The countries with royal families in Europe today are basically constitutional monarchies. Most of the European royals, who have lost their real power, play a ceremonial and socially useful role. Their existence has become known to the outside world through various private gossips. As the royal family continued to grow from generation to generation, the gossip continued to flow. The new melon is certainly fragrant, but in fact, the old melon through the processing of film and television "re-fried", there are also a lot of spectators want to eat.
With the British drama "The Crown", which revolves around the career of Queen Elizabeth II, attracting attention in Europe and the United States, the Norwegian national broadcaster has also launched a "Norwegian royal version of The Crown" TV series: "Atlantic Crossing". The eight-episode series follows Prince Olav of Norway and his wife Princess Märtha of Sweden, who fled their fallen homeland during World War II, when Norway was overrun by Nazi Germany, to the United States, where they became involved with then-President Roosevelt.
The TV series was released in 2020-2021 in several countries in Europe and North America, yet its content caused an uproar on both sides of the Atlantic. The occasional episode of "Transatlantic" has involved royal historians and film and television practitioners in Norway, the United States and the United Kingdom in the controversy of whether Martha, the mother of the present-day King of Norway and then Crown Princess, had an affair with Roosevelt or not.
"Roosevelt just wanted to sleep with her."
During their exile in the United States, Crown Princess Martha and Prince Olav stayed at President Roosevelt's private residence in New York, Hyde Park, and then visited the White House several times. Roosevelt, who was fond of European royalty, met with the two of them hundreds of times, far more often than with Princess Juliana of the Netherlands, who was also in exile in the United States.
In the "Transatlantic" episode, Roosevelt repeatedly met with Princess Martha alone, the atmosphere was ambiguous, the close communication far beyond the diplomatic etiquette required; and the Princess repeatedly used the President's goodwill towards himself to try to convince Roosevelt to get rid of the U.S. neutral posture and actively participate in the Second World War.
What upset some Norwegian royalists was that such a state-run television station in Norway blatantly gave Crown Prince Olaf, later King Olaf V of Norway, a high-profile cuckold.
The series also offended both British and American viewers. Some of the episodes that completely deviated from historical facts, such as Princess Martha convincing Roosevelt to declare war after the Pearl Harbor attack, made many historians look at the show sideways. After all, the credit for convincing the United States to enter World War II, how to give this Norwegian princess for nothing? And where does Churchill's place lie?
The film's producer, Alexander Icke, argued that the production was a "historically inspired" drama, not a fully factual documentary. However, Roosevelt's affection for Princess Martha was not an unspoken one. In fact, their affair was documented by many people around them. British author Roald Dahl (also known as the author of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory") worked for the British Embassy in the United States during World War II, and was actually an MI6 agent in Washington. The author, who would later become famous for his children's novels, sent a vulgar message to MI6: "Roosevelt just wants to sleep with her" - the "her" being Princess Martha.
The President of the United States, who was a busy man, regarded Princess Martha as his "delight".
Roosevelt's private residence in New York, "Hyde Park"
Roosevelt giving a speech in Washington, D.C. in 1942, with Princess Martha by his side
If Roald Dahl, a flirtatious British spy like James Bond, heard about Roosevelt and Martha from his pillow talkers, Roosevelt's son James Roosevelt's words are perhaps more credible: the existence of an affair between the two was "very likely". According to Roosevelt's close associates, the President considered Princess Martha to be his "delight", and whenever she appeared, Roosevelt always showed a humorous and light-hearted side, interacting with the Norwegian princess more easily than with other foreign guests.
