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Denmark
King Christian IX 
Ancestor

Denmark
King Frederik VIII 
(Chr. IX's son) 

Great Britain
Queen Alexandra 
(Chr. IX's daughter) 

Greece
King George I
(Chr. IX's son) 

Russia
Czarina Dagmar
(Chr. IX's daughter) 

Belgium
Queen Astrid 

Norway
King Haakon VII 
(Frederik VIII's son) 

Luxembourg
Grand Duchess Josephine-Charlotte 

Spain
Queen Sophia
(Princess of Greece) 

Romania
Cr. Princess Helena 
(Princess of Greece) 

Yugoslavia
Princess Olga 
(Princess of Greece) 

Sweden 
Princess Ingrid of Sweden. Queen of Denmark 

Miscellaneous
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About the Author

• Denmark 1992. Souvenir Sheet issued for the benefit of the international stamp exhibition Nordia '94. The sheet shows the Danish Queen Margrethe I (1353-1412), at that time the sovereign queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, which she united into one kingdom. The single stamps show an anonymous fresco painting of the Queen from Roskilde Cathedral, where she is buried, and a marble bust of the queen from the Gothic Era. 
• Denmark 1997. Painting by an unknown artist, displaying Queen Margrethe I and her son, King Erik on the left stamp, and Denmark, Norway and Sweden, symbolized by "The Three Graces" on the right stamp. The two stamps are printed se-tenant in a composite design. The painting was created in the 18th century and is in private possession. 
• Sweden 1997. 600th centenary of the Kalmar Union. On the left of the sheet is the Danish Queen Margrethe I. The stamp was engraved by Czeslaw Slania. 

Denmark's great Renaissance-king, Christian IV (sovereign 1588-1658), was also king of Norway. The capital Oslo was destroyed by fire in 1624, and was rebuilt by Christian IV and given the name Christiania (which in 1878 was changed to Kristiania). The original name of Oslo was restored in 1925. Also another Norwegian city Kristiansand (on the southern tip of Norway) is named after Christian IV. The 400th anniversary of his accession to the throne was celebrated by both Denmark and Norway. 

• Norway 1988. Portrait of King Christian IV, after a painting by Abraham Wuchter. The king had a characteristic pleat along his left cheek, which is particularly visible on the Norwegian stamp.  
• Norway 1988. Reverse side of 1 Riksdaler coin, minted in Christiania (Oslo) 1628, showing the Norwegian heraldic lion. 
• Denmark 1988. The king's cypher with two heraldic lions. These lions are also the Norwegian national coat of arms, as shown on the Norwegian stamp depicting the coin. 
• Denmark 1988. 400th anniversary of King Christian IV's accession to the Danish throne. Painting by Pieter Isaacsz (1569-1625). Belongs to the Danish Museum of National History, Frederiksborg Slot. 

The Napoleonic Wars also had their impact on Norway. In the Peace Treaty in Kiel (Germany) in 1814 Denmark was forced to cede Norway to Sweden, but was allowed to keep the old Norwegian dependencies, Greenland, the Faeroe Islands, and Iceland, under Danish sovereignty. This is the reason why Greenland and the Faeroe Islands belong to Denmark today. Iceland became independent after a referendum in 1944, and at the same time established itself as a republic. After a short war 1814 between Norway and Sweden, the former was forced to accept a personal-union with Sweden. The Eidsvoll-Constitution was maintained, and the two countries agreed that Norway would be an autonomous part of Sweden, only with the Swedish king and Swedish foreign policy in common. The Swedish King Oscar I became thus also King of Norway.  

• Norway 1856/57. King Oscar I of Sweden (1799-1859), also King of Norway in the personal union between the two countries.
• Sweden 1856. King Oscar II (1829-1907) of Sweden and Norway 1872-1905/1907.  
• Norway 1914. Painting by Oscar Arnold Wergeland (1844-1910), featuring "The Constitutional Congregation in Eidsvoll". The painting was created in 1885, and belongs to the Norwegian Parliament in Oslo.

A New Era 
A minor political conflict in 1905 between Norway and Sweden caused the dissolution of the Norwegian-Swedish union, and the result of a referendum held on 13th August 1905 in Sweden accepted with great majority Norway's final  independence. But now Norway was in need of a king. The new Norwegian Parliament voted unanimously for Prince Carl of Denmark (born 1872), son of the Danish King Frederik VIII, and brother of the Danish Crown Prince Christian [later King Christian X] to be King of Norway. Below are shown stamps depicting the father, the Danish King Frederik VIII, and his two sons, the Danish King Christian X, and the Norwegian King Haakon VII. The family likeness between father and sons is evident and striking. 

• Denmark 1918. King Christian X of Denmark. (Brother of King Haakon VII).
• Denmark 1907. King Frederik VIII of Denmark  (Father of King Christian X of Denmark, and King Haakon VII of Norway).
• Norway 1951. King Haakon VII of Norway.

Although Prince Carl's frame of mind was positive on the question, he requested the holding of a referendum in Norway to decide the future form of government (since a republic would rule out his own involvement) prior to the official offer of the crown. The result of the voting on 12-13 November gave a green light for the new monarchy. On 18 November the solemn election of Prince Carl as king of Norway took place in the Storting, and on the same afternoon the Prince's telegram of acceptance was read out:  

"..... I am resolved to accept the election as king of Norway, taking the name of Haakon the Seventh and according my son the name of Olav..... Carl". 

(Officially he would never use the name Carl again). The session ended with a unison shout of "Long live the King of Norway!". 

In 2005 Norway issued this set, commemorating the dissolution between Norway and Sweden in 1814, and the investiture of the new Norwegian King Haakon VII in 1905. 

