Iceland, a sovereign state governed as a constitutional republic, enjoys productive ties with all EU members, especially with Denmark, with which Iceland has a long complex historical association that extends to the 1300s.
Iceland was, for about 50 years, a 'dependency' of Denmark, but in 1874 was granted home rule. Then, in the 1918 Act of Union, Denmark recognised Iceland as a full sovereign state under the Danish king. This was conditional on a common or shared (therefore, essentially Danish) foreign policy and other provisos. Crucially, however, the union treaty allowed for a revision process to begin in 1941.
The two peoples duly envisaged a future based on a more mutually respectful footing.
However, nobody foresaw the cataclysmic turn of events that would irrevocably redefine their relationship again 23 years later.
During the spring of 1940, one of most curious episodes of the second world war unfolded like a surreal subplot to the ghastly drama raging on continental Europe. Indeed, the following saga - 'saga' being an Icelandic word - is one that appears to prove the adage that fact is stranger than fiction.
On April 9, 1940, Germany invaded Denmark, severing all communications between Iceland and Denmark. And subsequently, the following day, the Icelandic parliament declared Danish King Christian X unable to perform his constitutional duties and assigned them to Iceland's government, along with all other responsibilities previously carried out by Denmark on behalf of Iceland.