On 7 June 1905 the Storting approved the
dissolution of the
union with Sweden; as a result,
Swedish King Oscar II abdicated as
King of Norway. He refused the reconciliation offer to allow a
Swedish prince to take the Norwegian throne. The Storting thus turned to the
Danish Prince Carl. In addition to the positive personal qualities, it was pointed out that he was
Scandinavian and would understand the
Norwegian language and
culture. He was the second son of
Crown Prince Frederik and
Louise of Sweden, the only surviving child of Oscar's older brother
Charles XV and, before the birth of Oscar's sons, a serious contender as heir to the dissolved union. Frederick's brother had also been similarly invited to become a monarch of another nation as
George I of Greece. Carl's wife Princess Maud was
Edward VII's daughter, so he had close ties to the
United Kingdom and the
British royal family, and an heir-apparent to the throne was already guaranteed through his son, the two-year-old
Prince Alexander. In Norway, it was debated whether the country should remain a monarchy or become a republic. Prince Carl demanded that the issue should be submitted to a referendum, as he wanted an assurance that a majority of the population wanted Norway to remain as a monarchy. The question posed was: A majority voted in favour of monarchy, and on 18 November the Parliament formally elected Prince Carl as king. The Speaker of Parliament sent him a
telegram offering him the throne of Norway. The prince accepted the election, and on 25 November 1905 the new
Norwegian royal family landed at
Vippetangen in
Christiania (Oslo). He took the name Haakon and gave his son Alexander the name Olav, names that linked the new royal house to the
Norwegian kings from the
Middle Ages, specifically fellow father-son
Haakon VI and
Olaf IV, who were the last monarchs before the
Kalmar Union. On 22 June 1906, King Haakon VII and Queen Maud were crowned in
Nidaros Cathedral in
Trondheim. ==Results==