Frederica of Hanover, Queen of the Hellenes. Conclusion

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Anne-Marie of Denmark, Frederica of Hanover, Frederik IX of Denmark, Greek Civil War, King Constantine II of the Hellenes, King Paul I of the Hellenes, Military Junta, Queen of the Hellenes

Queen consort

On April 1, 1947, George II died and Frederica’s husband ascended the throne as Paul I, with Frederica as Queen Consort p. A Communist insurgency in Northern Greece led to the Greek Civil War. The King and Queen toured Northern Greece under tight security to appeal for loyalty in the summer of 1947.

Queen Frederica was constantly attacked for her German ancestry. Left-wing politicians in Greece repeatedly used the fact that the German Emperor Wilhelm II was her grandfather, and that she had brothers who were members of the SS, as propaganda against her.

She was also criticized variously as “very Prussian” and “was a Nazi”. When she was in London representing her sick husband at the wedding of his first cousin Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark to King George VI’s elder daughter Princess Elizabeth in November 1947, Winston Churchill remarked on German Emperor Wilhelm II being her grandfather.

Queen Frederica had replied acknowledging the fact, but reminding him that she was also descended from Queen Victoria, and that her father would be the British king if the country had operated under the Salic Law (allowing only males to inherit the crown).

During the civil war, Queen Frederica set the Queen’s Camps or Child Cities a network of 53 camps around Greece where she would rescue children of members of DSE and former partisans.

The role of these Queen’s Camps is disputed as a means of propaganda by the monarchy through the educational program. There were allegations, generally by opposition or communist sources, which held that children were illegally adopted by American families while they were in the Queen’s Camps. Children were most likely provided with education and care.

The Greek Civil War ended in August 1949. The Sovereigns took this opportunity to strengthen the monarchy, they paid official visits to Marshal Josip Broz Tito in Belgrade, Presidents Luigi Einaudi of Italy in Rome, Theodor Heuss of West Germany, and Bechara El Khoury of Lebanon, Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari of India, King George VI of the United Kingdom, and the United States as guest of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

However, at home in Greece and abroad in the United Kingdom, Queen Frederica was targeted by the opposition, because as a girl she had belonged to the Bund Deutscher Mädel (League of German Girls), a branch of the Hitler Youth group for young women; her supporters argued that evading membership in the group would be difficult under the existing political climate in Nazi Germany at the time.

Her November 16, 1953 appearance in Life as America’s guest was taken on one of the many state visits she paid around the world. Also that year she appeared on the cover of Time. On May 14, 1962 her eldest daughter Sofia married Prince Juan Carlos of Spain, (later King Juan Carlos I of Spain) in Athens.

Frederica has been described as “inherently undemocratic”. She was notorious for her numerous arbitrary and unconstitutional interventions in Greek politics and clashes with democratically elected governments.

She actively politicked against the election of Alexander Papagos. At home in Greece and abroad in the United Kingdom, she was targeted by the opposition. In 1963 while visiting London, rioting by Greek leftists demonstrating against the situation with the political prisoners of the Greek civil war, forced her to temporarily seek refuge in a stranger’s house. Her interference in politics was harshly criticized and possibly was a significant factor in the strengthening of republican sentiments.

Queen dowager

On March 6, 1964, King Paul died of cancer. When her son, now King Constantine II of the Hellenes, married Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, daughter of King Frederik IX of Denmark and Princess Ingrid of Sweden, later that year on September 18, Queen Frederica stepped back from the majority of her public duties in favor of her daughter-in-law. She remained a figure of controversy and was accused in the press of being the éminence grise behind the throne.

She retired to the countryside where she lived an almost reclusive life. However, she continued to attend Royal events that were family-oriented, such as the baptisms of her grandchildren in both Spain and Greece.

Exile

King Constantine II’s clashes with the democratically elected Prime Minister George Papandreou Sr. were blamed by critics for causing the destabilisation that led to a military coup on April 21, 1967 and the rise of the regime of the colonels.

Faced with a difficult situation, King Constantine initially collaborated with the military dictatorship, swearing in their government under a royalist prime minister. Later that year he attempted a counter-coup in an attempt to restore democracy, whose failure forced him into exile. Following this, the junta appointed a regent to carry out the tasks of the exiled monarch.

In 1971, Frederica published an autobiography, A Measure of Understanding.

On June 1, 1973 the junta abolished the Greek Monarchy without the consent of the Greek people and then attempted to legitimize its actions through a 1973 plebiscite that was widely suspected of being rigged. The new head-of-state became President of Greece George Papadopoulos.