Crown Princess Martha and her husband Prince Olav in 1942
After the broadcast of "Transatlantic," American historian David B. Woolner, who specializes in Roosevelt and World War II history, published an article on the PBS website, arguing that Roosevelt's affection for Princess Martha was not surprising, as Roosevelt liked the company of young, beautiful women with a sense of humor; however, it is not historically accurate that Roosevelt was alone with Princess Martha on several occasions in the show, and Prince Olav actually appeared on these occasions. In fact, Crown Prince Olaf also appeared in these occasions many times. If we combine the judgments of several people mentioned above, it is more like Roosevelt unilaterally had a crush on Princess Martha, while Princess Martha, and even the Norwegian royal family, took advantage of the U.S. president's crush on the princess to bring the U.S. vision as far as possible to the smoldering European battlefield.
Fallout from the Epstein Affair
In 1954, Princess Martha died of cancer before her husband could ascend to the throne as King of Norway. While "Transatlantic" is a delightful re-digging of old melons, the Crown Prince of Norway, Prince Haakon, and his wife are also full of melons. Prince Haakon is the grandson of Olaf and Martha, and the first in line to the throne after the current King Harald V.
Just when the British royal family was in the world's attention because of the Queen's second prince Andrew's involvement with the American sexual assault felon Epstein, Crown Prince Haakon's wife, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, of Norway, was not spared. According to Norwegian media, Mette-Marit had regular contacts and dealings with Epstein. Her interactions with Epstein were concentrated in the years 2011-2013, respectively, in Canada, the United States and Norway, where they had crossed paths to attend events together, and in fact, by this period, Epstein had been prosecuted by the U.S. judicial authorities for having sex with underage girls, so it can be said that his reputation had turned sour.
According to an official Norwegian royal spokesperson, Mette-Marit visited Epstein's residence in the United States, but was unaware of the judicial disputes and various sexual assault allegations against Epstein. The Norwegian royal family has concluded that the two had numerous contacts in the presence of others, and that Mette-Marit broke off contact with Epstein after 2013 when she discovered that "Epstein was trying to use the relationship to develop some unrelated social networks in Norway. According to local Norwegian media, dn.no, Epstein has been trying to make Norway a stronghold for the illegal sex trade with young Eastern European women.
In contrast to Prince Andrew, who was stripped of his royal title and various military ranks, the future Queen of Norway did not suffer the same "cutting of the mat" as the second prince of the British royal family. Instead, Mette-Marit has kept a low profile, and the focus of Norwegian public opinion has been on other celebrities in the country's political and business circles. More damaging to Norway's international reputation than the Norwegian royal family is the fact that former Norwegian Prime Minister and former chairman of the Nobel Committee, Thorbjørn Jagland, was also involved in the Epstein scandal.
Is the Princess finished with her melon?
In contrast to Prince Andrew's high-profile interview with the BBC, Mette-Marit has adopted a low-key and low-key strategy. It is no coincidence that the Norwegian Royal Court announced that Mette-Marit had a rare disease of pulmonary fibrosis, with fever and flu, and had to drastically reduce her public duties as Crown Princess as the Epstein case intensified. As the King of Norway turned 80, Crown Prince Haakon became increasingly active on the international stage, but the Crown Princess, who had once been by his side, was rarely seen.
Objectively speaking, the decision to increasingly fade from public life has kept Mette-Marit from going as wrong as Britain's Prince Andrew and eventually forcing the royal family to cut ties with him. In fact, her relationship with Haakon more than 20 years ago caused a huge storm in her country.
Mette-Marit was pregnant with the flesh and blood of a drug addict when she was dating Prince Haakon.
On January 21, 2000, Prince Haakon announced his marriage to Mette-Marit
Even in the Nordic countries, which we have always considered to be very enlightened and pluralistic, a commoner like Mette-Marit (whose parents are still divorced) faced huge public resistance to marry Prince Haakon, who was to inherit the Norwegian throne. The two announced their love affair in 1999, two years after the death of Princess Diana. The future Crown Prince of the Scandinavian country, Haakon, is a cheerful man who loves the outdoors and sports, in addition to being a young man who loves to go to rock parties and has a great nightlife. At an open-air rock concert, Prince Haakon met his future wife. She was a virtual unknown at the time.
