September 28: Birth of Friedrich Christian II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg.

Tags

Caroline Matilda of Great Britain, Christian VII of Denmark, Denmark, Frederik VI of Denmark, Friedrich Christian II of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, Johann Friedrich Struensee

Friedrich Christian II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (September 28, 1765 – June 14, 1814) was a Danish prince and feudal magnate. He held the island of Als and some other castles (such as Sonderborg) in Schleswig.

Life

Friedrich Christian II was born the eldest son of Friedrich Christian I, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (1721–1794), by his wife and cousin Princess Charlotte of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön (1744–1770). Until his father’s death, he was styled “Hereditary Prince of Augustenborg”.

He was a prince with an exceptionally high level of Danish blood in his ancestry: his maternal grandmother, paternal grandmother, and paternal great-grandmother having been born, respectively, Countess of Reventlow, Countess of Danneskiold-Samsøe, and Countess of Ahlefeldt-Langeland.

Friedrich Christian II was closely related to all important families of the Danish high nobility of the time. The negative side was that his ancestry was rather too much “comital” and too little royal. Instead of including royal princesses and duchesses of small and large German states, as was customary with the Oldenburg royal family, their marriage connections had been mostly with the nobility (chiefly of Denmark).

Thus, although they were undoubtedly the senior cadet line of the royal house of Denmark (Oldenburg), the family was regarded as a bit lower than the Ebenbürtige which the rulers of small Germany principalities thought to be the standard.

By marriage, however, Friedrich Christian II drew closer to his cousins, the Danish royal family. In 1786, the twenty-year-old hereditary prince married his distant cousin, the fourteen-year-old Louise Auguste of Denmark and Norway (1771–1843), purported daughter of Christian VII of Denmark by his wife, the late Queen Caroline Mathilde. Louise Auguste’s father, the king, was a man with mental disabilities and, throughout his reign, effective control was in the hands of other people (ranging from his step-mother to his wife to his half-brother to various courtiers).

The king’s mental condition, and his unharmonious relationship with his wife, gave rise to speculation that Louise had been sired by someone other than him, and rumour awarded fatherhood to Johann Friedrich Struensee, the king’s court physician and de facto regent of the country at the time of Louise’s birth. Indeed, she was at times referred to as la petite Struensee.

The truth of the matter cannot be definitely ascertained.
The story of antecedents of the prince’s marriage goes as follows: In February 1779, the nation’s foremost statesman, Chief Minister Count Andreas Peter Bernstorff, hatched an ingenious plan for the young princess, something that often has been customary with a royal child suspected of not being sired by its nominal father but in its mother’s illicit liaison: to marry such a child to another member of the royal house.

Since a male child of hers could inherit the throne some day, it would be advantageous to arrange a marriage early, and to marry the “half-royal” back into the extended royal house, to the Hereditary Prince of Augustenborg.

This plan had the positive effect of more closely connecting the Danish royal house’s two lines, the ruling House of Oldenborg and the cadet House of Augustenborg, thus not only discouraging any breakup of the kingdom but also forestalling the possibility of a foreigner gaining influence into Danish affairs through marriage with her. This would certainly happen, for instance, if Louise were to marry her closer relations, the Swedish royals.

The danger of Louise Auguste marrying into the Swedish royal house (the latter danger was rather low, however: at that time, there were Swedish princes only twenty years or more her senior, and her first cousin, the future King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden, had just been born when she already was seven).

Binding agreements were made as early as in 1780, when Friedrich Christian was 15 and Louise was only 9 years old. Five years later, in the spring of 1785, the young Friedrich Christian came to Copenhagen. The engagement was announced then, and a year later, on May 27, 1786, the wedding was celebrated at Christiansborg Palace.

The couple lived at the Castle for many years until the Christiansborg Palace fire of 1794 and the death of his father, the Duke of Augustenborg Friedrich Christian I, at which point the prince inherited the estate and the duchy. After 1794, the couple lived during the summer on the island of Als and at Gråsten.

The couple had three children:

