See also “Syttende mai”
- At the start of 1814, Norway had been under the rule of the Danish monarchy for over 400 years.
- Denmark/Norway, under the absolute monarch King Frederick VI, was an ally of France during the Napoleonic wars.
- When Napoleon was defeated in 1813, Denmark was forced by the Treaty of Kiel, signed in January 1814, to cede Norway to Sweden, one of the victors in the wars.
- Norway refused to accept the terms of the treaty. The Danish Prince Christian Frederick, vice-regent of Norway, in consultation with leading Norwegians of the day, established a “Constituent Assembly”, to be charged with writing a constitution, electing a king, and declaring Norway’s independence.
- The Prince organised the first elections ever to be held in Norway, and 112 men were brought together to accomplish the task. This Constituent Assembly was divided between those who favoured complete independence, and those who wanted union with Sweden.
- In six weeks, by 16 May, the constitution had been drafted, independence was declared, and power was divided between the king’s government, the courts, and a national assembly elected by the people – called to this day the Storting.
- On 17 May, the constitution was signed, and Christian Frederick was elected King of Norway.
- In the brief Swedish-Norwegian War that followed, Norway’s king lost to Sweden. Peace negotiations secured Sweden’s agreement that Norway would retain its constitution, but relinquish the throne. The democratically elected Norwegian parliament – the Storting – adapted the country’s constitution to reflect union with Sweden, and Sweden’s King Carl XIII was elected King of Norway.
- The union between Sweden and Norway was never a federation of combined laws and government. It continued as a “personal union” of separate kingdoms under a common monarch and foreign policy, with both states having their separate constitutions, laws, churches, currencies and other administrative structures, until it was dissolved in 1905.
- This second declaration of independence was driven by a popular movement, carried through by the Storting, and after strong reactions somewhat parallel to the kinds of soul-searching arguments the UK is facing today in light of Scotland’s growing independence movement, the final dissolution of a historically uneasy but technically peaceful union was peaceably accepted by Sweden. The then-King Oscar renounced his claim to the Norwegian throne, and declined the invitation for a member of its Royal house to take it up.
- The Storting offered the throne to a willing Danish Prince, Carl, who upon arriving in Norway, took the regnal name of Haakon VII. He reigned until his death in 1957, after uniting the Norwegian nation in its resistance to the Nazi invasion and five-year occupation during WWII. May 8, 1945, marked another day in the history of Norway’s independence; its liberation from Nazi occupation.
- The current King Harald V is the first prince born in Norway in 567 years. The Norwegian constitution was amended in 1990 to allow the oldest child, regardless of gender, to accede the Throne.