By FDR Presidential Library & Museum - 73-113:95, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43606596
Atlantic Crossing is now airing on PBS in the United States and Canada. It is an eight-part mini-series, looking at the Crown Princess of Norway’s escape to safety in the United States with her children during the Second World War and her friendship with American President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It stars Sofia Helin as Crown Princess Martha and Kyle MacLachlan as Franklin Roosevelt. Atlantic Crossing originally aired in Norway in the autumn of 2020 and premiered in North America on 4 April 2021.
The series is a dramatic look at an already dramatic episode of royal history. Martha fully supported Norwegian mobilisation, including encouraging women to do their part for the war effort. However, when the Germans invaded in April of 1940, Martha, and Princesses Ragnhild and Astrid and Prince Harald (the future King Harald V) fled to her native Sweden. At the border,
Having the US take on Nazi Germany was never a sure thing. America in the 1930s had a strong isolationist tradition; many saw the conflict in Europe as Europe’s problem, while others were actively supportive of Hitler’s regime. By the end of 1940, with Europe under German control and the British Empire reeling, a Nazi victory looked all but certain. Enter Norwegian Crown Princess Martha.
Sofia Helin portrays Crown Princess Martha
Source: SBS
Norway’s behind-the-scenes role in World War II has largely been overlooked by the history books.
Atlantic Crossing aims to right that wrong – or at the very least, tell an entertaining story about a largely overlooked corner of the war. It’s a series that sticks to the facts when it comes to the big picture; it’s when it starts looking into the lesser known areas that things get really interesting.
This guest recommendation comes from Janet Mullany! Janet Mullany is a sometime fiction writer who is a regular contributor for PBS/WETA’s Tellyvisions blog.
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Really, PBS Masterpiece? Is that the best you can do?
Because
Atlantic Crossing is not some sort of adulterous fairy tale. A production of Norwegian Public Broadcasting (NRK), it tells the story of how Norway’s Crown Princess Märtha, in exile in the US, became a major player in persuading President Franklin D. Roosevelt to join the second world war. It’s beautifully filmed, with a strong ensemble cast, a moving and dramatic story, and lots of emotion. On average I teared up at least twice until the last episode where, heck, it was every ten minutes. This is what public television should be.
FDR fishing accompanied by Princess Martha. Courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library archive.
LIKELY: “There were many rumors about their relationship many at the time thought [it was] romantic,” says series creator, director, co-writer and executive producer, Alexander Eik. “We do not know for certain that was the case, but we know that President Roosevelt was infatuated with Martha and this has been confirmed by many sources [including] two of his grandchildren. … Early in the war, British Intelligence [also] reported from Washington to London that the President was infatuated.”
It’s true that in his spare time between 1941-1945, FDR’s most frequent companion was Martha, though others were often with them as well. “We have assumed President Roosevelt had romantic feelings for the Crown Princess,” sums up series’ co-writer and historian, Linda May Kallestein. “That does not mean they had a physical relationship.”
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interview subject: Alexander Eik
mp interview content 0 question: The story of Crown Princess Martha and Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) is no doubt surprising to many MASTERPIECE viewers. How did you go about uncovering the hidden history for the series?
mp interview content 0 answer: It all started back in 2011 actually, when I read a newspaper article about Crown Princess Martha and her experiences during the second World War. I was very surprised to see that she had a very close relationship to President Roosevelt, and I realized that I knew absolutely nothing about her. When I talked to my friends and colleagues, it turns out that none of us actually knew very much about her … very little had been written about Crown Princess Martha, and the few books that were written about her, were all describing her at a very cordial distance, written by people who actually didn t know her personally.