The princess and the president

Crown Princess Märtha of Norway

b.1901-d.1954

Märtha became the crown princess of Norway when she married Crown Prince Olav in 1929. Exiled to the United States during World War II, her courage and determination to defeat the Nazi threat earned her the devotion of the Norwegian people.

She was the beautiful princess whose commitment and love for her adopted country, Norway, has led to her being fondly remembered as the ‘Mother of the Nation’. He was the charismatic president who guided the United States through the terrors of World War II and is considered to be one of the greatest political leaders to have ever lived. This is the story of Crown Princess Märtha and President Franklin D Roosevelt, two remarkable people who sought comfort in each other during a time of darkness and turmoil while giving their fellow countrymen the hope that they desperately needed.

Märtha and Franklin first met in spring 1939, when she visited the United States with her husband, Crown Prince Olav. The royal couple had been married ten years and they had three children together. Born a princess of Sweden, Märtha’s marriage to Norway’s crown prince helped to promote relations between the two countries, which had been tense since the previous unity of their crowns was dissolved in 1905. There was genuine love, affection and devotion between the royal couple and they enjoyed a happy life together. But this didn’t stop the president from developing an attraction to Märtha the second he laid eyes on her.

Unlike the princess, Franklin was no stranger to infidelity. He had been married to his wife Eleanor since 1905 and they had six children, although they had lost one son shortly after he was born. Franklin had a number of affairs over the years, most notably with his wife’s social secretary, Lucy Mercer. Eleanor knew of these liaisons and even offered to divorce her husband, but the president’s advisors warned him against it because it could have ruined his reputation. Although they persevered with their marriage, it was clear that Franklin and Eleanor were now together for appearances rather than love.

Meanwhile, the peaceful life that Märtha and Olav had built together with their family was shattered in April 1940. The Nazis invaded Norway and, despite the royal family’s attempts to resist them, it finally became clear that they needed to flee the country. Olav and his father, King Haakon VII, went to London where they formed a Norwegian government in exile, determined to find a way to defeat the enemy. As for Crown Princess Märtha, she fled to her native Sweden with her children – but there was no warm welcome