The King Christian X character in Lois Lowry's book is a hero to his people and the Allied world. During Germany's invasion of Denmark, neither the elderly king nor his young, small army had enough power to stop the German aggression, so the king and most of Denmark surrendered the country within two hours. Yet, as Lowry's book echos, during the five-year German occupation of Denmark, King Christian X constantly displayed polite, open opposition to the German invaders and their arrogant brutality. The general Danish attitude toward Germany's invasion of their country and treatment of Jews throughout Europe is reflected in the Danish citizen's relationship to their king.

In Chapter 2, "Who is the Man Who Rides Past?", Lowry recalls that during much of the Occupation, Christian X rode his horse, Jubilee, through the streets of Copenhagen without benefit of a groom or bodyguard, as the picture above depicts. When a German soldier, accustomed to the pomp of Adolph Hitler, asked who guarded the Danish king, a young boy supposedly claimed that the Danish people served as King Christian X's bodyguards.

By April 9, 1940, when the Germans invaded Denmark, crossing the border less than an hour's drive from my mother's hometown of Aabenraa, Denmark, King Christian X was well on his way to becoming beloved by his people. But this king had nearly lost the Danish crown in 1920, which would have ended the oldest monarchy in the world. The current Danish queen, Margrethe II, granddaughter of Christian X, can trace her heritage back to Gorm the Old, the first king of Denmark (900-940). However, Christian X (1919-1947), now considered one of the most beloved Danish kings, was a staunch monarchist during the first decade of his 35-year reign, and he almost destroyed the Danish monarchy during the Easter Crisis of 1920, when he was far from beloved by most Danes and Germans alike.

To continue learning about King Christian X, go to Easter Crisis 1920.