1939 New York Times Incident

The 1939 New York Times Incident was an incident surrounding a mistaken report by The New York Times newspaper company which had mistakenly reported the then Crown Princess Ingrid of Denmark, whom had then been on a month long tour around the United States for having allegedly "cheated" on her husband, the Crown Prince of Denmark after she was sighted alongside an American actor by the name of Robert Clarke (later revealed to be that of the British king Charles III himself) while driving through the streets of New York.

Though the incident was promptly resolved, albeit in a private manner, it was notable for having caused a brief period of crisis in Denmark itself as acts of infidelity by a married spouse is seriously frowned upon in general.

Background

On February 1939, Crown Princess Ingrid of Denmark had then chose to visit the United States on a month long tour. The crown princess, upon being received at the Port of New York and New Jersey then promptly relocated to a certain estate in New York itself, which was owned by her adoptive brother, Charles, Prince of Wales whom had then been living in the country under an alias named Robert Clarke. Around a year prior to her arrival, the Prince of Wales had voluntarily withdrew to the country in order to escape criticism back in the United Kingdom, and had chose to settle in the state itself upon assuming his aforementioned alias.

Incident

On March 7th, The New York Times, an American and New York-based newspaper company reported on the sighting of Crown Princess Ingrid alongside an American actor by the name of Robert Clarke, whom was in fact [[Charles III of the United Kingdom|Charles III}} himself. However, as Charles had been living under a different identity and prior to the incident, had never diclosed his actual identity to the American public at all, The New York Times consequently reported the story in which the crown princess was allegedly committing infidelity towards her husband, the Crown Prince of Denmark and was mistakenly reported to had been involved in an extramarital affair with the said American actor.

When the reports further circulated in Denmark instead, the then Danish Prime Minister Thorvald Stauning promptly considered on recalling the crown princess back home while the latter's husband, Crown Prince Frederick himself reportedly issued a private letter demanding explanation from the latter. Meanwhile, the report itself, due to its highly controversial nature aroused great controversy in both the United States and Denmark as a small number of protests were said to had occurred following the incident.

Aftermath

Approximately three days after the report was first publicised, the Danish government then declared a "conclusive end" to the incident, citing personally undisclosed explanations made by the crown princess which was said to had disclosed Charles III's assumed alias to the Danish government, though by the latter's insistence, the disclosure itself was never released to the public in both the United States and Denmark. Nevertheless, despite the brief incident, amidst calls for her immediate return to Denmark, Ingrid herself remained in the United States before finally departing back for her country a month later as planned.