Survival of Monarchies: Prussia

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Brandenburg, Constitutional Monarchy, Frederick I of Prussia, Frederick William, Hohenzollern, House of Hohenzollern, Monarchy, Prussia

Now we begin to examine the fall of three of the more conservative monarchies. My examinations of England and Denmark were quite lengthy, lets see if I can keep these a little more brief. Today I’ll start with Prussia.

Initially Prussia was a fief of the Kingdom of Poland. In 1525 during the Protestant Reformation, Prince Albert of Brandenburg, a scion of the House of Hohenzollern and the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, secularized the order’s Prussian held territory, becoming Albert, Duke of Prussia. The new Duchy, which had its capital in Königsberg was established as fief of the Crown of Poland. In time it was inherited by the Hohenzollern prince-electors of Brandenburg of the main Branch of the House of Hohenzollern. Because of this personal union with the Electorate of Brandenburg the Duchy is often referred to as Brandenburg-Prussia. In 1657 the Treaty of Wehlau, and then in 1660 the Treaty of Oliva granted Friedrich-Wilhelm, the “Great Elector” of Brandenburg, full sovereignty over the territory. In 1701 The Duchy of Prussia was elevated to the Kingdom of Prussia, with Elector Friedrich III assuming the style of King Friedrich I in Prussia.

Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I granted Elector Friedrich III the style “King in Prussia” to acknowledge the legality that the Hohenzollerns were kings only in their former duchy and not their Brandenburg lands that were still part of the Empire. In legal terms this meant that within the Empire the Hohenzollerns were only Electors and were under the over-lordship of the Emperor. In truth this was merely a dog and pony show because at this juncture in history the emperor’s authority was only nominal. Each ruler of the various territories within the Empire acted largely as if they were the rulers of independent sovereign states, and only acknowledged the emperor’s suzerainity in a formal way. The only thing granting the Emperor some respect and power was due to the fact that the Hapsburg Emperor was also the Archduke of Austria, a state with considerable power within the Empire.

The personal union between Brandenburg and Prussia legally continued until the Empire was dissolved in 1806 under the pressure of Napoleon. Despite the legalities, from 1701 onward Brandenburg was treated as an integral part of the Kingdom of Prussia. During this time periods the Hohenzollern kings of Prussia were nominally subjects of the emperor within the parts of their territories that were part of the empire, they continued to style themselves “Elector of Brandenburg” until the empire ceased. It was not until 1772 under King Friedrich II “The Great” of Prussia (1740-1786) that the title was changed to “King of Prussia”.

With Prussia established as a Kingdom, next week I will look at King Friedrich II “The Great” of Prussia and the rise of Militarism, a large aspect of this conservative monarchy.

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Survival of Monarchies: Denmark Part V

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Christian IX of Denmark, Christian X of Denmark, Constitutional Monarchy, Frederick IX of Denmark, Frederick VII of Denmark, Frederick VIII of Denmark, Queen Margrethe II

King Frederick VII of Denmark died on November 15, 1863 and despite two marriages he did not leave any heirs. Therefore under the agreement of the London Protocol of 1852 Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, a junior branch of the House of Oldenburg, mounted the throne as King Christian IX. Since the balance of power between the sovereign and parliament was still in dispute, therefore, the early part of his reign was dominated by political disputes. In spite of his initial unpopularity and the many years of political strife, where the king was in conflict with large parts of the population, his popularity recovered towards the end of his reign, and he became a national icon due to the length of his reign and the high standards of personal morality with which he was identified.

Christian IX died in 1906 and was succeeded by his eldest son as King Frederik VIII. Frederik was liberal and he had a much more favorable to the new parliamentarian system than his father had. He came to the throne very late in life and was already in ill health and reigned for a short period, dying in 1912. His son and successor, Christian X, faced a constitutional crisis, one of the largest crisis since the adoption of the constitution in 1849.