• Caroline Amalie (born September 28, 1796, at Copenhagen; died March 9, 1881), married 1815 Prince Christian Friedrich of Denmark (died 1848), the future Christian VIII of Denmark and earlier, 1814, briefly proclaimed king of Norway before the Swedish conquest; became Queen of Denmark; she died childless in 1881, then the Queen Dowager of Denmark.
• Christian August II (born July 19, 1798, at Copenhagen; died March 11, 1869), the Duke of Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg who was to become a pivotal figure in the Question of Schleswig-Holstein in the 1850s and 1860s; so as not to offend Danish national feelings, he was married in 1820 to a Danish relative, Countess of Danneskjold-Samsoe (Lovisa-Sophie Danneskjold-Samsøe, 1797–1867), a kinswoman of the kings of Denmark, belonging to a bastard branch of House of Oldenburg; Duke Christian sold his rights to the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein to Denmark in aftermath of Treaty of London but later renounced his rights to the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein in favor of his son Friedrich August; he was the brother-in-law of King Christian VIII of Denmark, nephew of Frederik VI of Denmark, and father of, amongst others, Friedrich August (Friedrich Christian August), Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (born 1829 at Augustenborg, he was nephew of the Danish king himself, after whose death in 1863 he claimed to succeed as Duke of Schleswig-Holstein; died in 1880, living one surviving son and a number of daughters).
• Frederick Emil August (born August 23, 1800, at Kiel; died July 2, 1865, at Beirut), the “Prince” of Nør (Noer); he was married in 1829 to Countess Henriette Danneskjold-Samsøe (1806–1858), a Danish noblewoman belonging to a bastard branch of the House of Oldenburg; in 1864, he was created Prinz von Noer (“Prince of Noer”); he was father of:
  • Friedrich Christian Charles August (born at Gottorp in 1830; died at Noer in 1881), who married Carmelita Eisenblat; and
  • Luise Karoline Henriette Auguste, Graefin von Noer (born at Schleswig in 1836; died in 1866), who married Michael Vlangali-Handjeri.

Over the years, conflict arose between Duke Friedrich Christian II and Louise Auguste’s brother, King Frederik VI of Denmark, especially over the relationship of the double-duchies of Schleswig-Holstein and the Duke’s own small appanage around Sonderborg on the one hand and the Danish monarchy on the other. His wife remained loyal to the Danish royal house throughout these differences. The marriage eventually fell into acrimony and reproach, and Frederick Christian tried to legally limit Louise Auguste’s influence over their children’s futures.

In 1810, Frederik Christian’s younger brother Charles August was chosen by the estates of the Swedish realm as that nation’s crown prince, to succeed the elderly and childless King Carl XIII. Following Charles August’s death in May 1810, Frederik Christian himself was the leading candidate to become the new heir to the Swedish throne. On August 8, 1810 he was elected crown prince by the estates. His election however, was reconsidered and withdrawn two weeks later and Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Marshal of France and Prince of Ponte Corvo, was elected instead.

Frederik Christian II died on June 14, 1814. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Christian August II, then but sixteen years old. Louise Auguste took control of the Augustenborg estates and the children’s upbringing. The estates were turned over to the son and heir on his return from an extended foreign tour in 1820.

November 18, 1905: Prince Carl of Denmark elected King of Norway as King Haakon VII.

Tags

Alexandra of Denmark, Christian IX, Denmark, Frederick VIII of Denmark, Haakon VII, Haakon VII of Norway, Norway, Prince Carl of Denmark, Princess Maud of Wales, Sweden

Born Christian Frederik Carl Georg Valdemar Axel on 3 August 1872 at Charlottenlund Palace near Copenhagen, known as Prince Carl of Denmark (namesake of his maternal grandfather the King of Sweden-Norway) was the second son of (the future) King Frederik VIII of Denmark and his wife Louise of Sweden (She was the only surviving child of Carl XV of Sweden and his consort, Louise of the Netherlands). Carl was also a younger brother of Christian X, a paternal grandson of King Christian IX of Denmark, and a maternal grandson of King Carl XV of Sweden (who was also king of Norway as Carl IV). He was christened on 7 September 1872 at Charlottenlund Palace.

Prince Carl of Denmark

Prince Carl belonged to the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg branch of the House of Oldenburg. The House of Oldenburg had been the Danish royal family since 1448; between 1536–1814 it also ruled Norway when it was part of the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway. The house was originally from northern Germany, where the Glucksburg (Lyksborg) branch held their small fief. The family had permanent links with Norway beginning from the late Middle Ages.

Several of his paternal ancestors had been kings of independent Norway (Haakon V of Norway, Christian I of Norway, Frederik I, Christian III, Frederik II, Christian IV, as well as Frederik III of Norway who integrated Norway into the Oldenburg state with Denmark, Schleswig and Holstein, after which it was not independent until 1814). Christian Frederik, who was King of Norway briefly in 1814, the first king of the Norwegian 1814 constitution and struggle for independence, was his great-granduncle.

Princess Maud of Wales

At Buckingham Palace on 22 July 1896, Prince Carl married his first cousin Princess Maud of Wales, youngest daughter of the future King Edward VII of the United Kingdom and his wife, Princess Alexandra of Denmark, eldest daughter of King Christian IX and Princess Louise. Their son, Prince Alexander, the future Crown Prince Olav (and eventually king Olav V of Norway), was born on July 2, 1903.

The tomboyish Maud was known as “Harry” to the royal family, after Edward VII’s friend Admiral Henry Keppel, whose conduct in the Crimean War was considered particularly courageous at the time. Maud married relatively late, waiting until her late twenties to find a husband. She had initially wanted to marry a distant cousin, Prince Francis of Teck, younger brother of her sister-in-law Mary of Teck, wife of the future King George V of the United Kingdom. Despite being relatively impoverished from mounting gambling debts and being in a position to possibly benefit from Maud’s status, Prince Francis ignored her advances.

Prince Carl and Princess Maud greet Queen Victoria at their wedding.

