Christian V (April 15, 1646 – August 25, 1699) was king of Denmark and Norway from 1670 until his death in 1699.
Early years
Prince Christian was born on April 15, 1646 at Duborg Castle in the city of Flensburg, then located in the Duchy of Schleswig. He was the first legitimate child born to the then Prince Frederik of Denmark by his consort, Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Calenberg. Sophie Amalie’s parents were Georg, Duke of Brunswick-Calenberg, and Anne Eleonore of Hesse-Darmstadt. Nothing is known of her childhood.
Prince Frederik was a younger son of King Christian IV, but the death of his elder brother Christian, Prince-Elect of Denmark in June 1647 opened the possibility for Frederik to be elected heir apparent to the Danish throne.
After the death of King Christian IV in 1648, Frederik thus became King of Denmark and Norway as Frederik III. Prince Christian was elected successor to his father in June 1650. This was not a free choice, but de facto automatic hereditary succession. Escorted by his chamberlain Christoffer Parsberg, Christian went on a long trip abroad, to Holland, England, France, and home through the Holy Roman Empire.
On this trip, he saw absolutism in its most splendid achievement at the young Louis XIV’s court, and heard about the theory of the divine right of kings. He returned to Denmark in August 1663. From 1664 he was allowed to attend proceedings of the State College. Hereditary succession was made official by Royal Law in 1665. Christian was hailed as heir in Copenhagen in August 1665, in Odense and Viborg in September, and in Christiania, Norway in July 1666. Only a short time before he became king, he was taken into the Council of the Realm and the Supreme Court.
Accession
On February 9, 1670, King Frederik III died at the age of 60 at the Copenhagen Castle after a reign of 22 years. At the death of his father, Christian immediately ascended the thrones of Denmark and Norway as the second absolute monarch at the age of just 24. He was formally crowned on June 7 the following year in the chapel of Frederiksborg Palace, which thereafter became the traditional place of coronation of Denmark’s monarchs during the days of the absolute monarchy. He was the first hereditary king of Denmark-Norway, and in honor of this, Denmark-Norway acquired costly new crown jewels and a magnificent new ceremonial sword.
Well-regarded by the common people, he was the first king anointed at Frederiksborg Castle chapel as absolute monarch since the decree that institutionalized the supremacy of the king in Denmark-Norway. Christian fortified the absolutist system against the aristocracy by accelerating his father’s practice of allowing both Holstein nobles and Danish and Norwegian commoners into state service.
As king, he wanted to show his power as absolute monarch through architecture, and dreamed of a Danish Versailles. He was the first to use the 1671 Throne Chair of Denmark, partly made for this purpose. His motto was: Pietate et Justitia (With piety and justice).
Marriage
Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Cassel (April 27, 1650 – March 27, 1714) was born on April 27, 1650, in Cassel, Hesse, in the Holy Roman Empire. Her parents were Wilhelm VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel and Hedwig Sophia of Brandenburg, the daughter of Georg Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg and Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate.
Charlotte Amalie’s mother was a religiously strict adherent of the Reformed Church and politically oriented toward Brandenburg, both views which were to be shared by her daughter. She was well educated in finances, geography, the languages German, French and Italian, and philosophy. French was to be her preferred written language, though she spoke German with her more intimate friends.
Crown Prince Christian of Denmark and Norway was sent to meet Charlotte Amalie in Hesse in 1665 as a marriage prospect arranged by Danish Queen Sophie Amalie, who desired a daughter-in-law that she could control and expected this to be the case for a member of the reformed church who would be religiously isolated in Lutheran Denmark. However, the negotiations were drawn out because of religious concerns.
In the marriage contract, Charlotte Amelie was not required to convert and managed to secure the right to keep her faith after her wedding to Christian, who as ruler of Denmark would become the head of the state Lutheran Church, a term which was contested and met some resistance before it was accepted.
As Queen of Denmark and Norway by marriage to King Christian V, she did not have much political influence, she was a successful businesswoman in her many estates and protected foreign Protestant non-Lutherans from oppression. She gained popularity for defending Copenhagen from Swedish forces in 1700.
Christian V had eight children by his wife and six by his Maîtresse-en-titre, Sophie Amalie Moth (1654–1719), whom he took up with when she was sixteen. Sophie was the daughter of his former tutor Poul Moth. Christian publicly introduced Sophie into court in 1672, a move which insulted his wife, and made her countess of Samsø on December 31, 1677.
At the death of Christian V on August 25, 1699, the Crown Prince of Denmark succeeded as King Frederik IV of Denmark-Norway. Frederik IV married Louise of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, herself a great-great-granddaughter of Frederik II of Denmark. They were crowned on April 15, 1700 in the chapel of Frederiksborg Palace.