Wilhelm Christopher Christophersen (15 December 1832 – 26 July 1913) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

diplomat, noted for his contributions in facilitating the

dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905 The dissolution of the union ( nb, unionsoppløsningen; nn, unionsoppløysinga; Landsmål: ''unionsuppløysingi''; sv, unionsupplösningen) between the kingdoms of Norway and Sweden under the House of Bernadotte, was set in motion by a resolu ...

and later his service as

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

Biography

Wilhelm Christophersen was born at Brevik in

Telemark Telemark is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional ...

, Norway. The son of a customs official in the town, he was a brother of Christian Christophersen and Peter Christophersen and the grand-uncle of Erling Christophersen. In June 1876, he married Swedish citizen Berta Alexandra Juliane Carola Juhlin-Dannfelt (1856–1943). He earned his

examen artium Examen artium was the name of the academic certification conferred in Denmark and Norway, qualifying the student for admission to university studies. Examen artium was originally introduced as the entrance exam of the University of Copenhagen in 1 ...

in 1850. After a brief career as a private tutor in the Netherlands, Christophersen entered the study of law at the

Royal Frederick University The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

(now the University of Oslo) in 1853, graduating in 1857. He worked as a language teacher to finance his education. From 1857 he worked in the Ministry of Auditing, but in 1859 his language skills got him an assignment within the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministr ...

's office for trade and consular affairs. In 1864 he was transferred to the Swedish-Norwegian foreign service. He served as consul in

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from 1864 and in

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from 1868 to 1870, and then as consul-general in the same city until 1878. Having secured this position, he was stationed in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

;

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; and Antwerp. Upon the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905, he stayed in Antwerp in the same position, only for the Norwegian government. In March 1908, he was appointed as

in the first cabinet of Gunnar Knudsen, where he served until February 1910, when the cabinet resigned.

Legacy

As a professional within the field of Swedish-Norwegian foreign affairs, Christophersen's career was limited by his lack of family connections and financial resources. As he had served on the commission to study a separate consular corps for Norway, as well as other committees on the topic, he fell out of

Oscar II Oscar II (Oscar Fredrik; 21 January 1829 – 8 December 1907) was King of Sweden from 1872 until his death in 1907 and King of Norway from 1872 to 1905. Oscar was the son of King Oscar I and Queen Josephine. He inherited the Swedish and Norweg ...

's good graces. As consul, he had several notable accomplishments: * In 1884-85, acting as the ad hoc

plenipotentiary A ''plenipotentiary'' (from the Latin ''plenus'' "full" and ''potens'' "powerful") is a diplomat who has full powers—authorization to sign a treaty or convention on behalf of his or her sovereign. When used as a noun more generally, the wor ...

emissary in Mexico for Sweden-Norway, he had secured the release of a Norwegian ship and negotiated a trade agreement between Mexico and the kingdom he represented * He also negotiated trade agreements limited to Norway (and not Sweden) with Spain in 1893 and Switzerland in 1894. As foreign minister, his in-depth knowledge and field experience with consular affairs made him particularly suited to build a foreign service organization to serve Norwegian economic interests. He also worked to reconcile relations between Norway and Sweden. His wife was Swedish, the daughter of a Swedish diplomat. He accepted the position as foreign minister on the condition that he was able to return to his post as consul general in Antwerp. But he instead was awarded an adequate pension and remained in Norway.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christophersen, Wilhelm 1832 births 1913 deaths Norwegian diplomats Government ministers of Norway Liberal Party (Norway) politicians People from Porsgrunn University of Oslo alumni Norwegian expatriates in Spain Norwegian expatriates in Argentina Norwegian expatriates in France Norwegian expatriates in the United Kingdom Norwegian expatriates in Belgium Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order