After the Union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved in 1905, a committee of the Norwegian government identified several princes of European royal houses as candidates to become Norway’s first king of its own since 1387. Gradually, Prince Carl became the leading candidate, largely because he was descended from independent Norwegian kings. He also had a son, providing an heir-apparent to the throne, and the fact that his wife, Princess Maud, was a member of the British Royal Family was viewed by many as an advantage to the newly independent Norwegian nation.

The democratically-minded Carl, aware that Norway was still debating whether to remain a kingdom or to switch instead to a republican system of government, was flattered by the Norwegian government’s overtures, but he made his acceptance of the offer conditional on the holding of a referendum to show whether monarchy was the choice of the Norwegian people.

After the referendum overwhelmingly confirmed by a 79 percent majority (259,563 votes for and 69,264 against) that Norwegians desired to retain a monarchy, Prince Carl was formally offered the throne of Norway by the Storting (parliament) and was elected on November 18, 1905. When Carl accepted the offer that same evening (after the approval of his grandfather Christian IX of Denmark), he immediately endeared himself to his adopted country by taking the Old Norse name of Haakon, a name which had not been used by kings of Norway for over 500 years. In so doing, he succeeded his maternal great-uncle, Oscar II of Sweden, who had abdicated the Norwegian throne in October following the agreement between Sweden and Norway on the terms of the separation of the union.

King Haakon VII of Norway

The new royal family of Norway left Denmark on the Danish royal yacht Dannebrog and sailed into Oslofjord. At Oscarsborg Fortress, they boarded the Norwegian naval ship Heimdal. After a three-day journey, they arrived in Kristiania (now Oslo) early on the morning of November 25, 1905. Two days later, Haakon took the oath as Norway’s first independent king in 518 years. The coronation of Haakon VII and Maud took place in Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim on June 22, 1906.

He became King of Norway when his grandfather, Christian IX was still reigning in Denmark; and before his father and older brother became kings of Denmark. During his reign he saw his father, his elder brother Christian X, and his nephew Frederik IX ascend the throne of Denmark, in 1906, 1912, and 1947 respectively. Haakon died at the age of 85 in September 1957, after having reigned for nearly 52 years. He was succeeded by his only son, who ascended to the throne as Olav V.

This date in History, August 19, 1772: Coup of Gustav III of Sweden.

Tags

Cathereine the Great, Denmark, Frederick the Great of Prussia, Frederik Adolf of Sweden, Gustav III of Sweden, Kingdom of Sweden, Parliament, Riksdag, Sophie Magdalena of Denmark, Sweden

The Revolution of 1772, also known as the Coup of Gustav III was a Swedish coup d’état performed by king Gustav III of Sweden on August 19, 1772 to introduce absolute monarchy against the Riksdag of the Estates, resulting in the end of the Age of libertyand the introduction of the Swedish Constitution of 1772.

First, a little personal information on the King of Sweden.

Gustav III (January 24, 1746 – March 29 1792) was King of Sweden from February 12, 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of Adolf Frederik, King of Sweden and Queen Louise Ulrika (a sister of King Friedrich II the Great of Prussia), and a first cousin of Empress Catherine II the Great of Russia by reason of their common descent from Christian August of Holstein-Gottorp, Prince of Eutin, and his wife Albertina Frederica of Baden-Durlach.

Gustav married Princess Sophia Magdalena, by proxy in Christiansborg Palace, Copenhagen, on October 1, 1766 and in person in Stockholm on November 4, 1766. Princess Sophia Magdalena was the daughter of King Frederik V of Denmar-Norway and his first wife Princess Louise of Great Britain the youngest surviving daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach.

Gustav was first impressed by Sophia Magdalena’s beauty, but her silent nature made her a disappointment in court life. The match was not a happy one, owing partly to an incompatibility of temperament, but still more to the interference of Gustav’s jealous mother, Queen Louisa Ulrika. The marriage produced two children: Crown Prince Gustav Adolf (1778–1837), (future King Gustav IV Adolf) and Prince Carl Gustav, Duke of Småland(1782–1783).

Gustav III was known in Sweden and abroad by his Royal Titles, or styles:

Gustav III, by the Grace of God, of the Swedes, the Goths and the Vends King, Grand Prince of Finland, Duke of Pomerania, Prince of Rügen and Lord of Wismar, Heir to Norway and Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, Stormarn and Dithmarschen, Count of Oldenburg and Delmenhors.

Revolution of 1772

Gustav III was a vocal opponent of what he saw as the abuse of political privileges seized by the nobility since the death of King Carl XII. At the time of his accession, the Swedish Riksdag held more power than the monarchy, but the Riksdag was bitterly divided between rival parties, the Hats and Caps. On his return to Sweden, Gustav III tried unsuccessfully to mediate between the bitterly divided parties. On June 21, 1771, he opened his first Riksdag with a speech that aroused powerful emotions. It was the first time in more than a century that a Swedish king had addressed a Swedish Riksdag in its native tongue. He stressed the need for all parties to sacrifice their animosities for the common good, and volunteered, as “the first citizen of a free people,” to be the mediator between the contending factions.

