Jubilee

(See front cover)

If while chatting with a Norwegian lady one unwittingly refers to "the time when Norway was a part of Sweden," the chances are four out of five that hot tears of indignation will rush to her light blue eyes.

"Norway was never a part of Sweden!" she will exclaim. "Once we had the same king, but Norway was not a part of Sweden--oh!!" clenching the fingers of one hand.

Proudly last week all Norway celebrated the kingdom's "Silver Jubilee," the 25th anniversary of the ascension of a 100% Norwegian throne by His Majesty Haakon VII. The last exclusively Norwegian King, Haakon VI, died 550 years ago.

Edward VII, late British King-Emperor, had a wasp-waisted tomboy daughter Maud who swam, rowed, handled a yacht smartly, ran a typewriter, bound books, carved wood, played chess, advocated female suffrage--energetic traits which she inherited from her Danish mother, the dazzling and haughty British Queen-Empress Alexandra, sister of still more dazzling, still more imperious Marie Feodorovna, Empress of All The Russias. The two Empresses were resolved that Maud should become at least a queen-- of what?

On a Danish warship a young man darned his own socks, sewed on his own buttons. The two Empresses did not think much of him, though he was their nephew and a prince. But his cousin Tomboy Maud, against her mother's council, fell in love with him, and with her father's encouragement married him July 22, 1896. He was then promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the Danish Royal Navy.

Seemingly headstrong Princess Maud had thrown away the many chances she had had to marry onto a Throne--but the Norns of Norway were busy weaving her Fate, ably assisted by foxy Edward VII. (He liked his daughter Maud as much as he disliked his daughter-in-law Mary.)

Nine long years passed. The spirit of Norwegian nationalism was spontaneously stirring. On June 7, 1905 the Norwegian Prime Minister informed his royal master the King of Sweden & Norway that he was only King of Sweden. On Aug. 13 the Norwegian people confirmed this rash act by a national plebiscite, only 184 voting to preserve the Union of Sweden & Norway, while 368,211 were for independence. But that did not settle who was to be King of Norway. There was much talk of choosing the late Explorer Fridtjof Nansen who, in his less famed role of Norwegian statesman, had ceaselessly striven to free his country.

The authentic Norwegian Royal House had been extinct for some 27 generations, for more than half a millennium. The Norwegian people had learned to speak Danish under Danish kings for several hundred years before their "union" with Sweden. In 1905, although they might not exactly want to pick a king from Denmark, could the Norwegian people, all things considered, do better than to choose the husband of Tomboy Princess Maud, daughter of Mighty Britain, niece of Colossal Russia? In a second plebiscite 259,563 Norwegians voted for the young man who used to darn socks, sew on buttons; 69,264 voted against him. He was proclaimed King of Norway just 25 years ago last week, changing his name from Carl to Haakon.

Why did Sweden let Norway go so easily? It was there that Edward VII helped the Norns. Fridtjof Nansen could not have brought the pressure upon Stockholm which London brought. The new King of Norway as one of his first, most gracious acts appointed Explorer Nansen First Minister of the Kingdom of Norway to the Court of St. James's.

In Oslo last week King Haakon and Queen Maud had among their Jubilee guests his elder brother, King Christian X of Denmark; and Prince George, youngest son of her brother King-Emperor George V. Beginning with a simple, solemn Lutheran service in Our Saviour's Church, the Jubilee became joyous as Their Majesties left the church amid a rousing 21-gun salute, clattered off to the Palace where King Haakon addressed his people and all Scandinavia by radio.

"Geographical obstructions* have thus far prevented the Queen and me from making the acquaintance of our whole people," said Haakon VII, "but I say with conviction that in no part of our country do the Queen and I any longer feel as strangers."

Queen Maud spends much of her time in her native land (Crown Prince Olav of Norway was born in England, went to Oxford). But emphatically the Norwegian people do not consider their Royal Family "strangers." Money for the Jubilee celebration was unhesitatingly voted by the municipality of Oslo, Socialist though it is.

If Their Majesties reverse the usual royal tactics of courting popularity and employing journalists to puff them, if King Haakon with excessive modesty is still self-conscious in Norway after reigning securely for a quarter-century, if Queen Maud goes about her shopping in Oslo completely unattended and sometimes unrecognized, this strange royal conduct seems to be exactly what Norwegians like. A quaint, possibly significant scrapbook is kept by Their Majesties. She pastes into the section headed We Never Did or Said This newsclippings of that sort. The rest of the scrapbook, much the larger section, bears mute but gracious royal witness to the high average accuracy of newsfolk.

*So prodigiously mountainous is Norway that only 3.2% of the entire country is arable.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.