The dictatorship ended on July 24, 1974 and the pre-junta constitutional monarchy was never restored. A plebiscite was held on December 8, 1974 in which Constantine (who was able to campaign only from outside the country) freely admitted his past errors, promised to support democracy, and in particular, promised to keep his mother Frederica away from Greece and out of Greek politics. However, 69% of Greeks voted to make Greece a democratic republic.

Death

Frederica died on February 6, 1981 in exile in Madrid of heart failure, reportedly following eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty), although a biographer has claimed the surgery was cataract removal.

She was interred at Tatoi (the Royal family’s palace and burial ground in Greece). Her son and his family were allowed to attend the service but had to leave immediately afterwards.

50th Anniversary of the Death of King Frederik IX of Denmark and the accession of Queen Margrethe II

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Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Diamond Jubilee, Frederik IX of Denmark, Ingrid of Sweden, King Christian X of Denmark, Margaret of Connaught, Margrethe II of Denmark, Princess Märtha of Sweden

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the death of King Frederik IX of Denmark and the accession of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark to the Danish throne upon her father’s death.

King Frederik IX died at the age of 72 after a reign of almost 25 years.

Frederik IX (Christian Frederik Franz Michael Carl Valdemar Georg; March 11, 1899 – January 14, 1972) was King of Denmark from 1947 to 1972.

Born into the House of Glücksburg, Frederik was the elder son of King Christian X and Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. He became crown prince when his father succeeded as king in 1912. As a young man, he was educated at the Royal Danish Naval Academy.

During Nazi Germany’s occupation of Denmark, Frederick acted as regent on behalf of his father from 1942 until 1943.

In the 1910s, Alexandrine considered the two youngest daughters of her cousin Emperor Nicholas II, Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia and Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, as possible wives for Frederik, until the execution of the Romanov family in 1918. In 1922, Frederik was engaged to Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark, his second cousin. They never wed.

Instead, on March 15, 1935, a few days after his 36th birthday, Frederik was engaged to Princess Ingrid of Sweden (1910–2000), a daughter of Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf (later King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden) and his first wife, Princess Margaret of Connaught.

They were related in several ways. In descent from Oscar I of Sweden and Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden, they were double third cousins. In descent from Emperor Paul I of Russia, Frederik was a fourth cousin of Ingrid’s mother.

They married in Stockholm Cathedral on May 24, 1935. Their wedding was one of the greatest media events of the day in Sweden in 1935, and among the wedding guests were the King Christian X and Queen Alexandrine of Denmark, the King Leopold III Queen Astrid of Belgium and the Crown Prince Olaf and Crown Princess Märtha of Norway.

Changes to the Act of Succession

As King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid had no sons, it was expected that the king’s younger brother, Prince Knud, would inherit the throne, in accordance with Denmark’s succession law (Royal Ordinance of 1853).

However, in 1953, an Act of Succession was passed, changing the method of succession to male-preference primogeniture (which allows daughters to succeed if there are no sons).

This meant that his daughters could succeed him if he had no sons. As a consequence, his eldest daughter, Margrethe, became heir presumptive. By order of March 27, 1953 the succession to the throne was limited to the issue of King Christian X.

Frederik became king on his father’s death in early 1947. During Frederik IX’s reign Danish society changed rapidly, the welfare state was expanded and, as a consequence of the booming economy of the 1960s, women entered the labour market.

The modernization brought new demands on the monarchy and Frederik’s role as a constitutional monarch. Frederik IX died on January 14, 1972, and was succeeded by his eldest daughter, Queen Margrethe II.

On her accession, Queen Margrethe II, became the first female monarch of Denmark since Margrethe I, ruler of the Scandinavian kingdoms in 1375–1412 during the Kalmar Union.

In 1967, Margrethe married Henri de Laborde de Monpezat, with whom she had two sons: Crown Prince Frederik and Prince Joachim.

Margrethe is known for her strong archaeological passion and has participated in several excavations, including in Italy, Egypt, Denmark and South America. She shared this interest with her grandfather Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden, with whom she spent some time unearthing artefacts near Etruria in 1962.

As of 2021, Queen Margrethe II has, as sovereign, received 42 official state visits and she has undertaken 55 foreign state visits herself. In addition to this, the Queen and the royal family have made several other foreign visits. Support for the monarchy in Denmark has been and remains consistently high at around 82%, as does Margrethe’s personal popularity.