The conflict was over the long debated issue of the reunification with Denmark of Schleswig, a former Danish fiefdom, which had been lost to Prussia during the Second War of Schleswig. The King and the cabinet were in dispute over this issue. One of the issues was the future of the city of Flensburg, in Central Schleswig. A plebiscite was to decide whether or not to return central Schleswig to either Denmark or Germany. Danish nationalists felt that at least that city should be returned to Denmark regardless of the plebiscite’s results. Christian X agreed with this premise and ordered Prime Minister Zahle to include Flensburg in the re-unification process. Zahle felt he was under no obligation to comply. He refused the order and resigned several days later after a heated exchange with the King.

Afterward, Christian X dismissed the rest of the cabinet and replaced it with a conservative cabinet. The dismissal caused an almost revolutionary atmosphere in Denmark, and for several days the future of the monarchy seemed very much in doubt. Christian X, seeing the light of this, opened between the crown and members of the Social Democrats. Realizing the monarchy was about to be overthrown he backed down on his demands and dismissed his conservative cabinet, installing a compromise cabinet until elections could be held later that year. This was the last time a sitting Danish monarch attempted to take political action without the full support of parliament. Following the crisis, Christian X accepted his drastically reduced role and became a symbolic head of state. His son, Frederik IX (1947-1972, and granddaughter, Queen Margrethe II (1972-) have continued being non-political figureheads.

Cut here from Wikipedia is the Danish monarchs’ Constitutional role.

The Queen’s main tasks are to represent the Kingdom abroad and to be a unifying figurehead at home. She receives foreign ambassadors and awards honours and medals. The queen performs the latter task by accepting invitations to open exhibitions, attending anniversaries, inaugurating bridges, etc.

As an unelected public official, the Queen takes no part in party politics and does not express any political opinions. Although she has the right to vote, she opts not to do so to avoid even the appearance of partisanship.

After an election where the incumbent Prime Minister does not have a majority behind him or her, the Queen holds a “Dronningerunde” (Queen’s meeting) in which she meets the chairmen of each of the Danish political parties.

Each party has the choice of selecting a Royal Investigator to lead these negotiations or alternatively, give the incumbent Prime Minister the mandate to continue his government as is. In theory each party could choose its own leader as Royal Investigator, the social liberal Det Radikale Venstre did so in 2006, but often only one Royal Investigator is chosen plus the Prime Minister, before each election. The leader who, at that meeting succeeds in securing a majority of the seats in the Folketing, is by royal decree charged with the task of forming a new government. (It has never happened in more modern history that any party has held a majority on its own.)

Once the government has been formed, it is formally appointed by the Queen. Officially, it is the Queen who is the head of government, and she therefore presides over the Council of State, where the acts of legislation which have been passed by the parliament are signed into law. In practice, however, nearly all of the Queen’s formal powers are exercised by the Council of State, and she is required by convention to act on its advice.

In addition to her roles in her own country, the queen is also the Colonel-in-Chief of the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment (Queen’s and Royal Hampshires), an infantry regiment of the British Army, following a tradition in her family.

Next week, I will look at the conservative state of Prussia.

Survival of Monarchies: Denmark Part IV

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Christian VIII of Denmark, Constitutional Monarchy, Folketing, Frederick VII of Denmark, History of Denmark, Landsting, Palle Lauring

King Frederik VII of Denmark (1848-1863) King of Denmark from 1848 to 1863 was the last Danish monarch of the main House of Oldenburg that had ruled since 1350. Frederik VII was also the last king of Denmark to rule as an absolute monarch. In 1849 Frederik VII signed a constitution that established a Danish parliament and made the country a constitutional monarchy. When he came to the throne the revolutions that swept Europe that year also had its impact in Denmark. In places such as France and Germany its subjects were clamoring for a government that was defined by laws and a constitution.

The days of absolutism were drawing to a close. One of the interesting facts about both the beginning of absolutism and the end of absolutism in Denmark is that each came rather easily. In 1660 the king desired more power and it was given to him without a fight. In 1849 the people wanted a constitution and the king granted that desire without a fight. I think wisdom prevailed at this point with the king recognizing that absolutism was out of date and did not fit into the modern way of governing.

