857.01/53: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Kennedy) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 1—10:10 p.m.]
1921. Dr. Koht, the Norwegian Minister for Foreign Affairs came to see me this afternoon and told me that the King of Norway had received a note from the Bureau of Congress in Norway to the effect that since the King was out of the country the Congress would be called, declaring him out of the picture from now on, and would go ahead and set themselves up as the legally constituted government. Dr. Koht said that since the constitution provides that the King cannot possibly be relieved of any of his duties until he has been out of the country six months, it is a completely unconstitutional act. Dr. Koht also said this same Congress, which will now act under duress of the Germans, had voted supreme powers to the Government now operating here in London and they have no legal right to deprive them and the King of that authority.
What the Minister for Foreign Affairs wants to know is whether the United States will recognize the government now being set up, as he said, by the Germans. The King is writing a letter within the next 48 hours declining to have anything to do with the demands of the Bureau of Congress and setting forth that all the demands are quite unconstitutional.