Kings Return

Two other kings fared better. Five years after Hitler's motorized armies swarmed into Denmark, King Christian X emerged from his self-imposed retirement at Amalienborg and returned to his capital. The long night of German occupation was over.

Down beflagged streets jammed with half a million cheering Danes drove the sternly smiling monarch and the royal family. Inside ancient Christiansborg Palace, in a ceremony devoid of pomp but charged with emotion, the King ceremoniously opened the new Parliament convened by Premier Vilhelm Buhl. More than once his voice almost broke.

Premier Buhl's coalition Cabinet included two popular leaders: Minister of Foreign Affairs was John Christmas Moeller, underground leader; Minister Abroad was Henrik de Kauffmann, who, as Danish Minister to the U.S., brought Greenland into the war on the Allied side. The Cabinet also included three Social Democrats, two Communists.

In London, King Christian's brother, Haakon VII of Norway, was likewise preparing to return to his throne in Oslo. Crown Prince Olav and three members of the Norwegian Government in Exile had already returned to Oslo last week on a British cruiser. As he drove through the capital in an open car, thousands of jubilant Norwegians shouted "Hiya, Olav." In London the rest of the royal family had assembled. While they waited, exiled Norwegians spent their time (and remaining ration coupons) on a last big buying binge.

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