At home I have a book on the History of Denmark. It is by Palle Lauring and in one paragraph the author explains rather well why the absolute monarchy survived for 190 years and why the transition to a constitutional and democratic monarchy went smoothly. Here is the relevant portion that paragraph…

“On June 5, 1849, the new Constitution was agreed upon and signed by the king. From now on Denmark was ruled by a governmental assembly consisting of two chambers to be known as the Folketing or Lower House, and the Landsting or Upper House. The King’s position was also spelled out within the constitution.

Thus Denmark’s absolute monarchy, having been in force for 190 years, was finally overthrown . It was already out-of-date when it fell but the reason why it fell as late as it did and why it was retained for so long, was that it was never abused to the point of being intolerable. During the 190-year period non of the kings became tyrants. All the absolute monarchs had been upright men within the limits of their abilities. Most of the autocratic monarchs worked energetically and conscientiously in the interest of their twin kingdoms, and it had thus been difficult to to work up a sufficiently powerful opposition when everything appeared to be proceeding peacefully and reasonably well.”

Lauring also mentions that one of the reasons why absolutism lasted so long was the fact that many rural areas of Denmark had local autonomy and power that the monarchy did not affect. This independent streak in the Danish people has been, for a large part, the reason the monarchy has survived as long as it has.

Although we reached the point where Denmark has transitioned back to a limited monarchy, I will have one more segment on Denmark to discuss how the monarchy went from one with limited powers to the figurehead monarchy it is today.

Survivial of Monarchies: Denmark, Part III

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Assemblies of the Estate, Christian VIII of Denmark, Constitutional Monarchy, Frederick VI of Denmark, Kingdom of Denmark, Marie Sophie of Hesse-Kassel

For the remainder of his reign Christian VII was the nominal king only. Denmark was ruled by Christian’s stepmother, Princess Juliane Marie of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, his half-brother Frederik and the Danish politician Ove Høegh-Guldberg. However, in 1784 Crown Prince Frederik, son of Christian VII, took over as Regent until his father’s death in 1808. As king, Frederik VI, supported Liberal ideals but as he grew older and as Denmark saw economic and political strife he dropped those ideals in favor of the more Conservative and absolutist views. It was during the regency that Frederik VI instituted widespread liberal reforms with the assistance of Chief Minister Andreas Peter Bernstorff, including the abolition of serfdom in 1788.

After he mounted the throne things were difficult for King Frederik VI. In 1809 King Gustaf IV Adolph of Sweden abdicated and as a descendant of King Gustaf I of Sweden, Frederik VI had hopes of being elected to the Swedish throne. That did not happen. Prince Christian Augustus of Augustenborg, was first elected to the throne of Sweden, then the French Marshal Bernadotte. After the Napoleonic Wars of 1814 the Crown of Norway was lost to Sweden.

Also after the war Frederik VI abandoned the Liberalism of his youth and become more autocratic. He began a censorship of the press and suppression of all political opposition during a time when there was an economic downturn of the country’s economy. Despite these actions the king remained popular and was seen as a “patriarch” and a well-meaning autocrat. However, in the 1830s the economic depression was eased a bit and beginning in 1834 the king accepted a small democratic innovation by creating the Assemblies of the Estate (purely consultative regional assemblies).

Another area where Frederik VI displayed his independence from advisers, and other family members was in his selection of his wife. The king personally selected his first-cousin Princess Marie Sophie of Hesse-Kassel, a member of a German noble family with close links with the royal families of both Denmark and Great Britain. They married in Gottorp on July 31, 1790 and had eight children. None of Frederik VI’s sons survived infancy and when he died, he was succeeded by his cousin Christian. However, the youngest of child, Princess Wilhelmine, did become the wife of the future Frederik VII of Denmark.

When Frederik VI died on December 13, 1839 his cousin became King Christian VIII. The Liberal party in Denmark had high hopes that Christian VIII would be known as the “the giver of constitutions.” However, Christian VIII disappointed his admirers when he steadily spurned every Liberal reform sent to him. He categorically stated that administrative reform was the only reform he would promise his subjects. Christian VIII reigned for only 9 years and died in 1848. Had he lived longer historians feel he would have granted Denmark the Liberal Constitution that they yearned for. That would be left to his successor, Frederik VII, whom we will review next week.