Translation from Finnish

Finnophilius   Sun Feb 04, 2007 10:55 pm GMT
Hi!
Can anyone help me with translating this Finnish text into English, German or a Scandinavian language?

Thanks in advance!


"Suomen kuninkaan kruunu

Suomen aiotulle kuninkaalle, Hessenin prinssi Friedrich Karlille suunniteltiin v. 1918 kruunu, jota ei kuitenkaan valmistettu. Myöhemmin kultaseppämestari Teuvo Ypyä valmisti kruunun Emil Nestor Setälän hallussa olleen lyijykynähahmotelman ja Eric Ehrströmin alkuperäisen neliväriluonnoksen mukaan.

Kullattu kruunu on kokoa 57. Kivinä kruunussa on neljä isoa kuorikkohelmeä ja neljä jaloserpentiinihelmeä. Kruunu painaa yli kaksi kiloa.

Suomen eduskunta valitsi Hessenin prinssi Friedrich Karlin Suomen kuninkaaksi 9. lokakuuta 1918. Saksan tappio ensimmäisessä maailmansodassa johti kuitenkin siihen, ettei Suomen itsenäisyyttä olisi tunnustettu, jos maan valtaistuimella olisi istunut saksalainen prinssi. Friedrich Karl ilmoittikin 14. joulukuuta 1918 luopuvansa kuninkuudesta. Luopumisesta ilmoittava kirjelmä oli kaunokielinen. Kirje päättyi seuraaviin sanoihin: "Minä lähetän maalle ja sen vakavakatseiselle kansalle oman ja omaisteni tervehdyksen ja kiitoksen monesta myötätuntoisuuden osoituksesta. Tulkoon onnelliseksi tämä minulle rakas kansa, sen miehet ja naiset ja sen ihana nuoriso, johon tulevaisuuden toivo perustuu.""
suomalainen   Mon Feb 05, 2007 2:04 pm GMT
The crown of the Finnish king

There was a plan in 1918 to make a crown to the intended king of Finland, prince of Hessen Friedrich Karl, but the plan wasn´t accomplished. Later a goldsmith master, Teuvo Ypyä, made the crown according to a pencil sciss owned by Emil Nestor Setälä and the original four-colour plan of Eric Ehrström.
The size of the gilded crown was 57. There are four jacket pearls and four serpentinate pearls on the crown. The crown weighs more than two kilograms.
The Finnish parlament elected prince of Hessen as king of Finland on the 9th of October 1918. Nevertheless, as a result of the defeat of Germany in WW I the independence of Finland wouldn´t have been recognized if a German prince had been sitting on the throne of Finland. Therefore, Friedrich Karl declared on the 14th of December that he will renounce the throne. The letter that announced of the renunciation was belletristic. It ended with these words: "I send to the land and its serious-minded nation a greeting of mine and in behalf of my family members, even a thank for many indications of sympathy. May this nation, that is dear to me, become fortunate, both its men and women and its glorious youth, upon which its hope of future lies".
Finnophilius   Mon Feb 05, 2007 6:05 pm GMT
Thanks a lot, suomalainen! That was very kind of you!

If you haven't seen it before, here is a picture of the beautiful Finnish crown as a reward for your efforts:
http://www.kiviopas.fi/opetus/mineraal/kuvat4/suomen_kruunu1.jpg

And more info:
http://www.kiviopas.fi/opetus/jalokivi/ihminen.htm
suomalainen   Tue Feb 06, 2007 10:20 am GMT
Thanks to God! Thank also for the pictures of the crown! I have sometimes seen them in a Finnish newspaper but I haven´t kept them. May I ask you how you have got interest for Finland, are you maybe a historian? Have you also studied Finnish? Är du kanske skandinav (då även en översättning till skandinaviska skulle ha dugit)?
The adventure with the "Finnish king" was rather odd. There was civil war in Finland in 1918, and after the defeat of the reds there was only one leftist member in the parlament who hadn´t been involved in the uprising. Therefore the royalists got majority. Still, it is strange that they made the decision when it should have been quite clear that Germany will lose the war. Anyway, the royalists thought that monarchy would give stability to the frail new-born country that had suffered a tragedic civil war. They also meant that Germany could guarantee the independence of Finland (even against the threat of Soviet Russia).
Finnophilius   Tue Feb 06, 2007 11:38 am GMT
I´m a Norwegian history student, but unfortunately not a student of Finnish. I was quite intrigued by Finland´s monarchical adventure. In case you want to see one of those newspapers you didn´t keep, here is an interesting edition of Helsingin Sanomat:
http://www2.hs.fi/extrat/digilehti/kuukausiliite/arkisto/2002/08/
I love the picture of Madame Tarja "Moominmamma" Halonen leading the young current "pretender" by the hand through the presidential palace!

BTW you might know me from this forum as "Fredrik from Norway".
suomalainen   Wed Feb 07, 2007 11:17 am GMT
Fredrik,
Takk for svaret! Ja, det er virkelig intresant også for elever i skolen å få höre at Finland (nesten) hadde en gang en konge. Han hadde allerede valt også navn for seg, det var 'Väinö I'. Jeg husker at du kommer fra Sydvest-Norge, jeg bor i Sydvest-Finland i Raumo (på finsk Rauma, det finns ett sted i Norge som heter slik). For meg har det vaert temmelig lett å laere meg norsk, fordi jeg har laert hjemme både finsk og svensk. Hilsen fra Finland!