Haakon VII of Norway

King Haakon VII of Norway, Christian Frederik Carl Georg Valdemar Axel (August 3, 1872–September 21, 1957) was the first King of Norway after the dissolution of the personal union with Sweden in 1905. Known in his youth as Prince Carl, he was the second son of King Frederick VIII of Denmark, a younger brother of King Christian X of Denmark and a grandson of King Charles IV of Norway (who had also been King of Sweden).

He belonged to a branch of the house of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, originally from northern Germany.

In 1896, Prince Carl married the Princess Maud, youngest daughter of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom. Their son, Prince Olav, was born on July 2, 1903. After a plebiscite confirmed newly-independent Norway as a monarchy, Prince Carl became its first king on November 18, 1905 and was crowned as Haakon VII in Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim on June 22, 1906. At Haakon's death in 1957 Crown Prince Olav succeeded as Olav V.

During World War II, King Haakon, exiled in London, was an important national symbol in the Norwegian resistance.

Today, King Haakon is by many regarded as one of the greatest Norwegian politicians of the pre-war period, managing to hold his young and fragile country together in unstable political conditions. In 1927 he said "I am also the communists King." His loyalty to the democracy proved to be crucial for Norway's political situation during and after World War II.