April 16: 80th birthday of HM Queen Margrethe II of Denmark

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Constitutional Role, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, Frederik IX of Denmark, Henri de Laborde de Monpezat, Ingrid of Sweden, Margrethe II, Prince Joachim of Denmark, Princess Margaret of Connaught, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark., Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Royal Investigator

Margrethe II (full name: Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid; born April 16, 1940) is Queen of Denmark, as well as the supreme authority of the Church of Denmark and commander-in-chief of the Danish Defence. Born into the House of Glücksburg, a royal house with origins in northern Germany, she was the eldest child of Frederik IX of Denmark and Ingrid of Sweden, was the daughter of King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden and his first wife, Princess Margaret of Connaught (a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom).

She was born during the reign of her grandfather the then-reigning King Christian X. Her birth took place just one week after Nazi Germany’s invasion of Denmark on April 9, 1940.

She was named Margrethe after her late maternal grandmother, Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden, Alexandrine after her paternal grandmother, Queen Alexandrine, and Ingrid after her mother. Since her paternal grandfather was also the King of Iceland, she was given the Icelandic name Þórhildur.

When Margrethe was four years old, in 1944, her younger sister Princess Benedikte was born. Princess Benedikte later married Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and lives some of the time in Germany. Her second sister, Princess Anne-Marie, was born in 1946. Anne-Marie later married Constantine II of the Hellenes and currently lives in Greece.

At the time of her birth, only males could ascend the throne of Denmark, owing to the changes in succession laws enacted in the 1850s when the Glücksburg branch was chosen to succeed. As she had no brothers, it was assumed that her uncle Prince Knud would one day assume the throne.

The process of changing the constitution started in 1947, not long after her father ascended the throne and it became clear that Queen Ingrid would have no more children. The popularity of Frederik IX and his daughters and the more prominent role of women in Danish life started the complicated process of altering the constitution.

The law required that the proposal be passed by two successive Parliaments and then by a referendum, which occurred March 27, 1953. The new Act of Succession permitted female succession to the throne of Denmark, according to male-preference cognatic primogeniture, where a female can ascend to the throne only if she does not have a brother. Princess Margrethe therefore became heir presumptive.

Margrethe was educated at the private school N. Zahle’s School in Copenhagen from which she graduated in 1959. She spent a year at North Foreland Lodge, a boarding school for girls in Hampshire, England,and later studied prehistoric archaeology at Girton College, Cambridge, during 1960–1961, political science at Aarhus University between 1961 and 1962, attended the Sorbonne in 1963, and was at the London School of Economics in 1965.She is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. Queen Margrethe is fluent in Danish, French, English, Swedish and German, and has a limited knowledge of Faroese.

Princess Margrethe married a French diplomat, Henri de Laborde de Monpezat, June 10, 1967, at the Holmen Church in Copenhagen. Laborde de Monpezat received the style and title of “His Royal Highness Prince Henrik of Denmark” because of his new position as the spouse of the heir presumptive to the Danish throne. They were married for over fifty years, until his death on February 13, 2018.

Succession

Shortly after King Frederik IX delivered his New Year’s Address to the Nation at the 1971/72 turn of the year, he fell ill. At his death 14 days later, 14 January 1972, Margrethe succeeded to the throne at the age of 31, becoming the first female Danish sovereign under the new Act of Succession. She was proclaimed Queen from the balcony of Christiansborg Palace 15 January 1972, by Prime Minister Jens Otto Krag. Queen Margrethe II relinquished all the monarch’s former titles except the title to Denmark, hence her style “By the Grace of God, Queen of Denmark”

Constitutional role

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

Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, heir to the throne Crown Prince Frederik and his son, second in line to the throne, Prince Christian.

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 (privy council), 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 Cabinet of Denmark.

The official residences of the Queen are Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen and Fredensborg Palace. Her summer residence is Gråsten Palace near Sønderborg, the former home of her mother, Queen Ingrid, who died in 2000.

Margrethe is a chain smoker, and she is famous for her tobacco habit. However, on November 23, 2006, the Danish newspaper B.T. reported an announcement from the Royal Court stating that in the future the Queen would smoke only in private.

Margrethe is an accomplished painter, and has held many art shows over the years. Her illustrations—under the pseudonym Ingahild Grathmer—were used for Danish editions of The Lord of the Rings, which she was encouraged to illustrate in the early 1970s. She sent them to J. R. R. Tolkien who was struck by the similarity of her drawings to his own style.