A composition committee was actually formed, but it proved illusory from the first: the patriotism of neither faction was sufficient for the smallest act of self-denial. The subsequent attempts of the dominant Caps to reduce him to being a powerless king encouraged him to consider a coup d’état. Under the sway of the Cap faction, Sweden seemed in danger of falling prey to the political ambitions of Russia. It appeared on the point of being absorbed into the Northern Accord sought by the Russian vice-chancellor, Count Nikita Panin. It seemed to many that only a swift and sudden coup d’état could preserve Sweden’s independence.

(King Gustav III of Sweden and his Brothers; Gustav III (left) and his two brothers, Prince Frederik Adolf and Prince Carl, later Carl XIII of Sweden. Painting by Alexander Roslin.)

Gustav III was approached by Jacob Magnus Sprengtporten, a Finnish nobleman, who had incurred the enmity of the Caps, with the prospect of a revolution. He undertook to seize the fortress of Sveaborg in Finland by a coup de main. Once Finlandwas secured, he intended to embark for Sweden, join up with the king and his friends near Stockholm, and force the estatesto accept a new constitution dictated by the king.
At this juncture, the plotters were reinforced by Johan Christopher Toll another victim of Cap oppression.

Toll proposed to raise a second revolt in the province of Scania, and to secure the southern fortress of Kristianstad. After some debate, it was agreed that Kristianstad should openly declare against the government a few days after the Finnish revolt had begun. Duke Carl, the eldest of the king’s brothers, would thereupon be forced to mobilize the garrisons of all the southern fortresses hastily, ostensibly to crush the revolt at Kristianstad, but on arriving in front of the fortress, he was to make common cause with the rebels and march upon the capital from the south while Sprengtporten attacked it simultaneously from the east.

On August 6, 1772, Toll succeeded in winning the fortress of Kristianstad by sheer bluff, and on August 16, Sprengtporten succeeded in surprising Sveaborg, but contrary winds prevented him from crossing to Stockholm. Events soon occurred there that made his presence unnecessary in any case.

On August 16, the Cap leader, Ture Rudbeck, arrived at Stockholm with news of the insurrection in the south, and Gustav found himself isolated in the midst of enemies. Sprengtporten lay weather-bound in Finland, Toll was 500 miles away, the Hat leaders were in hiding. Gustav thereupon resolved to strike the decisive blow without waiting for Sprengtporten’s arrival.

He acted promptly. On the evening of August 18, all the officers whom he thought he could trust received secret instructions to assemble in the great square facing the arsenal on the following morning. At ten o’clock on August 19, Gustav III mounted his horse and rode to the arsenal. On the way, his adherents joined him in little groups, as if by accident, so that by the time he reached his destination he had about 200 officers in his suite.

After parade he reconducted them to the guard-room in the north western wing of the palace where the Guard of Honour had its headquarters and unfolded his plans to them. He told the assembled officers,

“If you follow me, just like your ancestors followed Gustav Vasa and Gustavus Adolphus, then I will risk my life and blood for you and the salvation of the fatherland!”
A young ensign then spoke up:

“We are willing to sacrifice both blood and life in Your Majesty’s service!”

Gustav then dictated a new oath of allegiance, and everyone signed it without hesitation. It absolved them from their allegiance to the estates, and bound them solely to obey “their lawful king, Gustav III”.

Meanwhile, the Privy Council and its president, Rudbeck, had been arrested and the fleet secured. Then Gustav made a tour of the city and was everywhere received by enthusiastic crowds, who hailed him as a deliverer. A song was composed by Carl Michael Bellman called the “Toast to King Gustav!”

Now in full control of the government the king initiated a campaign to restore a measure of Royal autocracy, which was completed by the Union and Security Act of 1789, which swept away most of the powers exercised by the Swedish Riksdag (parliament) but at the same time it opened up the government for all citizens. This reinforced monarchical authority significantly, although the estates retained the power of the purse, it did hereby broke the privileges of the nobility.

The next day, August 20, 1772 a new constitution was imposed upon the Riksdag of the Estates by Gustav III which converted a weak and disunited republic into a strong but limited monarchy. The estates could assemble only when summoned by him; he could dismiss them whenever he thought fit; and their deliberations were to be confined exclusively to the propositions which he laid before them. But these extensive powers were subjected to important checks. Thus, without the previous consent of the estates, no new law could be imposed, no old law abolished, no offensive war undertaken, no extraordinary war subsidy levied. The estates alone could tax themselves; they had the absolute control of the Riksbank – the Bank of Sweden, and the right of controlling the national expenditure.

In 1789 the king further strengthened his power. The Union and Security Act, alternatively Act of Union and Security, was proposed by king Gustav III of Sweden to the assembled Estates of the Realm during the Riksdag of 1789. It was a document, adding to the Swedish Constitution of 1772 new provisions. The King strengthened his grip on power while at the same time riding on a popular wave that also meant a decrease in aristocratic power. It has been described as “fundamentally conservative”.

