A book released this autumn is full of details about the drama and intrigue surrounding Norway's emergence as a sovereign nation. "Folket," by Tor Bomann-Larsen, already has made waves over its revelations about the birth of King Olav, who was to play a key role in the emergence, even though he was just a toddler at the time.

It also offers up a chronological account of how Norwegian politicians at the time wrestled with the issue of republic versus monarchy, and evaluated various candidates as president or king.

The monarchy debate had been going for years before a decision had to be made in 1905. Sigurd Ibsen, son of the famed playwright Henrik Ibsen and a diplomat in his own right, argued in an editorial as early as 1898 that republics hadn't secured themselves a solid or respected form of government in Europe at the time. There hadn't been much progress for republics since the French revolution, he wrote.

The editorial dug up by Bomann-Larsen in the magazine Ringeren claimed that monarchies, on the other hand, awakened feelings of national pride and commanded respect among other European countries. A monarch, noted Ibsen, though, must be able to be identified with his land. A king for Norway, Ibsen wrote, must convince his subjects "that he belonged to the Norwegian people and no one else."

This was part of the problem with Norway's union with Sweden, in which King Oscar II was king of both Sweden and Norway. King Oscar, it was argued, was too attached to Sweden. Already, the seeds of a need for Norway's own monarch were being sown.

Ibsen believed that Norway's conservative politicians would never support a republic, while Norway's liberal politicians could swallow a monarchy. A republic, feared Ibsen, "would isolate us on the outside and split us on the inside."

Others agreed, and Nansen later worked hard to bring Denmark's Prince Carl to Norway as its new king. Nansen's own immense popularity likely would have made him the top candidate for a presidency, but he ultimately wasn't interested.

Another Prince Carl
Some Norwegians, including famed author Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (Ibsen's father-in-law), thought King Oscar II's next eldest son, also named Prince Carl, would provide an easy way out of the union conflict. If Norwegians chose Prince Carl of Sweden, King Oscar wouldn't be so offended, Bjørnson argued. Carl also had a popular wife named Ingeborg, a former Danish princess who was in fact the younger sister of Denmark's Prince Carl, who ultimately became Norway's first modern king.

Time would show, though, that Prince Carl of Sweden was arguably more offended by the dissolution of the union with Norway than his father. Even though Prince Carl of Sweden launched himself as a candidate in 1904, Bomann-Larsen contends that the Swedish royals were not very keen on taking over a monarchy "that would further the royal regalia, but only as symbols." In Norway, it was the parliament and its elected parties that would hold real power, not the king.

"If (then-Prime Minister) Christian Michelsen hoped to find an heir to Norway's old throne, he had to look for a candidate in a dynasty that had accepted modern times, and would bow to the people's authority," Bomann-Larsen writes.

Princes Wilhelm and Waldemar
That pretty much ruled out another candidate to the throne, Prince Wilhelm, the second son of King Oscar's son, Crown Prince Gustaf V. Prince Wilhelm was young, newly engaged and even followed his father on a trip to Oslo (then Christiania) in the critical year of 1905, when Crown Prince Gustaf V made a visit as regent.

In the end, the Swedish royals were also viewed as "too Russian- and German-oriented," and less oriented towards Denmark and England. Once Norway settled on a monarchy, it thus turned to Denmark's royal family for candidates.

Even then, though, Prince Carl wasn't the only candidate. His uncle Prince Waldemar, youngest son of King Christian IX and Queen Louise, also was floated as a man with experience. Germany's kaiser and Russia's czar, both keenly interested in the process, actually favoured Waldemar over Carl.

The czar, according to Bomann-Larsen, claimed Prince Carl of Denmark "was not at all suited for the position, he had never been anywhere, had no experience and was slow and insignificant." He supported Waldemar, saying he had "experience, an elegant and charming wife and handsome, healthy children."

Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany agreed, but there was a problem with Waldemar's candidacy. For years, writes Bomann-Larsen, he'd been carrying on "a homosexual, commuter relationship" with his own nephew, Prince Georg of Greece, who also was governor of Crete. His marriage, it seems, was a sham.

That left Prince Carl of Denmark, and his wife Princess Maud of England and Denmark, as the remaining candidates to form a new royal family for Norway.