November 9, 1841: Birth of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom. Part I

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Alexandra of Denmark, Christian IX of Denmark, Earl of Chester, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, Louise of Hesse-Cassel, Prince Albert Edward, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Prince of Wales, Queen Victoria

Edward VII (Albert Edward; November 9, 1841 – May 6, 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India from January 22, 1901 until his death in 1910.

Edward was born at 10:48 in the morning on November 9, 1841 in Buckingham Palace. He was the eldest son and second child of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He was christened Albert Edward at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, on January 25, 1842.

He was named Albert after his father and Edward after his maternal grandfather, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn. He was known as Bertie to the royal family throughout his life. He was related to royalty throughout Europe.

As the eldest son of the British sovereign, he was automatically Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay at birth. As a son of Prince Albert, he also held the titles of Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duke of Saxony.

He was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester on December 8 1841, Earl of Dublin on January 17, 1850, a Knight of the Garter on November 9, 1858, and a Knight of the Thistle on May 24, 1867. In 1863, he renounced his succession rights to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in favour of his younger brother Prince Alfred.

The Queen and Prince Albert were determined that their eldest son should have an education that would prepare him to be a model constitutional monarch. At age seven, Edward embarked on a rigorous educational programme devised by Albert, and supervised by several tutors. Unlike his elder sister Victoria, he did not excel in his studies.

He tried to meet the expectations of his parents, but to no avail. Although Edward was not a diligent student—his true talents were those of charm, sociability and tact—Benjamin Disraeli described him as informed, intelligent and of sweet manner. After the completion of his secondary-level studies, his tutor was replaced by a personal governor, Robert Bruce.

Edward had hoped to pursue a career in the British Army, but his mother vetoed an active military career. He had been gazetted colonel on November 9, 1858—to his disappointment, as he had wanted to earn his commission by examination.

In September 1861, Edward was sent to Germany, supposedly to watch military manoeuvres, but actually in order to engineer a meeting between him and Princess Alexandra of Denmark, the eldest daughter of Prince Christian of Denmark and his wife Louise of Hesse-Cassel. The Queen and Prince Albert had already decided that Edward and Alexandra should marry.

They met at Speyer on September 24 under the auspices of his elder sister, Victoria, who had married Crown Prince Friedrich of Prussia in 1858. Edward’s sister, acting upon instructions from their mother, had met Alexandra at Strelitz in June; the young Danish princess made a very favourable impression.

Edward and Alexandra were friendly from the start; the meeting went well for both sides, and marriage plans advanced.

Edward gained a reputation as a playboy. Determined to get some army experience, he attended manoeuvres in Ireland, during which he spent three nights with an actress, Nellie Clifden, who was hidden in the camp by his fellow officers.

Prince Albert, though ill, was appalled and visited Edward at Cambridge to issue a reprimand. Albert died in December 1861 just two weeks after the visit. Queen Victoria was inconsolable, wore mourning clothes for the rest of her life and blamed Edward for his father’s death. At first, she regarded her son with distaste as frivolous, indiscreet and irresponsible. She wrote to her eldest daughter, “I never can, or shall, look at him without a shudder.”

Marriage

Once widowed, Queen Victoria effectively withdrew from public life. Shortly after Prince Albert’s death, she arranged for Edward to embark on an extensive tour of the Middle East, visiting Egypt, Jerusalem, Damascus, Beirut and Istanbul.

As soon as Edward returned to Britain, preparations were made for his engagement, which was sealed at Laeken in Belgium on September 9, 1862. Edward married Alexandra of Denmark at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, on March 10, 1863. He was 21; she was 18.

The couple established Marlborough House as their London residence and Sandringham House in Norfolk as their country retreat. They entertained on a lavish scale. Their marriage met with disapproval in certain circles because most of Queen Victoria’s relations were German, and Denmark was at loggerheads with Germany over the territories of Schleswig and Holstein.

When Alexandra’s father inherited the throne of Denmark in November 1863, as King Christian IX, the German Confederation took the opportunity to invade and annex Schleswig-Holstein. The Queen was of two minds as to whether it was a suitable match, given the political climate. After the marriage, she expressed anxiety about their socialite lifestyle and attempted to dictate to them on various matters, including the names of their children.