The Act of Union and Security gave the king the sole power to declare war and make peace instead of sharing the power with the estates and the Privy Council. The estates would lose the ability to initiate legislation, but they would keep the ability to vote on new taxes.

Another provision was that the King was enabled to determine the number of Privy Councillors and so he could abolish the Council altogether by determining their number to be zero. The judicial branch of the Privy Council (in Swedish: Justitierevisionen) was then transferred to a new Supreme Court.

Most noble privileges were abolished with the Act, with most offices now available to all regardless of rank. Noble lands could now be bought by anyone instead of only by nobles.

Who’s Your Daddy?

Tags

Caroline Matilda of Great Britain, Christian VII of Denmark, Denmark, Johann Struensee, King George III of Great Britain, Kingdom of Denmark, Louise Augusta of Denmark, Queen Victoria of Great Britain, Royal Geneaology

When I began my interest in European Royalty one of my great pleasures, and still is to this day, is perusing genealogy charts and trying to memorize who all these people are and how many different ways they are connected to one another. However, at one point the thought occurred to me that these charts may not accurately reflect what actually happened. In other words, was the parentage of each royal accurate or was someone else, in reality, the father of certain children. I have discovered there are times when who the actual father of a royal really is.

In legal terms as long as the legal spouse acknowledges the paternity of the child then that child is said to be the legal offspring of the marriage. In all or royal circles this has been the majority practice. I know of only one case, Princess Louise-Auguste of Denmark (1771-1843), where paternity was well known not to be that of the queen’s legal husband, King Christian VII of Denmark, but he acknowledged the child as his anyway. It is broadly accepted that her real biological father was Johann Friedrich Struensee, the king’s royal physician and de facto regent of Denmark at the time of her birth. It was also known at the time that the mentally unstable king was estranged from his queen, Caroline-Matilda of Great Britain. After the affair the king and queen were divorced in 1772.

Struensee, who had initiated many modernizing and emancipating reforms, was arrested and executed for high treason for his affair with the queen that the same year. Christian VII reluctantly signed Struensee’s arrest and execution warrant under pressure from his stepmother, Queen Juliane-Marie, the power hungry queen led the movement to end the marriage and hopefully advance her son (Hereditary Prince Frederick of Denmark and Norway) in his claims to the Danish throne.  Caroline Matilda, retained her title of Queen but her children were taken away from her. She was eventually exiled from Denmark and passed her remaining days at Celle Castle in her brother, King George III of Great Britain’s German territory, the Electorate of Hanover. Her life was tragic. She died there of scarlet fever on May 10, 1775, at the age of 23.

Princess Louise Auguste of Denmark, though officially regarded as the daughter of King Christian VII, was, in fact, the daughter of Queen Caroline Matilda and Johann Friedrich Struensee. Their daughter had a better life than her mother and her actual illigitimacy did not affect her position in society. She was married to a Danish cousin, Frederick Christian II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg. He was born the eldest son of Friedrich Christian I, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (1721–1794), and his cousin Princess Charlotte of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön (1744–1770). Until his father’s death, he was styled “Hereditary Prince of Augustenborg”.

This marriage was arraigned by Danish Chief Minister Andreas Peter Bernstorff, because he theorized that since a son of Louise Auguste could ascend the throne some day, it would be beneficial to arrange a marry to the “half-royal” and to keep her in the family. The result of this plan closely re-connected the Danish royal house’s two lines, the ruling House of Oldenburg and the offshoot House of Augustenburg. The marriage took place on May 27, 1786 and the 14-year-old Louise Augusta was married to the 20 year old Frederick Christian II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg at Christiansborg Palace.

The couple lived at the Danish court in Copenhagen for many years until the Christiansborg Palace fire of 1794 and the death of the elder Duke of Augustenborg, Frederik Christian I, 1721-1794, when her husband inherited his father’s the estate, title and the Duchy. The new radiant Duchess of Augustenburg was often the center of court activities, and was proclaimed the “Venus of Denmark”; she was the real female center of the Danish royal court even after her brother, King Frederik VI, married in 1790 to Princess Marie of Hesse-Kassel. Sadly the union was a mismatch for the spouses were different: Louise Augusta was extrovert, lively, beautiful and pleasure-loving, Frederik-Christian II was homely, serious, and only interested in philosophy and politics. This is where history repeated itself. Louise Auguste was said to have had many lovers, and the most notably among them was the doctor Carl Ferdinand Suadacini, who treated her for infertility and was believed to have fathered her three children. Unlike the situation with her mother and Friedrich Struensee, this rumor cannot be proven. Despite being a great-granddaughter of King George II of Great Britain and having many British royal cousins, Louise Auguste felt sympathy for the French Revolution and from 1789 onward held anti-British views.