Norway 2005. Souvenir sheet showing the then Prime Minister of Sweden, Mr. Christian Michelsen, and the Norwegian King Haakon VII. The sheet has a highly symbolic design, with the two heads of state turning their back to each other, Norway moving forward to a new era.  Norway 2005. Close-ups of the two stamps from the sheet. Note the "mixture" of the Norwegian and Swedish national flags.

Already in 1896 Prince Carl had married Princess Maud, daughter of king Edward VII of England, and his Danish spouse, Queen Alexandra (1869-1938). Princess Maud now became Queen of Norway. She, and King Haakon VII, both the immediate posterity of the Danish King Christian IX, were thus the first Glücksburgers in the young Norwegian monarchy. 

• Norway 1947. Commemorating the coronation of King Haakon VII and Queen Maud in Nidaros Cathedral, Trondheim, in 1906.  

• Norway 1946. King Haakon VII in Admiral's Uniform. The stamp exists in four different face values and colours. 
• Norway 1939. Queen Maud. Semi-postal for the benefit of Queen Maud's Aid Foundation. The stamp exists in four different face values and colours. 
• Norway 1969. Commemorating the 100th birth anniversary of Queen Maud. The stamp exists in two different face values and colours.   
• Norway 1952. King Haakon VII at the occasion of his 80th birthday. The stamp exists in two different face values and colours. 

The couple had one child, Crown Prince Olav (1903-1992) who was born in Copenhagen, and upon his father's death in 1957 assumed the Norwegian Throne as King Olav V. In 1929 he had married Princess Märtha of Sweden (1901-1954), a daughter of the Danish Princess Ingeborg, who was a daughter of the Danish King Frederik VIII, and thus the younger sister of the Danish King Christian X. Olav and Märtha were thus cousins. Princess Märtha was also the sister of Queen Astrid of Belgium. 

Crown Princess Märtha, however, never became Queen of Norway, as she passed away already in 1954, before her husband became king of Norway. 

• Norway 1988. Souvenir sheet issued at the occasion of King Olav V's 85th birthday. The sheet is scanned from the Norwegian stamp catalogue (Norgeskatalogen), and is therefore not very sharp. The stamps show various situations from the king's life. 
  • Left. His arrival in Norway 1905, 2½ years old, on his father's King Haakon VII's arm. 
  • Middle. Portrait of the king. Water colour by Knud Løkke-Sørensen, after a photograph taken after his coronation in the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim 1958. 
  • The King skiing at Holmenkollen, Norway. The king was an ardent winter sportsman. 
• Norway 1988. Close-ups of the stamps from the sheet. 

The couple had three children, of which the two princesses Ragnhild (*1930), and Astrid (*1932), married civil citizens.  Their son, Crown Prince Harald (*1937), assumed the Norwegian Throne in 1992 as King Harald V. He is a tremendously popular person in Norway, as he is the first Norwegian king born in Norway for 700 years !   

In 2005 Norway celebrated it's first 100 years as an independent monarchy with the issuance of this set of five stamps, showing various scenes of importance for the Norwegian nation. The set contains 5 stamps, of which three of them are related to the Royal Family. 

• Norway 2005. Prince Carl of Denmark is sworn in before the Norwegian Parliament in 1905 as King Haakon VII of Norway. By his side is Queen Maud. 

• Norway 2005. Crown Prince Olav returning to Norway after having been exiled in London during World War II. 

• Norway 2005. King Olav V at the official inauguration of Norwegian State TV in 1960. 

In 1968 King Harald married the civil citizen Sonja Haraldsen, who is now Queen Sonja of Norway. Also Queen Sonja is tremendously popular among the Norwegians, as she -- even when civil -- is the first Norwegian queen born in Norway for centuries.  

• Norway 1998. The Royal Palace in Oslo. The Palace facing town.
• Norway 1998. Life Guard on duty. (The soldier portrayed is Mr. Alf Louis Solvang).
• Norway 1992. King Harald V. The stamp exists in 3 face values and different colours. 
• Norway 1992. Queen Sonja. 

This couple has 2 children, Princess Märtha-Louise, born 1971, and Crown Prince Haakon Magnus, born 1973 (not yet depicted on stamps).  

Crown Prince Haakon Magnus married on 25th August 2001 the civil Norwegian citizen, Mette-Marit Tjessem-Høiby, who thus became Crown Princess Mette-Marit. The couple's first child, Princess Ingrid Alexandra was born in 2004. The princess is named after the late Queen Ingrid of Denmark, and Queen Alexandra of Great Britain. The sheet and stamp was voted as "Stamp of the Year" 2004 by the Norwegian public. 

• Photographs (from the official website of The Royal House of Norway). 
  • Crown Prince Haakon Magnus of Norway. 
  • Norway 2004. Souvenir sheet. HKH Princess Ingrid Alexandra. 
  • Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway. 

Five generations of Norwegian kings in the Glücksburg Dynasty.

• Norway 2005. The Danish Prince Carl arrives in Norway, with his 2½-year old son, Prince Olav, in his arm. 
• Norway 2005. The present Norwegian king, Harald V, his son Crown Prince Haakon Magnus, and the latter's new born daughter, Princess Ingrid Alexandra. Blurred in the background, next to the Coat of Arms, is the late King Olav V, and -- also blurred in the background -- King Haakon VII and Queen Maud.  

On Saturday, 3rd December 2005, Crown Princess Mette-Marit gave birth to a boy, who will be named at a later date. The boy is number three in the succession line to the Norwegian throne, after his father, Crown Prince Haakon Magnus, and his two year older sister, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, born 21st January 2004. 

Many thanks to Mr. Dag T. Hoelseth (Norway) for his invaluable help in completing this page.