Bands playing to no audience, kids’ parades cancelled for the first time since the war, the national anthem belted out from balconies: Norway’s national holiday is normally a festive celebration, but on Sunday it was feted in small groups and online due to the pandemic. After centuries under Danish and Swedish control, Norway normally bathes in a sea of red-white-and-blue flags on May 17, the anniversary of the signing of its constitution in 1814 — decades before full independence in 1905. Children typically take to the streets in parades across the country, ice creams and hot dogs are devoured, and the day culminates in a huge parade in “bunad”, a traditional heavy woollen costume, outside the royal palace in Oslo. There was none of that this year. Without the usual masses gathered on the esplanade by the palace, King Harald and his family greeted their subjects from the balcony, waving to television cameras.