All three objections were finally overruled.  Sweden, fearing lest an empty throne in Norway should give impetus to the movement for a republic, and that such a movement might afterward spread to her own borders, was as much in haste to see Norwegian affairs settled as the Norwegians themselves, so she swallowed her grievances.  Most amicable correspondence passed between Prince Karl and the Crown Prince of Sweden, the latter expressing himself anxious to be the first to welcome Haakon VII into his capital.  What became of Princess Maud’s reluctance is not definitely known.  It is understood that she never found life at the Danish court very amusing, and probably the prospect of exchanging Copenhagen for a city of less than half its size did not allure her.  She must have realized that if she accepted a share of the Norwegian throne, she would be forced to abandon her favorite cure for ennui—­frequent flights to the court of England—­for Norway has had quite enough of absentee royalty.  The English papers asserted that King Edward used his parental authority to overcome his daughter’s scruples.  At all events, she gave in.  As for Prince Karl’s reasonable fear of dethronement and penury, the Norwegian government quieted that by promising a respectable pension in case the king should find it expedient to abdicate.

So, then, the affair was comfortably arranged.  The king has a salary of $200,000, a crown when he had no hope of ever feeling one on his brow, and the problems of a court without a nobility.

And now the world is asking, “Has Norway done well for herself?” Certainly she has done well in putting a Scandinavian prince on the throne.  No alien would ever understand Norway or be understood.  If reports are creditable, the Kaiser made the most of his friendship with the country in support of the claims of a son of his own.  Had a German secured the throne, there would have been sown fresh seeds of discord on a peninsula which can raise a sufficient crop of dissensions without any aid from the rest of Europe.  For Denmark, still nursing the rankling grievance of the Schleswig-Holstein affair, detests the thought of everything German.

King Haakon combines the advantages of Scandinavian birth with the very positive political asset of blood relationship to half the courts of Europe.  Grandson of the late King Christian of Denmark, the young monarch is also nephew to King George of Greece, the Dowager Empress of Russia, and Alexandria of England, a grand-nephew to the late Oscar of Sweden, son-in-law to King Edward VII, and cousin to the Czar.  To a relatively defenseless country like Norway, this means a good deal.