While the British public was mourning Diana's car accident and reflecting on whether the royal family should become more civilian, Norwegian society was not kind to the likely future queen. Some Norwegian newspapers investigated Mette-Marit's background and discovered a "horrifying" fact: the woman, who was born into a single-parent family, was not only a regular at nightclubs, but also a long-time user of various psychotropic drugs in the early 1990s, which were in a legal gray area.
To the outrage of many royalist Norwegians, Mette-Marit was pregnant with a drug addict when she became involved with Prince Haakon. Her divorced father, as if he didn't think it was possible for his daughter to marry into the royal family, was unrestrained and married a stripper half her age.
The overwhelmingly negative comments about Mette-Marit came as a shock to the Norwegian royal family. At one point Prince Haakon considered giving up his right to the throne in order to marry Mette-Marit. If the entire Norwegian court of public opinion was against them, it was King Harald V who had been tacitly approving of their relationship. Prince Harald, who was still crown prince, and Sonja Haraldsson, a commoner, had been childhood sweethearts, but because they were not "right for each other", Harald and Sonja had to go through a lot of trouble to convince King Olav to agree to their marriage.
With the support of Harald V, the couple announced their marriage in 2000 on August 25, 2001. One of the things that turned public opinion around was their initiative to hold a press conference before the wedding, where Mette-Marit, while in tears, confessed her past and promised not to be a "problem girl" who loved bars and consumed psychotropic drugs. In the first poll conducted after their marriage, the Norwegian public's dissatisfaction with the new princess began to decline rapidly, and now the princess's past is no longer a topic of discussion in Norway.
Controversy behind the King's husband
If future Norwegian queens have gone from controversy to calm, some newcomers to the royal family have gone from controversy to controversy and have been the focus of social and historical attention until after their deaths. Bernhard, the husband of the late Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and a German nobleman by birth, has been a source of controversy for the Dutch.
During World War II, Bernhard, who had long been Princess Juliana's husband, had been revered by the Dutch resistance for leading the Imperial Army in a firefight with Nazi German troops outside the royal palace. Later, Bernhard went to England with Juliana to form a government in exile and then to the United States, where he lived near Roosevelt's private residence in New York, Hyde Park.
The late Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and her husband Bernhard in 1946
Like Crown Prince Olaf of Norway, the Crown Princes of the Netherlands were also guests of Roosevelt. Being of Dutch descent from the Hudson River Valley of New York, the Roosevelts share a special ethnic bond with Princess Juliana. If Roosevelt himself preferred to associate with Crown Princess Martha of Norway, Juliana had a closer relationship with the First Lady of the United States. Bernhard, who appeared as a fighting hero, actually had a very bad relationship with the chubby princess who ascended to the Dutch throne after the war.
How bad was Juliana's relationship with Bernhard? After Juliana's accession to the throne as Queen of the Netherlands, the two have been at odds with each other, to the point of annulling each other's royal status. The trigger of their conflict was a court lady named Gerrit Hoffmann. This court lady has always claimed to possess some supernatural powers, and her various fanciful arguments have always influenced Juliana's work as the king of a country.
Although the Queen of the Netherlands had no real power, Juliana, under the influence of courtesan Hoffmann, began to show her intention to interfere directly in politics. She even considered convincing the Dutch government to withdraw from NATO, turn the Netherlands into a neutral country, and conclude a peace agreement with the Soviet Union. Bernhard, who was very close to the NATO military, could not sit still at this time. The palace was divided into two factions: the Queen and her court lady Hoffmann, and Bernhard and several princesses, including Princess Beatrix, who later became Queen.
Throughout the 1950s, scandals surrounding courtesan Hoffmann were leaked to the press and, as reported by the leading German political and economic magazine Der Spiegel, Hoffmann was portrayed as Rasputin, a folk warlock who had caused the queen great problems in the Romanov dynasty at the end of the Tsarist era. Reports such as "The court lady was a sorcerer at the queen's side" became a huge "melon" for the European royal family at the time and dealt a major blow to Juliana's reputation.