October 13, 1928: Death of Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia. The former Dagmar of Denmark. Part I.

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Alexandra of Denmark, Dagmar of Denmark, Emperor Alexander III of Russia, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, George I of the Hellenes, King Christian IX of Denmark, Louise of Hesse-Cassel, Princess of Wales, Russian Empire, Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich of Russia

Maria Feodorovna (November 26, 1847 – October 13, 1928), known before her marriage as Princess Dagmar of Denmark, was a Danish princess who became Empress of Russia as spouse of Emperor Alexander III (reigned 1881–1894).

She was the second daughter and fourth child of King Christian IX of Denmark (r. 1863–1906) and of Louise of Hesse-Cassel. Louise was born as the daughter of Prince Wilhelm of Hesse-Cassel and Princess Charlotte of Denmark. Charlotte of Denmark watithe daughter of Frederik, Hereditary Prince of Denmark and Norway, and Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

From L to R. Dagmar, Wilhelm, Alexandra. Seated King Christian IX of Denmark

Charlotte played some part in the succession crisis which occurred because her half first cousin, King Frederik VI of Denmark, lacked a male heir. In 1839, her brother Christian VIII of Denmark succeeded their cousin on the throne, and during his reign, Charlotte had an important position at the Danish royal court in Copenhagen because her brother favored that her line of the family should succeed to the throne after his male line had died out. This meant Louise of Hesse-Cassel had a better hereditary claim to the throne than her husband King ChristianIX of Denmark. But I digress. I have written about this elsewhere on the blog.

Due to the brilliant marital alliances of his children, King Christian IX became known as the “Father-in-law of Europe.” Dagmar’s eldest brother would succeed his father as King Frederik VIII of Denmark (one of whose sons would be elected as King Haakon VII of Norway).

Dagmar’s elder, and favourite, sister, Alexandra married Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) in March 1863. Alexandra, along with being queen consort of King Edward VII, was also mother of George V of the United Kingdom, which helps to explain the striking resemblance between their sons Nicholas II and George V.

Within months of Alexandra’s marriage, Dagmar’s second older brother, Wilhelm, was elected as King George I of the Hellenes. Wilhelm actually became King a few months before his father succeeded to the Danish throne. Her younger sister was Princess Thyra, who became Duchess of Cumberland with her marriage to Ernst August of Hanover, Duke of Cumberland and a straight male line descendant of George III, King of the United Kingdom and Hanover.

Princess Dagmar of Denmark

Dagmar also had another younger brother, Valdemar. He had a lifelong naval career. He was paternal uncle of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, father of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. He married Princess Marie d’Orleans on October 22, 1885 at the Château d’Eu, the residence of Prince Philippe, Count of Paris. Marie was the eldest child of Robert, duke of Chartres, and his wife, Princess Françoise d’Orléans. I will write more on Prince Valdemar later this month.

Dagmar was known for her beauty. Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge said that Dagmar was “sweetly pretty” and commented favorably on her “splendid dark eyes.” Her fiancee Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich was enthusiastic about her beauty. He wrote to his mother that “she is even prettier in real life than in the portraits that we had seen so far. Her eyes speak for her: they are so kind, intelligent, animated.”

Due to the rise of Slavophile ideology in the Russian Empire, Alexander II of Russia searched for a bride for the heir apparent, Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich, in countries other than the German states that had traditionally provided consorts for the tsars. In 1864, Nicholas, or “Nixa” as he was known in his family, went to Denmark and proposed to Dagmar. Her future mother-in-law Maria Alexandrovna (Marie of Hesse) gave her a pearl necklace and Nicholas gave her diamonds. In total, the betrothal gifts Dagmar received from her future in-laws cost 1.5 million rubles.

Dagmar of Denmark and Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich

In April, Nicholas grew gravely ill with cerebrospinal meningitis. Alexander II of Russia sent a telegram to Dagmar: “Nicholas has received the Last Rites. Pray for us and come if you can.” On April 22, 1865, Nicholas died in the presence of his parents, brothers, and Dagmar. His last wish was that Dagmar would marry his younger brother, the future Alexander III.