Frederik-Christian II died on June 14, 1814. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Christian-August II, who was only sixteen years old. Duchess Louise Auguste took control of the Augustenborg estates and the children’s upbringing. However, the estate was turned over to Christian-August II, on his return from an extended foreign tour in 1820. After her short period as a regent for her son, Louise-Aguste then resided in the Augustenborg Castle, where she established an eccentric court. She had a close and warm relationship with her daughter, Caroline Amalie (September 28, 1796-March 9, 1881), who would become Queen of Denmark as consort to Christian VIII, but her relationship to her sons was tense. Louise-Aguste died at Augustenborg in 1843, when her brother’s reign in Denmark had already ended (Frederik VI 1808-1839) and Christian VIII (1839-1848)*, her son-in-law, ascended – she thus died as the mother of the then Queen of Denmark.

* Christian VIII (September 18, 1786-January 20, 1848) was the King of Denmark from 1839 to 1848 and, as Christian-Frederick, King of Norway in 1814. He was the eldest son of Hereditary Prince Frederick of Denmark and Norway and Duchess Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, born in 1786 at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen. His paternal grandparents were King Frederik V of Denmark and his second wife, Duchess Juliane-Marie of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.

This will be a relatively short series. The parentage of the following monarchs will be looked at: King Edward III of England, King Alfonso XII of Spain, Archduke Maximilian of Austria (Emperor of Mexico), Emperor Pavel of Russia.

Oh, here is another interesting bit of trivia. Princess Louise Auguste of Denmark was the grandmother of Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg who was married to Princess Helena of Great Britain, daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Survival of Monarchies: Denmark

Tags

Carl X Gustav of Sweden, Charles X Gustav of Sweden, Christian IV of Denmark, Constitutional Monarchy, Denmark, Frederick III of Denmark, George of Denmark, Haandfæstning, Hereditary Monarchy, Queen Anne, Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg

We have seen how England/Britain went from a monarchy where the sovereign had considerable power under the Tudors (although not absolute) to the constitutional form it has today. Denmark is another example of a thriving monarchy that once was absolute. Denmark has a long history of monarchy. Even longer than that of the United Kingdom. Denmark also has an interesting history of a monarchy that was once limited then became absolute only to transform again to a limited constitutional monarchy.

We begin our story with Denmark in the year 1660 when King Frederik III of Denmark and Norway began his absolute rule. He had come to the throne in 1648 and was the second son of Christian IV and Anne Catherine of Brandenburg. He had an elder brother, Prince Christian, who was Prince-Elect of Denmark until his death in 1647. For centuries Denmark had been an elective monarchy with the eldest son often designated as Prince Elect. More times than not the eldest son would inherit the throne.

When Christian IV died after a reign of 59 years (longest in Danish history) the Rigsraadet (royal council) was the main power center of Danish politics and had been for centuries. It took the royal council several weeks to finally elect Frederik as King of Denmark and Norway. Upon his election, King Frederik III was forced to sign a Håndfæstning* which attempted to humiliate the king and greatly reduce his powers. For several years in the early part of his reign Denmark was at war with Sweden who was ruled by King Carl X Gustav (1654-1660). The war was ended by the Treaty of Copenhagen in May 1660.

After the war saw a rise in popularity for the king. The traditional loyalty of the Danish middle classes toward the king rose exponentially. Frederik III’s response to his new found popularity was to change the elective monarchy into an absolute hereditary monarchy by the Revolution of 1660. To ensure his status as absolute monarch Frederik III instituted a state of emergency in Denmark. In September of 1660 he gathered the Estates, and played them against one another thus dividing them and weakening them. In doing this he succeeded in gaining support for the hereditary monarchy,  annulled the Haandfæstning and inaugurated the institution of absolute monarchy by decree.

Incidentally, Frederik III was married to Princess Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg and their youngest son was Prince George,  Duke of Cumberland husband of Britain’s Queen Anne (1702-1714)

From 1660-1848 the Kingdom of Denmark was absolute. Next week we will see how the Danish Monarchy became the constitutional monarchy it is today.

*A Haandfæstning (Modern Danish: Håndfæstning & Modern Norwegian: Håndfestning, lit. “Handbinding”) was a document issued by the kings of Denmark from 13th to the 17th century, preceding and during the realm’s personal union with the kingdoms of Sweden and Norway. Following Sweden’s independence, similar documents were also issued by its kings. In many ways it is a Scandinavian parallel to the English Magna Carta.

The haandfæstning was the result of the strength of the power of the nobility. The first Danish king who was forced to sign this kind of charter was King Eric V in 1282. It was used as a regular coronation charter for the first time in 1320. Between 1440 and 1648 it was a normal condition for the recognition of a new king. When absolute monarchy was introduced in 1660 the last haandfæstning was mortified. ~ wikipedia.

