At the time Norway was
invaded by Germany in 1940, Boyesen was a law student and member of the Labour Party. The Labour
cabinet Nygaardsvold fled to
London in order to avoid an early capitulation. Germany
occupied Norway for five years, whereas Boyesen became a part of the resistance movement. He was a messenger for both the Norwegian government-in-exile and the
Norwegian legation in Stockholm, communicating on behalf of the so-called
Kretsen, an inner circle of the resistance movement for which he was the secretary. Within
Kretsen, he cooperated especially close with former Supreme Court Justice
Ferdinand Schjelderup. Approaching the winter of 1944, Boyesen was no longer safe in Norway, and fled to Sweden. He worked as a secretary for the Norwegian legation in Stockholm until the liberation of Norway in 1945. After the war Boyesen finished his law studies, graduating as
cand.jur. in 1947. He worked as a deputy judge from 1948, He then spent many years as a
State Secretary in
Torp's Cabinet, first in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1951 to 1954 and in the
Ministry of Defence from 1954 to 1955. He later returned as State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1963 to 1965, during
Gerhardsen's Fourth Cabinet. From 1955 to 1963 he had been Norway's Permanent Representative to
NATO. When appointed, he was the youngest ambassador of Norway. In 1964 he was mentioned by Norwegian media as a candidate to take over as
Secretary General of NATO after
Dirk Stikker. Among the mentioned candidates was
Manlio Brosio, who actually got the position. Boyesen was instead sent to
Geneva to serve as ambassador to the international organizations seated in that city, This did not happen. He instead served in
Brussels as Norwegian ambassador to the
European Economic Community and
Belgium from 1973 to 1976, and in
Paris as ambassador to the
OECD from 1977 to 1986. ==References==