Margrethe’s drawings were redrawn by the British artist Eric Fraser in the translation published in 1977 and re-issued in 2002. In 2000, she illustrated Henrik, the Prince Consort’s poetry collection Cantabile. She is also an accomplished translator and is said to have participated in the Danish translation of The Lord of the Rings.

Today is the 110th anniversary of the birth of Queen Ingrid of Denmark, born Princess of Sweden.

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Frederik IX of Denmark, Gustaf VI Adolph of Sweden, King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, Louise Mountbatten, Prince Arthur Duke of Connaught, Princess Ingrid of Sweden, Princess Margaret of Connaught, Queen Ingrid of Denmark, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark., Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

Ingrid of Sweden (Ingrid Victoria Sofia Louise Margareta; March 28, 1910 – November 7, 2000).

She is pictured here with her daughters Queen Margrethe II and Princess Benedikte of Denmark and Queen Anne-Marie of the Hellenes on her 90th birthday.

She died eight months later.

Born into the House of Bernadotte Princess Ingrid was born on March 28, 1910, at the Royal Palace in Stockholm as the third child and only daughter of Gustaf Adolf, Crown Prince of Sweden and his first wife, Princess Margaret of Connaught. Her father was the eldest son of King Gustaf V of Sweden by his wife, Princess Victoria of Baden. Her mother was a daughter of Queen Victoria’s third son Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn by his wife Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia.

Princess Margaret of Connaught

In 1920, when Ingrid was just ten years old, her mother died after undergoing mastoid surgery while in the eighth month of her sixth pregnancy. After her mother’s death, Ingrid spent several months of each year in the United Kingdom in the care of her grandfather. Observers suggested that Ingrid’s strong self-discipline was shaped as an effect of her mother’s death. Her father remarried Lady Louise Mountbatten three years later. Louise was a second cousin of Ingrid’s.

Princess Ingrid (far right) with her father, mother and three brothers in 1912.

Her step-mother, Louise, was born a princess of Battenberg. Her father, Prince Louis of Battenberg, who was an admiral in the British Royal Navy, renounced his German title during the First World War and anglicised his family name to “Mountbatten” at the behest of King George V. From 1917, therefore, his daughter was known as “Lady Louise Mountbatten”. Her mother was Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Louise was a sister of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and of Princess Alice of Battenberg, who was the mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. She was also a niece of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia.

Only a stillborn daughter resulted from her father’s second marriage. Ingrid felt betrayed by her father when he remarried, and she was unkind to Crown Princess Louise. Ingrid and her father would not reconcile until many years later.

The question of Ingrid’s marriage was a hot topic of conversation in the 1920s. She was matched with various foreign royalties and was seen by some as a possible wife for the heir-apparent to the British throne, the Prince of Wales, (future King Edward VIII) who was her second cousin. Her mother, Margaret of Connaught, and the then-Prince of Wales’ father, King George V, were first cousins, both being grandchildren of Queen Victoria. In 1928, Ingrid met the Prince of Wales in London. However, no engagement took place.

On March 15, 1935, shortly before her 25th birthday, she was engaged to Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark and Iceland. They were related in several ways. As descendants of Oscar I of Sweden, they were third cousins. Through Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden, they were third cousins. And finally through Paul I of Russia, Frederik was a fourth cousin of Ingrid’s mother. They married in Stockholm Cathedral on May 24, 1935. Among the wedding guests were the King Christian X and Queen Alexandrine of Denmark, the King Leopold III and Queen Astrid of the Belgians and the Crown Prince Olav and Crown Princess Märtha of Norway.

During the German occupation of Denmark in World War II, Ingrid, with her personal courage and integrity, influenced the Danish Royal House and its conduct in relation to the occupation forces, and won great popularity as a symbol of silent resistance and public patriotic moral. She showed solidarity toward the Danish population, and could often be seen on her bicycle or with her baby carriage on the streets of Copenhagen during the war.

Her open defiance of the occupation forces made her grandfather, King Gustaf V of Sweden, worry about the risks, and in 1941, he sent a demand to her to be more discreet “for the sake of the dynasty” and its safety, but she reacted with anger and refused to obey, and she had the support of her spouse, who shared her views. One display of defiance shown by Ingrid was her positioning of the flags of Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom in the window of the nursery at Amalienborg, the royal residence in the centre of Copenhagen.

