Christmas tree custom and Bond - 22nd December 2023

This 20 metre high tree was chopped down before crowds outside Oslo, Norway. The tree had been specially selected to be sent to London, as a gift from one capital to the other. The Oslo mayor explains the custom.

Anne Lindboe: "This is a very, very important tradition for us in Oslo. The Christmas tree that we're sending to London every, every year, it's a token of gratitude for the help that we received during the Second World War."

When German troops entered Norway in 1940, King Haakon found safety in London. At his request, the tree has been sent to London since 1947, as a thank you present, once the war had ended.

However, another, more exciting story has come out.

London's National Maritime Museum has documents which show that a Norwegian commando was involved. The soldier - Mons Urangsvåg - had transported two Christmas trees to London and was intending to give them to King Haakon.

James Bond author, Ian Fleming, heard this news and invited the commando out for dinner in a posh hotel in central London, near Trafalgar Square. While they were enjoying their meal, they decided it would be amusing to leave one of the Norwegian trees there!

Whether this story is true or not, the gift of the tree has always been an important one. It's become a sign of peace and friendship between the two nations. Both the Mayor of Oslo and the Mayor of Westminster are present. They attend the chopping down ceremony in Norway and the lighting ceremony in Britain. The tradition has now taken place for 76 years.

Anne Lindboe: "But it's also become to mean so much more. And, and we are living in these really, really dark times. And now I think the Christmas tree, it symbolises peace, it symbolises standing together, friendship between cities."