Haakon VII

Haakon VII of Norway (born 1872 as Prince Carl of Denmark) is the King of Norway since it's independence due to the dissolution of the Norway-Sweden Dual Monarchy ruled by Sweden. Haakon VII even though the maternal Grandson of Swedish King Charles XV of Sweden, he is also the second son of Fredrick VIII the King of Denmark and Denmark was ruler of Norway before Sweden as he also has Norwegian Ancestry. Carl was then declared Haakon VII of Norway, King of the Norwegians.

Haakon VII was sympathetic to Communists until what happened in Russia. Because of the violence caused by the revolution, Haakon VII lost his sympathy to Communists and started to be Anti-Communist.

He also had a fierce hatred against the Germans who destroyed the home of his wife and killed her brother, sister in law, nephews and niece which made her almost lose her will to live which made him have a fierce hatred against the Germans.

## History

### Early Life

Prince Carl was born on 3 August 1872 at his parents' country residence, Charlottenlund Palace north of Copenhagen, during the reign of his paternal grandfather, King Christian IX. He was the second son of Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark (the future King Frederick VIII), and his wife Louise of Sweden. His father was the eldest son of King Christian IX and Louise of Hesse-Kassel, and his mother was the only daughter of King Charles XV of Sweden (who was also king of Norway as Charles IV), and Louise of the Netherlands. He was baptised at Charlottenlund Palace on 7 September 1872 by the Bishop of Zealand, Hans Lassen Martensen. He was baptised with the names *Christian Frederik Carl Georg Valdemar Axel*, and was known as Prince Carl (namesake of his maternal grandfather the King of Sweden-Norway).

Prince Carl belonged to the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg branch of the House of Oldenburg. The House of Oldenburg had been the Danish royal family since 1448; between 1536 and 1814 it also ruled Norway, which was then part of the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway. The house was originally from northern Germany, where the Glucksburg (Lyksborg) branch held their small fief. The family had permanent links with Norway beginning from the late Middle Ages. Several of his paternal ancestors had been kings of independent Norway (Haakon V of Norway, Christian I of Norway, Frederick I, Christian III, Frederick II, Christian IV, as well as Frederick III of Norway who integrated Norway into the Oldenburg state with Denmark, Schleswig and Holstein, after which it was not independent until 1814). Christian Frederick, who was King of Norway briefly in 1814, the first king of the Norwegian 1814 constitution and struggle for independence, was his great-granduncle.

Prince Carl was raised with his siblings in the royal household in Copenhagen, and grew up between his parents' residence in Copenhagen, the Frederick VIII's Palace, an 18th-century palace which forms part of the Amalienborg Palace complex in central Copenhagen, and their country residence, Charlottenlund Palace, located by the coastline of the Øresund strait north of the city. As a younger son of the Crown Prince, there was little expectation that Carl would become king. He was third in line to the throne, after his father and elder brother, Prince Christian. Carl was less than two years younger than Christian, and the two princes were confirmed together at Christiansborg Palace Chapel in 1887. Prince Carl was educated at the Royal Danish Naval Academy from 1889 to 1893, graduating as a second lieutenant in the Royal Danish Navy. In 1894 he was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant and remained in service with the Royal Danish Navy until 1905.

### Marriage

At Buckingham Palace on 22 July 1896, Prince Carl married his first cousin Princess Maud of Wales, youngest daughter of the future King Edward VII of the United Kingdom and his wife, Princess Alexandra of Denmark, eldest daughter of King Christian IX and Princess Louise. The bride's father gave them Appleton House on the Sandringham Estate as a country residence for his daughter's frequent visits to England. It was there that the couple's only child, Prince Alexander, the future Crown Prince Olav, was born on 2 July 1903.

### Accession to the Norwegian throne

After the Union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved in 1905, a committee of the Norwegian government identified several princes of European royal houses as candidates for the Norwegian crown. Although Norway had legally had the status of an independent state since 1814, it had not had its own king since 1387. Gradually, Prince Carl became the leading candidate, largely because he was descended from independent Norwegian kings. He also had a son, providing an heir-apparent to the throne, and the fact that his wife, Princess Maud, was a member of the British Royal Family was viewed by many as an advantage to the newly independent Norwegian nation.

The democratically minded Carl, aware that Norway was still debating whether to remain a kingdom or to switch instead to a republican system of government, was flattered by the Norwegian government's overtures, but he made his acceptance of the offer conditional on the holding of a referendum to show whether monarchy was the choice of the Norwegian people.

After the referendum overwhelmingly confirmed by a 79 percent majority (259,563 votes for and 69,264 against) that Norwegians desired to retain a monarchy, Prince Carl was formally offered the throne of Norway by the Storting (parliament) and was elected on 18 November 1905. When Carl accepted the offer that same evening (after the approval of his grandfather Christian IX of Denmark), he immediately endeared himself to his adopted country by taking the Old Norse name of Haakon, a name which had not been used by kings of Norway for over 500 years. In so doing, he succeeded his maternal great-uncle, Oscar II of Sweden, who had abdicated the Norwegian throne in October following the agreement between Sweden and Norway on the terms of the separation of the union.

The new royal family of Norway left Denmark on the Danish royal yacht *Dannebrog* and sailed into Oslofjord. At Oscarsborg Fortress, they boarded the Norwegian naval ship *Heimdal*. After a three-day journey, they arrived in Kristiania (now Oslo) early on the morning of 25 November 1905. Two days later, Haakon took the oath as Norway's first independent king in 518 years. The coronation of Haakon and Maud took place in Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim on 22 June 1906.

### Reign as Independent Monarch

King Haakon gained much sympathy from the Norwegian people. He travelled extensively through Norway. Although the Constitution of Norway vests the King with considerable executive powers, in practice nearly all major governmental decisions were made by the Government (the Council of State) in his name. Haakon confined himself to non-partisan roles without interfering in politics, a practice continued by his son and grandson. However, his long rule gave him considerable moral authority as a symbol of the country's unity. The Norwegian explorer and Nobel Prize laureate Fridtjof Nansen became a friend of the Royal Family.

### World War I

Norway remained neutral during the war until Germany occupied navy ports and they invaded Britain through Norway which was the only way for the Navy to invade England without invading through the English coast and to prevent Norway from joining Britain's side in the war. After the invasion of Britain, He condemed the Germans and Americans for the ruthless violence and bloodshed in Britain and for the deaths of the royal family which made his wife loose her will to live for a long period of time. However Maud regained mental strength and continued her duties. However the couple knew that the destruction of Britain caused problems as Europe is leaning towards German Hegemony.

## Marriage

At Buckingham Palace on 22 July 1896, Prince Carl married his first cousin Princess Maud of Wales, youngest daughter of the future King Edward VII of the United Kingdom and his wife, Princess Alexandra of Denmark, eldest daughter of King Christian IX and Princess Louise. The bride's father gave them Appleton House on the Sandringham Estate as a country residence for his daughter's frequent visits to England. It was there that the couple's only child, Prince Alexander, the future Crown Prince Olav, was born on 2 July 1903.

Crown Prince Olav married Princess Märtha of Sweden (b. 1901) and they have two daughters Princess Ragnhild (b. 1930) and Princess Astrid (b. 1932).