Royal Genealogy ~ Queen Victoria & Prince Albert

Tags

Buckingham Palace, Charles II of England and Scotland, Denmark, Duke of York, Ernst August of Hanover, France, Friedrich I of Prussia, Friedrich III, Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia, German Emperor and King of Prussia, Italy, James VI-I of Scotland and England, Kings and Queens of England, Portugal, Prince Frederick, Princess Victoria, Queen Victoria, Sophia Dorothea of Great Britain, Sophia of the Rhine (Electress Sophia), Spain, The Princess Royal, United Kingdom of Great Britain, Victoria and Albert, Wilhelm II of Germany

When I began my interest in royalty, genealogy was the doorway by which I entered. After sorting out the genealogy of the British Royal Family the era that piqued my interest the most was the Victorian Era. To be more accurate I also am equally interested in the Edwardian Age and the time until the end of the First World War. One of the things I have read frequently is the statement that the descendants of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert married into all the great Royal Houses of Europe. While this is true, in some ways I find it misleading because royals marrying royals is a practice that had been going on for centuries. Today all the reigning royal families are related and this is nothing new.

Let us take the marriage of Victoria and Albert’s eldest daughter, Princess Victoria, the Princess Royal, and her marriage to the future Friedrich III, German Emperor and King of Prussia as an example. The two royals were already related. Both were descendants of Sophia of the Rhine (Electress Sophia) and Elector Ernst August of Hanover, the line from which the royal family earned its claim to the throne. Electress Sophia’s daughter, also named Sophia, married King Friedrich I of Prussia and their son, King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia married his first cousin, Princess Sophia Dorothea of Great Britain. The next time the Prussians and the British royal family mingled was when Friedrich III’s great aunt, Princess Frederica, married Princess Victoria, the Princess Royal’s great uncle, Prince Frederick, Duke of York. Their mutual descent from the Electress Sophia made Fritz and Vicky 5th cousins.

Even if you go further back into the British Royal Family’s genealogy, their members frequently married into or chose members from the reigning houses that ruled France, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Italy and many others. Charles II of England and Scotland was the first cousin of King Louis XIV of France. The marriage of Charles’ grandfather, James VI-I of Scotland and England married, Anne, the daughter of King Frederik II of Denmark and from this union also descends many of the great royal houses of Europe.

As I discuss this topic on Monday we will come to see all the myriad ways in which the various royal families are related.

Gender equality in Luxembourg throne succession rights

Tags

Denmark, Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Norway, Prince Christian of Denmark, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom of Great Britain

http://www.wort.lu/en/view/gender-equality-in-luxembourg-throne-succession-rights-4fe4891ae4b0c152a04deb4c

HRH Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg

I have posted this article about Luxembourg shifting away from male  male-preference primogeniture. The term for offering the throne to the eldest child regardless of gender is called cognatic primogeniture. Many monarchies are going this route. Sweden was the first back in 1979/80. Norway has followed suit as has Belgium, and the Netherlands. Denmark was in the process of changing their succession to cognatic primogeniture until the birth of a boy, Prince Christian, in 2005. Great Britain is in the process of changing to cognatic primogeniture as mentioned in the queen’s speech in the Sate Opening of Parliament earlier this year. So far, to my knowledge, Spain, Liechtenstein and Monaco have not.

I wanted to share my feelings about this issue. I am honestly mixed. My practical rational side of me agrees with it while the emotional side of me doesn’t like it. I am all for women’s rights and equality. I have a daughter myself, she is my only child, and I want her to have the same advantages in life that men have. When it comes to monarchy I am a traditionalist in many areas. For example, I have no problem with royals marrying who they like but I do miss the days when royals married royals.

So I will miss the days when a king, duke or prince was followed on the throne by his eldest son. I understand that the monarchy must adapt and change to survive and this step makes sense given the fact that the role of sovereign is a symbolic one and a non-political role. In the end I think it will work out fine, but I will miss the old days.  

 

Top Favorite Monarchs ~ Part II

Tags

Alexander III of Russia, Christian IX, Denmark, Edward VII, George I of Greece, George III, Kings and Queens of England, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Wilhelm I of Germany, Wilhelm II of Germany

 

Part II

Queen Victoria (my favorite picture of her)

6. George III, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Hanover
Born: 4 June, 1738. Died: 29 January 1820. Reign: 1760-1820

George III is Britain’s longest reigning king. He was the first of the Hanoverian monarchs to speak English as his native language. Suffered from the blood disease porphyria which caused mental breakdowns. The king had a passion for agriculture and earned the nickname “Farmer George.” He was not the tyrant of the American revolution and it was in his reign which saw a further erosion of political powers and the move toward a symbolic monarchy where the king embodied moralistic virtue.

7. Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
Born: 24 May, 1819. Died: 22 January, 1901. Reign: 1837-1901

Queen Victoria is Britain’s longest reigning monarch and gave her name to an entire era. Her reign saw great advancement of changes with the industrial revolution. Dependent on her husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, she became isolated and withdrawn for years after his death in 1861. Political power was lost during her reign as Victoria placed the monarchy above partisan politics. Her reign saw the British Empire reach its zenith.

