commoner, in 2002.
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