Eighty years ago, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill visited Iceland. Morgunblaðið commemorates this important event in its today’s report.
The visit took place during World War II, when Churchill sailed to Great Britain aboard the battleship HMS Prince of Wales, after meeting with US President Franklin D. Roosevelt aboard the cruiser USS Augusta and then aboard HMS Prince of Wales in Placentia Bay off the coast Newfoundland. Following the meeting, they issued a joint political statement known as the Atlantic Charter.
British troops occupied Iceland on May 10, 1940, and American troops joined them in July of the following year.
On Saturday morning, August 16, 1941, word spread that Churchill would be arriving in the country, and a large crowd gathered in the port of Reykjavík.
Churchill was accompanied, among others, by junior naval officer Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. son of the President of the United States. After a solemn greeting, Churchill went to the parliament building, where he was received by the head of the Icelandic state, Sveinn Björnsson and the other members of the Icelandic government.
Churchill then spoke to the cheering crowd that had gathered outside the Parliament building. In his speech, he promised that Britain and the US would see to it that Iceland would gain full independence after the war.
The British Prime Minister also took part in the military parade on Suðurlandsbraut. Before leaving the country, he visited the Höfði house where the reception was held in his honor, as well as Reykjavik Airport and the Reykir hot springs in Mosfellssveit.
Source: Yle