'Atlantic Crossing': Exploring the Real-Life History Behind the Series

The series Atlantic Crossing has come in for a fair amount of criticism in Europe for its alleged mishandling of history. It was bound to happen, just as viewers of Netflix’s The Crown, couldn’t always separate fact from fiction. Neither The Crown nor Atlantic Crossing ever claimed to be anything but dramatizations of historical events in which facts have to serve a credible storyline, while keeping the viewers engaged. This is when audiences get vocal about modern values being imposed on history, and the closer the period is to our own, the more heated the arguments tend to become.

What ‘inspired by true events’ really means is some of this actually happened, some of it could likely have happened, and the rest of it is made up. - Alexander Eik, creator of 'Atlantic Crossing'

One advantage creator Alexander Eik and his colleagues had was that the story of Norwegian Crown Princess Märtha and her influence on American President Franklin D. Roosevelt was pretty much forgotten. In Britain, at least, the official version is that Winston Churchill was responsible for persuading the United States to enter World War II. Why did Norway not celebrate its achievements? Was it because the country wanted to keep myths and rumors about Märtha’s possible affair with Roosevelt under wraps? Or did nobody really care? Did rebuilding and recovering from the German invasion and occupation take up everyone’s time and energy? Olav and Märtha remained well-loved after their return home and, as far as I can tell, Norway today has a healthy, low-key affection for its unpretentious royals.