In England, Norwegian Vikings began to arrive along the coast of the North West after being driven out of Ireland around the early tenth century.

The choice of Prince Carl of Denmark, who became King Haakon VII, was largely seen as being influenced by two unusual factors: Denmark being a smaller nation meant that the Balance of Power in Europe would not be upset by Norway's instant alliance with the native land of its new king, and Carl's wife, Maud, was a British princess, which would be expected to lead to a close relationship with the United Kingdom, which could give Norway some protection from German hegemony.

During World War II, Norway was invaded and occupied by Germany, forcing the Norwegian king and government to create a government-in-exile in London.

The British military also helped train and organise Norwegian commandos to attack Nazi installations in Norway.

The impressive Norwegian spruce, standing at 45 feet tall, was personally felled by Gunnar Bakke who has been the Mayor of Bergen since September 2007.

[16] In January 2020, with the imminent departure of Britain from the European Union, Norway and the UK signed an exclusive Brexit agreement between the two countries that would aim to maintain existing guarantees for citizens of either.

The cities with the most Britons are Oslo (2,535), Stavanger (1,542), Bergen (1,014), Bærum (716), Trondheim (360), Asker (307), Kristiansand (238), Drammen (144) and Fredrikstad (111).

[23] Queen Elizabeth II made three state visits to Norway during her reign, in 1955, 1981 and most recently in 2001 when she was received by King Harald V. On 4 January 1960, Norway and the United Kingdom became founding members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA); the UK left the EFTA to join the European Economic Community (EEC) on 31 December 1972.

[24][25] Following the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, the UK signed a continuity trade agreement with Norway, as well as Iceland.