'Frederik VIII' (
June 3,
1843 –
May 14,
1912) was King of Denmark from
1906 to
1912.
Biography
He was the eldest son of King
Christian IX and his wife, Denmark's heiress,
Louise of Hesse - and was born in
Copenhagen. 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 Frederik VIII was a liberal ruler who was much more favourable to the new parliamentarian system than his father had been. Because of his very late accession to the throne he only got few years to show his ability and he was weakened by an ill health.
On his return journey from a trip to
France, King Frederik made a short stop in
Hamburg, staying at the Hotel Hamburger Hof. The evening of his arrival, Frederik (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 Frederik 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.
Ancestors
Family and issue
Louise of Hesse wanted her eldest son married as well as her two daughters,
Alexandra and
Dagmar had.
Queen Victoria had two yet unmarried daughters,
Princess Helena and
Princess Louise, and Louise tried to marry Frederik to one of them, but the British Queen didn't want her daughters to marry the heir of a foreign crown, as it would take them away from her, she wanted for them a German prince who could set his home in England beside her. Also, Victoria had always been pro-German and another Danish alliance (Frederik' sister, Alexandra, had married Victoria's eldest son, the
Prince of Wales), would not be in line with her German interests. So
Louise of Hesse had to look for another wife for her son. In July 1868, Frederik became engaged to the seventeen-year-old only daughter of
Charles XIV John of Sweden,
Lovisa of Sweden. Princess Lovisa's family was related to
Napoleon Bonaparte. She belonged to the
Bernadotte dynasty, which ruled in Sweden since 1818. The founder was Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, who had been one of Napoleon's generals, and who was elected King of Sweden with the name of
Charles XV of Sweden. He married
Desiree Clary, who had once been engaged to the French Emperor. Charles XIV's son,
Oscar I, married
Josephine of Leuchtenberg, grandddaughter of Napoleon's first wife, the
Empress Josephine. King Oscar I and Queen Josephine were Princess Lovisa's paternal grandparents.
Crown Prince Frederik and
Lovisa of Sweden married in Stockholm on July 28, 1869. They had four sons and four daughters:
# Crown Prince
Christian of
Denmark (
1870-
1947), later King Christian X of Denmark. Married Princess
Alexandrine of
Mecklenburg-Schwerin in
1898 and had issue
# Prince
Carl of
Denmark (
1872-
1957), later King Haakon VII of Norway. Married Princess
Maud of
Wales in
1896 and had issue
#
Princess Louise of Denmark (
1875-
1906). Married Prince
Friedrich of
Schaumburg-Lippe in 1896 and had issue
#
Prince Harald of Denmark (
1876-
1949). Married Princess
Helena of Glücksburg in 1909 and had issue
#
Princess Ingeborg of Denmark (
1878-
1958) Married Prince
Carl of
Sweden and
Norway in 1897 and had issue
#
Princess Thyra of Denmark (
1880-
1945) No issue
#
Prince Gustav of Denmark (
1887-
1944) No issue
#
Princess Dagmar of Denmark (
1890-
1961) Married
Jørgen Carstenskiold and had issue
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