Frederick VIII of Denmark
| Frederick VIII | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Reign | 29 January 1906 – 14 May 1912 |
| Predecessor | Christian IX |
| Successor | Christian X |
| Burial | |
| Spouse | Louise of Sweden |
| Issue | Christian X of Denmark Haakon VII of Norway Princess Louise Prince Harald Princess Ingeborg, Duchess of Västergötland Princess Thyra Prince Gustav Princess Dagmar |
| House | House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg |
| Father | Christian IX of Denmark |
| Mother | Louise of Hesse-Kassel |
| Religion | Lutheranism |
Frederick VIII (Christian Frederik Vilhelm Carl) (3 June 1843 – 14 May 1912) was King of Denmark from 1906 to 1912.
Biography
He was was born in Copenhagen as Prince Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, a junior male line of the House of Oldenburg descended from Christian III of Denmark and who had since ruled as non-souvereign dukes of successive duchies in Schleswig-Holstein for eight generations including his grandfather. His parents were Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and Louise of Hesse-Kassel. In 1847, his father was chosen as the heir presumptive to the Danish throne, because Frederick's mother Louise of Hesse-Kassel was a close relative of the last Danish king of the Oldenburg main line (the other heirs of the House of Hesse renounced their claims to the Danish throne in favour of Louise and her husband). Accordingly, Frederick became a Prince of Denmark in 1847, and when his father ascended the throne in 1863, the Crown Prince.
As Crown Prince of Denmark he formally took part in the war of 1864 against Austria and Prussia, and subsequently assisted his father in the duties of government. He became king of Denmark on Christian's death in January 1906.
In many ways Frederick VIII was a liberal ruler who was much more favorable to the new parliamentarian system than his father had been. Because of his very late accession to the throne he only had a few years to show his ability and he was weakened by ill health.
On his return journey from Nice a trip to France, King Frederick made a short stop in Hamburg, staying at the Hotel Hamburger Hof. The evening of his arrival, Frederick (incognito) took a walk on the Jungfernstieg. While walking he became faint and collapsed on a park bench and died. He was discovered by a police officer who took him to a Hafen hospital where he was pronounced dead. His cause of death was announced as a paralysis-attack. He was interred with other members of the Danish royal family in Roskilde Cathedral near Copenhagen.
The royal families of Denmark, Norway, Belgium and Luxembourg are descended from King Frederick VIII. Denmark comes naturally, Norway's family goes through the line of his son, Prince Carl, and the families of Belgium and Luxembourg are descended from his daughter, Princess Ingeborg of Denmark.
Family and issue
Louise of Hesse wanted her eldest son married as well as her two daughters, Alexandra and Dagmar had. Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom had two yet unmarried daughters, Princess Helena and Princess Louise, and Louise tried to marry Frederick to one of them. However, the British Queen didn't want her daughters to marry the heirs to foreign crowns, as this would force them to live abroad. She preferred German princes who could establish homes in the UK. In addition, Victoria had always been pro-German and another Danish alliance (Frederick's sister, Alexandra, had married Victoria's eldest son, the Prince of Wales), would not have been in line with her German interests.
In July 1868, Frederick became engaged to the 17-year-old only daughter of Charles XV of Sweden, Louise of Sweden. Princess Louise's family was related by marriage to Napoleon Bonaparte. She belonged to the Bernadotte dynasty, which had ruled in Sweden since 1818, when the founder, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, one of Napoleon's generals, was elected King of Sweden with the name of Charles XIV of Sweden. He married Désirée Clary, who had once been engaged to the French Emperor. Charles XIV's son, Oscar I of Sweden, married Josephine of Leuchtenberg, grandddaughter of Napoleon's first wife, the Empress Josephine. King Oscar I and Queen Josephine were Princess Louise's paternal grandparents.
| Styles of King Frederik VIII of Denmark | |
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| Reference style | His Majesty |
| Spoken style | Your Majesty |
| Alternative style | Sire |
Crown Prince Frederick and Louise of Sweden married in Stockholm on 28 July 1869. They had four sons and four daughters:
Frederick VIII was the 1,065th Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Spain, the 806th Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1896 and the 152nd Grand Cross of the Order of the Tower and Sword.
Ancestors
External links
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The generations are numbered from the implementation of hereditary monarchy by Frederick III in 1660. | ||
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1 Also prince of Norway 2 Also prince of Greece 3 Also prince of Iceland 4 Also prince of the United Kingdom 5 Not Danish prince by birth, but created prince of Denmark Princes that lost their title are shown in italics | ||
- 1843 births
- 1912 deaths
- People from Copenhagen
- Danish monarchs
- House of Glücksburg (Denmark)
- Protestant monarchs
- Recipients of the Royal Victorian Chain
- Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav
- Knights of the Golden Fleece
- Recipients of the Order of the Black Eagle
- Burials at Roskilde Cathedral
- Princes of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
- Recipients of the House Order of the Wendish Crown
- Extra Knights Companion of the Garter
- Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
- Knights of the Order of the Most Holy Annunciation
- Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
- Knights Grand Cross of the Military William Order
- Grand Commanders of the Order of the Dannebrog