Bernhard later confessed that these "melons" were all "fierce news" released under his control, and his ultimate goal was to drive Hoffmann out of court life. At this stage, the relationship between the Dutch Queen and her wife was like water and fire. In the words of the Dutch queen, Bernhard was "staging a German-led coup". The Dutch prime minister had to intervene by sending three emotional experts to the palace to try to mend the marriage, which had actually broken down. The ultimate solution of the three experts, which Dutch public opinion at the time dubbed the "Three Doctors of the East," was that the queen terminate Hoffmann's position as courtesan and that Bernhard's gangsterism within the court be condemned.
Bernhard, who had close ties with the U.S. and NATO militaries and was backed by the support of his children, eventually flipped. in 1976, the Dutch press revealed that the U.S. arms group Lockheed had offered Bernhard a $1 million bribe. As Bernhard refused to accept the Prime Minister's proposed investigation proposal, Dutch public opinion showed an increasing interest in the scandal of the king's husband. In 1976, Dutch public opinion was dominated by the subject of Bernhard's alleged embezzlement.
In the words of the Dutch queen, Bernhard was "staging a German-led coup".
In 1942, Bernhard, a German nobleman by birth
The Dutch paparazzi, who were no match for the British paparazzi, also found evidence during their investigation that the former World War II hero actually had very close ties with the Nazi party in his early years and had committed adultery with other women during his tenure as king's husband. Eventually, a letter from Bernhard to the Lockheed Group asking for kickbacks in 1974 surfaced. As a member of the royal family, Bernhard escaped criminal responsibility but was stripped of all military ranks and more than 300 titles in social welfare organizations, just as Prince Andrew of England is now doing.
Since Juliana became Queen of the Netherlands, the couple has had one melon after another, not only leaving the marriage in name only, but also starting to shake up the monarchy for a dismayed Dutch public. Soon after the Lockheed bribery case broke out, Queen Juliana announced her abdication, allowing her eldest daughter Beatrix to succeed her as Queen of the Netherlands.
In 2008, the former prime minister who initiated the investigation into the Bernhard bribery case revealed in a biography that Bernhard had also accepted bribes from another U.S. arms giant, Northrop, but the Dutch government suppressed the matter in light of the angry public opinion that might have fundamentally shaken the monarchy. But the Dutch government suppressed the matter, considering that angry public opinion might be a fundamental shake-up of the monarchy.
In 2009, a book published by two Dutch historians revealed that Bernhard had returned to the Netherlands after World War II and was so fed up with his powerless court role that he tried to sabotage Indonesia's independence by planning a coup d'état there to become the colony's "protector".
In 2010, a new book revealed that Bernhard had been a member of the Nazi party until 1935 and that his marriage to Juliana had been motivated not by love for her, but by the need to climb the social ladder. 2014 saw the appearance of another book, which dissected Juliana and Bernhard's broken marriage and provided a number of accounts of Bernhard's sexual advances toward women in the royal court The story of Bernhard's furtive behavior toward female attendants in the palace. If a Dutch version of "The Crown" is ever filmed in the Netherlands, it would be a fascinating story with so much material.
Bernhard's second daughter, Princess Elena, has always dismissed these "melons" that keep popping up and asked why these authors, who were not present in history, were able to write so many stories that seemed to her to be complete fabrications.
It can be said that the withdrawal of the princes and nobles from the daily political operations in Europe and their increasing convergence to the ranks of celebrities has been an irreversible process. These royals, who have become celebrities and faces, are more concerned with long-term cultural "soft" influence than with the vagaries of public opinion. Of course, to provide a constant flow of "melons" for the public, or to continue to be created by future generations after them, is also a kind of "soft power", right?