Dagmar was devastated by Nicholas’ death. Nicholas’ parents struggled to “pull Princess Dagmar away from the corpse and carry her out.” She was so heartbroken when she returned to her homeland that her relatives were seriously worried about her health.

She had already become emotionally attached to Russia and often thought of the huge, remote country that was to have been her home. Many were sympathetic towards Dagmar. Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge wrote of “poor dear Minny’s sorrow and the blight which has fallen upon her young life.” Queen Victoria wrote “how terrible for poor Dagmar… the poor parents and bride are most deeply to be pitied.”

Princess Dagmar of Denmark

Alexander II of Russia and Maria Alexandrovna had grown fond of Dagmar, and they wanted her to marry their new heir, Tsarevich Alexander. In an affectionate letter, Alexander II told Dagmar that he hoped she would still consider herself a member of their family. Maria Alexandrovna tried to convince Louise of Hesse-Kassel to send Dagmar to Russia immediately, but Louise insisted that Dagmar must “strengthen her nerves… [and] avoid emotional upsets.”

In June 1866, Tsarevich Alexander visited Copenhagen with his brothers Grand Duke Vladimir and Grand Duke Alexei. While looking over photographs of Nicholas, Alexander asked Dagmar if “she could love him after having loved Nixa, to whom they were both devoted.” She answered that she could love no one but him, because he had been so close to his brother. Alexander recalled that “we both burst into tears… [and] I told her that my dear Nixa helped us much in this situation and that now of course he prays about our happiness.”

Dagmar converted to Orthodoxy and became Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna of Russia. The lavish wedding took place on November 9, 1866 in the Imperial Chapel of the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg. Financial constraints had prevented her parents from attending the wedding, and in their stead, they sent her brother, Crown Prince Frederick. Her brother-in-law, the Prince of Wales, had also travelled to Saint Petersburg for the ceremony; pregnancy had prevented the Princess of Wales from attending.

Dagmar of Denmark and Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich

After the wedding night, Alexander wrote in his diary, “I took off my slippers and my silver embroidered robe and felt the body of my beloved next to mine… How I felt then, I do not wish to describe here. Afterwards we talked for a long time.” After the many wedding parties were over the newlyweds moved into the Anichkov Palace in Saint Petersburg where they were to live for the next 15 years, when they were not taking extended holidays at their summer villa Livadia in the Crimean Peninsula.

Maria and Alexander had an exceptionally happy marriage. She was widely recognized as “the only person on the face of the earth in whom the Autocrat of all the Russias puts any real trust. In his gentle consort, he has unlimited confidence.” Despite her anti-Russian sentiments, Queen Victoria wrote favorably about Maria and Alexander’s marriage. She wrote that “[Maria] seems quite happy and contented with her fat, good-natured husband who seems far more attentive and kind to her than one would have thought….I think they are very domestic and happy and attached to each other; he makes a very good husband.”

November 26, 1869: Birth of Maud of Wales, Queen Consort of Norway. Part I.

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Albert Edward, Alexandra of Denmark, Francis of Teck, King Christian IX of Denmark, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, King Haakon VII of Norway, Louise of Hesse-Cassel, Prince Carl of Denmark, Princess Maud, Princess Maud of Wales, Queen of Norway

Maud of Wales, (Maud Charlotte Mary Victoria; November 26, 1869 – November 20, 1938) was Queen of Norway as spouse of King Haakon VII. She was the youngest daughter of the British king Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark. Maud of Wales was the first queen of Norway in over five centuries who was not also queen of Denmark or Sweden.

Maud was born on at Marlborough House, London. She was the third daughter and fifth child of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of Queen Victoria, and Alexandra, Princess of Wales, the eldest daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Cassel.

