its replacement with a new cabinet led by non-party member and veteran diplomat Erik Scavenius, whom the Germans expected to be more cooperative. (In any event, whatever independence Denmark had been able to maintain during the first years of the occupation ended abruptly with the German Putsch in August 1943.) After a fall with his horse on 19 October 1942, Christian was more or less an invalid for the rest of his reign. The role he played in creating the Easter Crisis of 1920 greatly reduced his popularity, but his daily rides, the Telegram Crisis, and the admiring stories spread by Danish-American circles had once again made him popular to the point of being a beloved national symbol. Reign over Iceland The accession of a new Danish–Icelandic Act of Union in late 1918 redefined Iceland, a longtime part of the Danish realm, as a sovereign state in a personal union with the Kingdom of Denmark. This made Christian the king of the mostly autonomous Kingdom of Iceland in addition to being King of Denmark. Christian (whose name in Iceland was officially Kristján X) was the first and only monarch to ever reign over Iceland as a sovereign kingdom as opposed to ruling it as a province of a larger kingdom. In 1941, after the German occupation of Denmark and the Allied occupation of Iceland, the Icelandic government concluded that Christian was unable to perform his duties as head of state of Iceland, and thus appointed Sveinn Björnsson as regent to act as provisional head of state. Sveinn had previously been Iceland's ambassador in Copenhagen. In 1944, while Denmark was still under German occupation, Icelanders voted in a plebiscite to sever all ties with the King of Denmark and to found a republic. Thus, Christian's title as King of Iceland became null and void and Sveinn Björnsson was elected the first President of Iceland by the Icelandic parliament. Christian, who believed that Sveinn had given him assurances that Iceland would not make further moves toward independence while the occupation was ongoing, felt quite badly betrayed. However, at the urging of his relative, the King of Sweden, Christian still accepted the outcome and sent a message of congratulations to Iceland during the celebration of the founding of the Republic on 17 June 1944. The reading of the King's letter provoked cheers at Þingvellir during the celebration. Despite this implicit acceptance of Iceland's