King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid of Denmark

Upon her husband’s accession to the throne on April 20, 1947, as King Frederik IX of Denmark she became the Queen of Denmark. As such, she reformed the traditions of Danish court life, abolished many old-fashioned customs at court and created a more relaxed atmosphere at official receptions.

In 1972, King Frederick IX died, and Ingrid was widowed at the age of 61. Her elder daughter, aged 31, became the new queen, Margrethe II, and Ingrid now assumed a position as family matriarch. That same year, after having sworn to respect the Danish constitution, she was appointed Rigsforstander (formal Regent) and representative of the monarch whenever her daughter (and later her grandsons) were absent, a task she performed on many occasions. This was exceptional; since the constitution of 1871, only the Crown Prince had been allowed to act as regent in the absence of the monarch.

Queen Ingrid died on November 7, 2000 at Fredensborg Palace, Fredensborg, with her three daughters—Queen Margrethe II, Princess Benedikte and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece—and ten grandchildren at her bedside. Thousands gathered outside Amalienborg Palace, her official residence, after her death was announced; flowers were left, candles were lit and hymns were sung in her honour.

This date in History. October 13, 1911: Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn is appointed Governor General of Canada.

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Canada, Frederick Charles of Prussia, Frederik IX of Denmark, German Empire, Governor General of Canada, Ingrid of Sweden, Marie Louise of Prussia, Prince Arthur Duke of Connaught, Wilhelm I of Germany

Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (Arthur William Patrick Albert; May 1, 1850 – January 16, 1942) was the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He served as the Governor General of Canada, the tenth since Canadian Confederation and the only British prince to do so. In 1910 he was appointed Grand Prior of the Order of St John and held this position until 1939.

Queen Victoria and Prince Arthur.

On his mother’s birthday (May, 24) in 1874, Arthur was created a royal peer, being titled as the Duke of Connaught and Strathearn and Earl of Sussex. Some years later, Arthur came into the direct line of succession to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in the German Empire upon the death in 1899 of his nephew, Prince Alfred of Edinburgh, the only son of his elder brother, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh. He decided, however, to renounce his own and his son’s succession rights to the duchy, which then passed to his other nephew, Prince Charles Edward, the posthumous son of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany.

At St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, on March 13, 1879, Arthur married Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia, the daughter of Prince Friedrich-Carl of Prussia and Princess Maria Anna of Anhalt-Dessau. Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia was a great-niece of the German Emperor, Arthur’s godfather, Wilhelm I.

Duke & Duchess of Connaught and family.

The couple had three children: Princess Margaret Victoria Charlotte Augusta Norah (born January 15, 1882), Prince Arthur Frederick Patrick Albert (born January 13, 1883), and Princess Victoria Patricia Helena Elizabeth (born March 17, 1886), who were all raised at the Connaughts’ country home, Bagshot Park, in Surrey, and after 1900 at Clarence House, the Connaughts’ London residence.

Through his children’s marriages, Arthur became the father-in-law of Crown Prince Gustaf Adolph of Sweden; Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife; and Sir Alexander Ramsay. Arthur’s first two children predeceased him; Margaret while pregnant with his sixth grandchild. For many years, Arthur maintained a liaison with Leonie, Lady Leslie, sister of Jennie Churchill, while still remaining devoted to his wife.

Governor General of Canada

Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn

It was announced on March 6, 1911 that King George V had, by commission under the royal sign-manual, approved the recommendation of his British prime minister, H.H. Asquith, to appoint Arthur as his representative.His brother-in-law, the Duke of Argyll, had previously served as the country’s governor general, but when Arthur was sworn in on October 13, 1911 in the salon rouge of the parliament buildings of Quebec, he became the first Governor General of Canada who was a member of the British royal family.

To Canada, Arthur brought with him his wife and his youngest daughter, Princess Victoria Patricia, the latter of whom would become an extremely popular figure with Canadians. The Governor General and his viceregal family travelled throughout the country, performing such constitutional and ceremonial tasks as opening parliament in 1911 (to which Arthur wore his field marshal’s uniform and the Duchess of Connaught wore the gown she had worn at the King’s coronation the previous year) and, in 1917, laying at the newly rebuilt Centre Block on Parliament Hill the same cornerstone his older brother, the late King Edward VII, had set on 1 September 1860, when the original building was under construction.

Duke & Duchess of Connaught, Princess Victoria Patricia and staff.

The family crossed the country a number of times and the Governor General made another trip to the United States in 1912, when he met with President William Howard Taft.