She was christened “Maud Charlotte Mary Victoria” at Marlborough House by John Jackson, Bishop of London, on December 24, 1869. Her godparents were her paternal uncle Prince Leopold, for whom the Duke of Cambridge stood proxy; Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Hesse-Kassel, for whom Prince Francis of Teck stood proxy; Count Gleichen; the Duchess of Nassau, for whom Princess Francis of Teck stood proxy; King Carl XV of Sweden, for whom Baron Hochschild, the Swedish minister, stood proxy; Princess Marie of Leiningen, for whom Princess Claudine of Teck stood proxy; her maternal aunt the Tsarevna of Russia for whom Baroness de Brunnow stood proxy; Crown Princess Louise of Denmark, for whom Madame de Bülow, the Danish Minister’s wife, stood proxy; and her great-grand aunt the Duchess of Inverness.

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 took part in almost all the annual visits to the Princess of Wales’s family gatherings in Denmark and later accompanied her mother and sisters on cruises to Norway and the Mediterranean. She was a bridesmaid at the 1885 wedding of her paternal aunt Beatrice to Prince Henry of Battenberg, and at the wedding of her brother George to Mary of Teck in 1893.

Maud, along with her sisters, Victoria and Louise, received the Imperial Order of the Crown of India from their grandmother Queen Victoria on August 6, 1887. Like her sisters, she also held the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert (First Class) and was a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem.

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 Princess Mary. Despite being relatively impoverished from mounting gambling debts and being in a position to possibly benefit from Maud’s status, he ignored her advances.

On July 22, 1896, Princess Maud married her first cousin, Prince Carl of Denmark, in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace. Prince Carl was the second son of Queen Alexandra’s eldest brother, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, (future King Frederik VIII) and Princess Louise of Sweden, the only surviving child of Carl XV of Sweden and his consort, Louise of the Netherlands

The bride’s father gave them Appleton House on the Sandringham Estate as a country residence for her frequent visits to England. It was there that the couple’s only child, Prince Alexander, was born on July 2, 1903 in Sandringham. Maud was known to participate in tightlacing (as did all her sisters) and had an 18” waist. It was because of this small waist, she was rumoured to be infertile after giving birth to only one child.

Prince Carl served as an officer in the Royal Danish Navy and he and his family lived mainly in Denmark until 1905. In June 1905 the Norwegian Storting, dissolved Norway’s 91-year-old union with Sweden and voted to offer the throne to Prince Carl of Denmark. Maud’s membership of the British royal house had some part in why Carl was chosen.

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.

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 and Maud took place in Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim on June 22, 1906.

July 6, 1868: Birth of Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom.

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Alexandra of Denmark, King Christian IX of Denmark, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, King George V of the United Kingdom, Louise of Hesse-Cassel, Marlborough House, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Prince of Wales, Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom., Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom (Victoria Alexandra Olga Mary; July 6, 1868 – December 3, 1935) was the fourth child and second daughter of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom and Princess Alexandra of Denmark, and the younger sister of George V of the United Kingdom.

Princess Victoria was born at Marlborough House, London. Her father was the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), heir apparent to the British throne as the eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Her mother was the Princess of Wales (later Queen Alexandra), the eldest daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark and Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel. She was known as “Toria” to her family. She was christened at Marlborough House on 6 August 1868 by Archibald Campbell Tait, Bishop of London.

Princess Victoria was educated at home by tutors and spent her childhood at Marlborough House and Sandringham. The Princess was particularly close to her brother, George, the future King George V.

With her sisters, she was a bridesmaid at the wedding in 1885 of their paternal aunt Princess Beatrice to Prince Henry of Battenberg. She was a bridesmaid at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of York (future King George V and Queen Mary) on July 6, 1893.

Although she had a number of suitors, the most famous of them being King Carlos I of Portugal, Princess Victoria never married and had no children. Her mother, Alexandra, is believed to have actively discouraged her from marrying. Instead she remained a companion to her parents, particularly her mother, with whom she lived until Queen Alexandra’s death in 1925. The Princess then set up her own home at Coppins, Iver, in Buckinghamshire. She took a particular interest in the village life, becoming honorary president of the Iver Horticultural Society.

Later life

After the death of her mother, she left Sandringham House and decided to live in Buckinghamshire. Princess Victoria’s last years were plagued with health problems. She suffered from neuralgia, migraines, indigestion, depression, colds and influenza. Princess Victoria died at home on December 3, 1935, aged 67. Her funeral took place on 7 December 1935 at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, where she was initially buried. Her remains were later moved and reburied at the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore, Windsor Great Park, on January 8, 1936. Her death greatly affected her brother, George V, who died one month later.

