Page "Gustaf V of Sweden" Paragraph 14

According to Prime Minister Per Albin Hansson, the King in a private conversation had threatened to abdicate if the Government did not approve a German request to transfer a fighting infantry division – the so-called Engelbrecht Division – through Swedish territory from southern Norway to northern Finland in June 1941, around Midsummer.

The accuracy of this claim is debated, and the King's intention ( if he did in fact make this threat ) is sometimes alleged to be his desire to avoid conflict with Germany.

This event has later received considerable attention from Swedish historians and is known as midsommarkrisen, the Midsummer Crisis.