When in Ottawa, Connaught maintained a routine of four days each week at his office on Parliament Hill and held small, private receptions for members of all political parties and dignitaries. The Duke learned to ice skate and hosted skating parties at the royal and viceroyal residence— Rideau Hall— to which the Connaughts made many physical improvements during Arthur’s term as governor general. The royal family also took to campingand other outdoor sports, such as hunting and fishing.

In 1914, the First World War broke out, with Canadians called to arms against Germany and Austria-Hungary. Arthur maintained a wider role in the empire— for instance, from 1912 until his death, serving as Colonel-in-Chief of the Cape Town Highlanders Regiment — but the Connaughts remained in Canada after the beginning of the global conflict, with Arthur emphasising the need for military training and readiness for Canadian troops departing for war, and giving his name to Connaught Cup for the Royal Northwest Mounted Police, to encourage pistol marksmanship for recruits.

He was also active in auxiliary war services and charities and conducted hospital visits. Though well intended, upon the outbreak of the war, Arthur immediately donned his field marshal’s uniform and went, without advice or guidance from his ministers, to training grounds and barracks to address the troops and to see them off before their voyage to Europe. This was much to the chagrin of Prime Minister Robert Borden, who saw the Prince as overstepping constitutional conventions. Borden placed blame on the military secretary, Edward Stanton (whom Borden considered to be “mediocre”), but also opined that Arthur “laboured under the handicap of his position as a member of the royal family and never realised his limitations as Governor General.”

Duke of Connaught later in life with his granddaughter Princess Ingrid of Sweden and her husband, future King Frederick IX of Denmark (parents of current Queen Margarethe II of Denmark).

At the same time, the Duchess of Connaught worked for the Red Cross and other organisations to support the war cause. She was also Colonel-in-Chief of the Duchess of Connaught’s Own Irish Canadian Rangers battalion, one of the regiments in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, and Princess Victoria Patricia also lent her name and support to the raising of a new Canadian army regiment— Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.

His term as Canada’s Governor General ended in 1916.

50th Birthday of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark

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50th Birthday, Birthday, Copenhagen, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, European Royalty, Frederik IX of Denmark, Gustaf VI Adolph of Sweden, Kings and Queens of Denmark, Prince Henrik of Denmark, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.

Today HRH Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, Count of Monpezat, celebrates his 50th Birthday!


Frederik was born at Rigshospitalet which is the Copenhagen University Hospital in Copenhagen, on May 26, 1968, to the then Princess Margrethe, heir presumptive to the Danish throne, and Prince Henrik, Count of Monpezat. Princess Margrethe was oldest daughter of King Frederik IX of Denmark and Princess Ingrid of Sweden. At the time of Crown Prince Frederik’s birth, his maternal grandfather was on the throne of Denmark and his matrilineal great-grandfather (Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden) was on the throne of Sweden.

He was baptized on June 24, 1968, at Holmens Kirke, in Copenhagen. He was christened Frederik after his maternal grandfather, King Frederik IX, continuing the Danish royal tradition of the heir apparent being named either Frederik or Christian. His middle names honor his paternal grandfather, André de Laborde de Monpezat; his father, Prince Henrik; and his maternal great-grandfather, Christian X.


Frederik’s godparents include Count Etienne de Laborde de Monpezat (paternal uncle); Queen Anne-Marie of Greece (maternal aunt); Prince Georg of Denmark; Baron Christian de Watteville-Berckheim; Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte of Luxembourg; and Birgitta Juel Hillingsø.


He became Crown Prince of Denmark when his mother succeeded to the throne as Queen Margrethe II of Denmark on January 14, 1972. Upon his fathers death this past April, Crown Prince Frederik also inherited the title Count of Monpezat.


In the Council of State on October 8, 2003, Queen Margrethe II gave her consent to the marriage of Crown Prince Frederik to Mary Elizabeth Donaldson, an Australian marketing consultant whom the prince met when he was attending the Sydney Olympics in 2000. The wedding took place on May 14, 2004 at Copenhagen Cathedral, Copenhagen.


The couple have four children:

* Prince Christian Valdemar Henri John, born October 15, 2005
* Princess Isabella Henrietta Ingrid Margrethe, born April 21, 2007
* Prince Vincent Frederik Minik Alexander, born January 8, 2011
* Princess Josephine Sophia Ivalo Mathilda, born January 8, 2011

Tonight in Copenhagen there are festivities being planed with many, many reigning and non-reigning royals in attendance.