Angel School (8/16/07)

A school newly created by Norway's Princess Maertha Louise for students who wish to "get in contact with (their) angels" was due to open on Thursday at an undisclosed location because of the clamour it has caused.

The project has been criticised in the Scandinavian country where some have called for the 35-year-old princess, a devotee of alternative therapies, to renounce her official title or even get medical help.

Maertha Louise, who claims she is clairvoyant, says the Astarte school will offer students the chance to get in contact with their angels, described as "forces that surround us and who are a resource and help in all the aspects of our lives."

The tuition fees amount to 12,000 kroner per semester (approximately 1,500 euros, 2,100 dollars) and the programme, which involves alternative therapies such as hands-on treatment and healing, lasts for three years.

Many Norwegians consider the idea wacky, according to media reports.

Newspaper Bergens Tidende has called for Maertha Louise, the daughter of King Harald, to renounce her title, while Swedish author and columnist Jan Guillou urged her to "seek treatment".

On Saturday, the princess defended her project on Norwegian public service television NRK.

"I'm glad I wasn't born 200 years ago, because I would surely have been burned at the stake long ago," she said.

Fourth in line to the throne, she already renounced most of her official duties and title of "her royal highness" after she married Ari Behn, a commoner, in 2002.