Marriage of Prince Albert-Edward, Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra of Denmark.

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On this date in History: March 10, 1863. Marriage of Prince Albert-Edward, Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra of Denmark.

In September 1861, Albert-Edward, Prince of Wales was sent to Germany, supposedly to watch military manoeuvres, but actually in order to engineer a meeting between him and Princess Alexandra of Denmark, the eldest daughter of Prince Christian of Denmark (future King Christian IX) and his wife Louise of Hesse-Cassel. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had already decided that Albert-Edward and Alexandra should marry.

They met at Speyer on September 24 under the auspices of his elder sister, Victoria, Princess Royal who had married the Crown Prince Friedrich-Wilhelm of Prussia in 1858. Albert-Edward’s elder sister, acting upon instructions from their mother, had met Princess Alexandra at Strelitz in June; the young Danish princess made a very favourable impression. Albert-Edward and Alexandra were friendly from the start; the meeting went well for both sides, and marriage plans advanced.

Marriage

Once widowed, Queen Victoria effectively withdrew from public life. Shortly after Prince Albert’s death, she arranged for Albert-Edward to embark on an extensive tour of the Middle East, visiting Egypt, Jerusalem, Damascus, Beirut and Constantinople. The British Government wanted Albert-Edward to secure the friendship of Egypt’s ruler, Said Pasha, to prevent French control of the Suez Canal if the Ottoman Empire collapsed.

It was the first royal tour on which an official photographer, Francis Bedford, was in attendance. As soon as Albert-Edward returned to Britain, preparations were made for his engagement, which was sealed at Laeken in Belgium on September 9, 1862. Albert-Edward married Alexandra at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, on March 10, 1863. He was 21; she was 18.

Christian IX of Denmark

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The story of Christian IX of Denmark is an interesting tale of his rise as an obscure member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, a collateral branch of the House of Oldenburg which had ruled Denmark and Norway for centuries, to becoming King of Denmark in his own right. Today he is called the father-in-law of Europe and a majority of the royals sitting on the thrones of Europe are a descendants of his.

He was born in Gottorp on April 8, 1818. His Serene Highness Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck was the fourth son of Duke Friedrich Wilhelm of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck and Princess Louise Caroline of Hesse-Cassel. In 1825 Duke Friedrich Wilhelm inherited the Duchy of Glücksburg and changed his title accordingly. At the time of his birth the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg line did not have any rights to the Danish throne despite being male line descendants of King Christian III of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. At the time of his birth only the lines descended from King Frederik III of Denmark had succession rights.

The twin duchies of Schelswig and Holstein, the line of Christian’s family, have a very complex history. At times they were claimed by both Denmark and the Holy Roman Empire. During the life of Prince Christian the claims to the throne of the twin duchies would become an issue for not just him but all of Europe. I will go further into the history of the succession of the twin duchies next week.

Christian was also a descendant of the Danish kings through his mother, Louise Caroline of Hesse-Cassel. Her father was Landgraf Karl of Hesse-Cassel and her mother was Princess Louise of Denmark the daughter of King Frederik V of Denmark and Norway and his first wife, Princess Louise of Great Britain and Hanover (a daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Hanover). In his youth Prince Christian was an unsuccessful suitor for the hand of the young Queen Victoria of Great Britain. He was rejected and ended up marrying his first cousin, Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel, the daughter of Hereditary Prince Frederik of Denmark and Norway (son of King Frederik V of Denmark and his second wife Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel) and Duchess Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Because of the laws governing succession to the Danish throne, Prince Christian’s wife had a better hereditary claim to the Danish throne that he himself had.

Christian and Louise married at the Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen on May 26, 1842. They had 6 children: Frederik (1843), Alexandra (1844), Wilhelm (1845), Dagmar (1847), Thyra (1853) and Waldemar (1858).

This is my introduction to King Christian IX. I included some necessary genealogical background and next week I will discuss his succession to the throne and his reign and the extended family he had.