8. Edward VII, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
Born: 9 November, 1841. Died: 6 May, 1910. Reign: 1901-1910

As Prince of Wales the future Edward VII lived in the shadow of his mother. Although Edward reigned for only 9 years an era was named for him also. The Edwardian era contrasted with the Victorian era in that social life became more vibrant after the many years of official mourning at his mother’s court. Edward was a very gregarious king and his personal relationships with other monarchs in Europe gave Edward the reputation as a efficient diplomat.

9. Christian IX, King of Denmark
Born: 8 April, 1818. Died: 29 January 1906. Reign: 1863-1906

Prince Christian was born the son of Duke Wilhelm of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck, from 1825 Duke of Glücksburg, and was a direct descendant of King Christian I of Denmark in the male line; the future Christian IX was born without rights to the Danish throne. In 1847 the great European powers selected prince Christian as heir presumptive to the Danish throne with the extinction of the most senior line of Danish kings was growing imminent seeing that the Frederik VII seemed incapable of fathering children. Christian unsuccessfully sought the hand of the future Queen Victoria of Great Britain. He eventually married Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel, a great-niece of Christian VII of Denmark and she actually was a closer heir to the throne than her husband. Christian and Louise, like Victoria and Albert of Great Britain, had children that married into many of the Great royal houses of Europe earning Christian IX the nickname “the father-in-law of Europe.” His eldest son became king of Denmark, his eldest daughter became Queen of Great Britain (wife of Edward VII). Another daughter became Empress of Russia (married to Emperor Alexander III). His second son was elected to the Greek throne a few months before he was even king of Denmark. His grandson was elected the first king of an independent Norway in centuries.

10. Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia
Born: 27 January, 1859. Died: 4 June, 1941. Reign: 1888-1918

The last German Emperor is a fascinating study. He was the eldest grandson to both Queen Victoria of Great Britain on his mother’s side and to German Emperor Wilhelm I on his father’s side. This set a battle between liberal and conservative ideologies which would have a great impact on his life. He also had an injury at birth which gave him an non-functioning left hand and arm. These and other issues had a great influence on his personality. A very intelligent man who would suffer violent outbursts of temper and depression. In an era where monarchs were becoming symbols of their nation and above partisan politics, Wilhelm II had considerable powers which he tried to implement, often with disastrous results. He was the Emperor-King that saw the dissolution of his empire at the end of the First World War and many nations placed sole blame on his shoulders. Although he held responsibility for the war, historians have come to see that there were many other factors that lead to war that were beyond his control.

Royal Numbering ~ Denmark

Tags

Absolute cognatic primogeniture, Christian I, Christian IX, Denmark, Margrethe II, Waldemar III, Waldemar IV

In Denmark there is only one name that is numbered inconsistently and that name is Waldemar. The first king of Denmark by that name was Waldemar I the Great who was king from 1157-1182. Waldemar II The Victorious, was the son of Waldemar the Great and was king from 1202-1241. There are two individuals that have been labeled Waldemar III. The first is Waldemar the Young son of Waldemar II who was co-king with his father until his death in 1231 but was never sole king in his own right. The other king claiming to be Waldemar III was the son of Duke Eric II of Schleswig and Adelaide of Rendsborg. He was set up as a rival king to the unpopular Christopher II of Denmark 1320-1326. This Waldemar ruled briefly from 1326 to 1329 and again in 1325–26 during the times of upheaval with Christopher II. The son of Christopher II ascended the throne in 1340 as Waldemar IV Atterdag and ruled as a powerful king of Denmark until his death in 1375.

Although not a discrepancy, it is more of an oddity, is the tradition where the kings of Denmark alternated between the names of Christian and Frederik. King Christian I of Denmark, (1448-1481), Norway (1450-1481) and Sweden (1457-1464) was followed by his son Hans (John) of Denmark. John, in turn, was followed by his son, Christian II, until his death in 1523. Christian II was followed by Frederik II and from then on the names of Christian and Frederik alternated until 1972 when it was interrupted with the accession of Denmark’s present queen, Margrethe II. This tradition will carry on for a while it seems after Margrethe when her son, Crown Prince Frederik, eventually succeeds as King Frederik X and when his son eventually succeeds as King Christian XI. After the reign of Christian XI, far in the future, it remains to be seen how this tradition will be continued given the fact that absolute Absolute cognatic primogeniture was adopted in 2009.  Absolute cognatic primogeniture  is where titles and inheritance is passed to the eldest child regardless of gender.  

Royal Christening in Denmark this Sunday.

Tags

Christening, Denmark, Prince Joachim, Princess, Princess Marie, Queen Margrethe II

This Sunday, May 20, 2012 the new princess of Denmark will be christened. Born on January 24, 2012 the little princess is a granddaughter of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and the daughter of her second son Prince Joachim of Denmark and his wife Princess Marie (Marie Cavallier)

The tradition in the Danish Royal family is to not announce the name until the Christening…which usually takes place several months after the birth so I am happy the wait to learn the name will be over soon. 

http://kongehuset.dk/english/Menu/news/christening-in-mogeltonder-church-20-may-2012