The king quickly left for Hamar to join with key group leaders in parliament, a number of ministers, and the presidents of Stortinget in discussion regarding Norway's course of action. German troops came upon Hamar, forcing the group further to Elverum and then to Nybergsund.
The next morning, the King agreed to meet with German foreign minister Bräuer, who demanded that the King dismiss his present government and instead endorse the N.S. (Nasjonal Samling) government arranged by Norwegian Vidkun Quisling. The King adamantly refused to do so and was both shocked and dismayed at Bräuer's insinuation that responsibility for the ensuing war would fall upon his shoulders alone.
The following day, the King rejected Quisling's request that he return to Oslo with his family. Shortly thereafter, three enemy airplanes brought a cascade of bombs upon the town of Nybergsund, setting fire to buildings and houses mere yards from where the King and his son had been dining when the air raid alarm sounded. The King, Crown Prince, and over a hundred others fled from the buildings and took cover in the snow-thickened trees.
After the planes had left, Håkon sent his son ahead in a separate car, deciding they should go northwards through the night and hope for permission from Sweden to spend a night across the border in safety. A telegraph was sent to the Swedish foreign minister, who met with the King and cabinet to determine whether this would impact their status as a neutral country. The reply received by Håkon's party was that no guarantees as to safety would be made and that quick internment by Swedish authorities might be the best and most likely of results.
Though King Håkon determined not to seek refuge in Sweden, the sight of German airplanes approaching forced the king and his ministers to cross the border and wait for twenty minutes until the planes had passed. According to Tim Greve, the king's biographer, the Swedish ministers later insisted that this would not be an acceptable means of seeking protection. After all, in 1905 the Norwegians had used the argument that King Oscar's absence from Norway essentially meant that he had abdicated the throne, leaving it open for Norway to establish its own independent monarchy. The Norwegian King could not now ignore that same argument by hiding out in Sweden (1983, 137).
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