HAAKON VII

born Aug. 3, 1872, Charlottenlund, Den. died Sept. 21, 1957, Oslo , original name Christian Frederik Carl Georg Valdemar Axel first king of Norway following the restoration of that country's independence in 1905. The second son of the future king Frederick VIII of Denmark, he was originally called Prince Charles (Carl) of Denmark. He was trained for a naval career. In 1896 he married Princess Maud, daughter of England's Edward VII. He was offered the Norwegian crown in 1905, after the dissolution of the SwedishNorwegian union, and he agreed to accept it only if he were approved in a Norwegian plebiscite. Overwhelmingly approved on Nov. 12, 1905, he was elected king by the Storting (parliament) on November 18. He took the Old Norse name of Haakon. Haakon VII reigned during two world wars. A champion of democracy, he fled to England during the German invasion of Norway in 1940. His refusal to submit when a German-pressured Storting body asked him to abdicate inspired the Norwegians to resist the German occupation. Haakon VII returned to Norway in 1945 and continued in the high esteem of his people until his death.