Proposal Submitted To Remove Danish Royal Insignia From Icelandic Parliament

Pirate Party MP Björn Leví Gunnarsson has submitted a brief but explicit parliamentary proposal with one simple ask: remove the crown and royal insignia of the late King of Denmark Christian IX from the building of the Icelandic Parliament.

Win a signed copy of the new book by nature photographer RAX! Just sign up for our newsletter here before 15:00 Icelandic time on Jan 28th, and answer the question in the next one.

“Parliament resolves to entrust the parliamentary president to remove the crown and insignia of Christian IX from the roof of the parliamentary building, and replace it with an appropriate insignia of the Icelandic nation and parliament,” the proposal reads. “The insignia of Christian IX should have of course been removed long ago. The proposal otherwise speaks for itself as the Icelandic parliament no longer operates under the auspices of the Danish crown.”

As can be seen in the above photo, and as anyone who has been to Austurvöllur square knows, the top and front centre of the roof of the Icelandic Parliament does indeed bear a crown, as well as the telltale “C9” insignia, referring to the late king.

Christian IX reluctantly granted constitutional powers to Iceland in 1874, allowing Iceland’s Parliament to write laws and pass legislation pertaining to solely Icelandic matters, although the king retained the right to veto. The parliamentary building itself was built from 1880 to 1881.

Iceland gained extended home rule in 1904, and became a completely independent nation that was no longer a Danish colony in 1944. The proposal would then appear to be reasonable and long overdue.

The timing of the proposal submission has also been noted, however–Denmark lost to France in the European men’s handball championship tournament yesterday, which according to the byzantine rules of handball effectively denied Iceland the chance to move forward. “Thanks for nothing”, reads a headline about the match on Vísir, summing up the sentiments of many Icelandic fans.

Handball or not, the proposal has received considerable support, but whether or not it will actually pass still remains to be seen.