High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Tryggve Gran was born in Bergen, Norway, growing up in an affluent family dominant in the shipbuilding industry. His father, a shipyard owner, died when Tryggve was only five years old. In 1900, Gran was sent to a school in Switzerland for a year, where he learned some German and French. Three years later, he met the German emperor, William II, a common guest with the families of Tryggve's friends. Meeting the emperor made an impact on the then 14-year old boy, who from that moment on wanted to become a naval officer. At this time, he had several years behind him as a member of the Nygaards Battalion, one of Bergen's buekorps. He entered naval college in 1907 and graduated in the spring of 1910.