Princess Thyra of Denmark
| Princess Thyra | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crown Princess of Hanover Duchess of Cumberland and Teviotdale | |||||
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| Born | 29 September 1853 Yellow Palace, Copenhagen | ||||
| Died | 26 February 1933 (aged 79) Gmunden, Austria | ||||
| Spouse | Ernest Augustus, Crown Prince of Hanover | ||||
| Issue | Maria (given up for adoption; renamed Kate Jørgensen) Princess Marie Louise Prince George William Alexandra, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Princess Olga Prince Christian Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick | ||||
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| House | Glücksburg | ||||
| Father | Christian IX of Denmark | ||||
| Mother | Louise of Hesse-Kassel | ||||
Princess Thyra of Denmark, Danish pronunciation: [ˈtyːʁə], (29 September 1853 – 26 February 1933 in Gmunden) was the youngest daughter and fifth child of Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Kassel. In 1878 she married Ernest Augustus, the exiled heir to the Kingdom of Hanover. As the Kingdom of Hanover had been annexed by Prussia in 1866, she spent most of her life in exile with her husband in Austria.
Thyra was the sister of Frederik VIII of Denmark, Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom, George I of Greece, Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia and Prince Valdemar of Denmark.
Birth and family
Princess Thyra was born on 29 September 1853 at the Yellow Palace in Copenhagen as the third daughter and fifth child of Prince Christian and Princess Louise of Denmark. Her family had been relatively obscure until her father, Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, was chosen with the consent of the great powers to succeed his childless distant cousin, Frederick VII, to the Danish throne. Just two months before Thyra's birth, the new Act of Succession had been passed and Prince Christian given the title Prince of Denmark.
Early life
In 1863, when Thyra was 10 years old, King Frederick VII died, and her father succeeded to the throne of Denmark as King Christian IX. Earlier the same year, her brother Vilhelm had been elected King of Greece, and her sister Alexandra had married Edward, Prince of Wales. In 1866, her other sister Dagmar married the tsarevich of Russia, Alexander.
Thyra was an attractive and gentle young woman, with dark hair and dark blue eyes, and Queen Louise wanted her youngest daughter to make a good marriage as her elder daughters had. Thyra's first suitor was King Willem III of the Netherlands, but as he was thirty-six years older than she was, she rejected him. He later married Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont. Their daughter became Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and her descendants sit on the throne of the Netherlands.
In her youth, Thyra had fallen in love with Vilhelm Frimann Marcher, a Lieutenant in the Cavalry, which resulted in a pregnancy.[1] Her brother George I of Greece suggested that she have the baby in Athens to avoid scandal; the Danish press was told Thyra had been taken ill with jaundice.[1] She gave birth to a girl, Maria, on 8 November 1871 at Schloss Glücksburg, who was adopted by Rasmus and Anne Marie Jørgensen of Odense shortly after birth and renamed Kate; she married in 1902 Frode Pløyen-Holstein and died in 1964.[2] Marcher killed himself on 4 January 1872 after a confrontation with the King.[3]
Marriage
On 21 December/22 December 1878, she married Crown Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover, 3rd Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, at the chapel of Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen. Ernst Augustus was the eldest child and only son of King George V of Hanover and his wife, Princess Marie of Saxe-Altenburg.
Ernest Augustus had been born as a Crown Prince of Hanover, but in 1866 his father had been deprived of his throne, when the Kingdom of Hanover was annexed by Prussia after siding with Austria in the Austro-Prussian War.
Thanks to her marriage, Thyra became Duchess of Cumberland and Teviotdale, and Duchess of Brunswick-Luneburg; although she was styled Crown Princess of Hanover, in pretense she was Queen Consort of Hanover because neither her husband nor her late father-in-law (who died six months before her marriage) ever renounced or abdicated his rights over the annexed Kingdom of Hanover.
Later life
Ernest Augustus died on 14 November 1923. Thyra survived her husband by nine years and died in Gmunden, Upper Austria, on 26 February 1933.
Issue
The Duke and Duchess of Cumberland had six children:
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Princess Marie Louise of Hanover and Cumberland | 11 October 1879 | 31 January 1948 | married Prince Maximilian of Baden (10 July 1867 – 6 November 1929); had issue |
| Prince George William of Hanover and Cumberland | 28 October 1880 | 20 May 1912 | |
| Princess Alexandra of Hanover and Cumberland | 29 September 1882 | 30 August 1963 | married Friedrich Franz IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (9 April 1882 – 17 November 1945); had issue |
| Princess Olga of Hanover and Cumberland | 11 July 1884 | 21 September 1958 | |
| Prince Christian of Hanover and Cumberland | 4 July 1885 | 3 September 1901 | |
| Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick | 17 November 1887 | 30 January 1953 | married Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia (13 September 1892 – 11 December 1980); had issue |
Ancestry
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles and styles
- 29 September 1853 – 1858: Her Highness Princess Thyra of Denmark
- 1858 – 22 December 1878: Her Royal Highness Princess Thyra of Denmark
- 22 December 1878 – 26 February 1933: Her Royal Highness The Crown Princess of Hanover
Honours
Spain : 814th Dame of the Order of Queen Maria Luisa - 
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Gallery
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Princess Thyra of Denmark in 1871 -
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Silver jubilee of the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland in 1903.
Notes
- ^ a b Bramsen, Bo. Huset Glücksborg i 150 år, 1825 6. juli-1975. Copenhagen: Forum, 1975
- ^ Genealogy of the Royal Family of Denmark at the Wayback Machine (archived October 28, 2009) at www.geocities.com
- ^ DIS-Forum :: AneEfterlysning :: Prinsesse Thyras uægte barn at www.dis-danmark.dk
External links
- Royal House of Hannover
- Royal House of Denmark
- Princess Thyra at the website of the Royal Danish Collection at Amalienborg Palace
Generations are numbered from the implementation of hereditary monarchy by Frederick III in 1660. | ||
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1 Also princess of Norway 2 Also princess of Greece 3 Also princess of Iceland 4 Not Danish princess by birth, but created princess of Denmark Princesses that lost their title are shown in italics | ||
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