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King Frederik VII
Frederick VII (October 6, 1808 - November 15, 1863) was the last king of Denmark to rule as an absolute monarch. He reigned from 1848 until his death. During his rule, he signed a constitution that gave Denmark a government and made the country a constitutional monarchy, which at that time meant that only mature males possessing land would be able to vote. The constitution was signed as a result of the peaceful revolution of March.
Frederick's motto was: "The love of the nation; my strength."
Frederick VII managed to make himself one of the most beloved of the Danish kings of recent time. This was probably due to his giving up absolutism but also to his personal appearance. In spite of many weaknesses -- mythomania, drinking, excentric behaviour and whimsiness which is confirmed by his contemporaries -- he also possessed something of a gift as an actor. He could be both folksy and genuinely hearty, being able to appear as a ”simple, yet dignified monarch”. During his many travels throughout Denmark he cultivated his contacts to the common man.
The Reign of Frederick
Frederick who was the last king of the Oldenburg dynasty had a rather neglected childhood after the divorce of his parents. His youth was marked by private scandals and for many years he appeared as the ”problem child” of the royal family.
When he succeeded to the throne January 1848 he was almost at once met by the demand of a constitution. Besides the Schleswig-Holsteiners wanted an independent state while the Danes wished to maintain South Jutland as a Danish area. The king soon yielded to the Danish demands and March he accepted the fall of absolutism which resulted in the first June Constitution of 1849. During the following war against the German powers 1848-51 Frederick apperared as ”the national leader” and was regarded almost as a war hero despite having never taken any active part in the struggles.
The king's first two marriages (to Caroline of Denmark, a daughter of Frederick VI and then to Mariane of Mecklenburg) both ended in scandals and divorces. 1850 he (morganatically) remarried with Louise Rasmussen (in Denmark famous as Countess Danner), a common milliner and former ballet dancer who had for many years been his mistress. This marriage seems to have been happy though it aroused great social indignation among the nobility and the bourgeoisie. Countess Danner who was regarded a vulgar gold-digger by her enemies and a doughty and unaffected “daughter of the people” by her admirers seems to have stabilised him and made him a more sober and balanced person. She also worked at maintaining his popularity by letting him “meet the people” of the provinces.
During his reign Fredrick as a whole behaved as a constitutional monarch. However he did not quite give up interfering in politics, for instance he 1854 contributed to the fall of the strongly conservative Ørsted Cabinet and 1859-60 he accepted a liberal government which was appointed on the initiative of his wife. During the crisis in the Duchies 1862-63 shortly before his death he also openly spoke for an inter-Scandinavian military co-operation. Those minor crises created frictions and maintained some permanent insecurity but it did not damage his common popularity. In some of these affairs he beyond any doubt overstepped the mark; on the other hand the first Danish constitution was somewhat vague as regards to the limits of the royal power.
The rule of Frederick was also the golden age of the National Liberal Party which was in office from 1854. This period was marked by some political and economic reforms, for instance the beginning demolishing of the walls around Copenhagen and the introduction of the freedom of trade (1857). The constant quarrels with the opposition in Schleswig-Holstein and the German demands of not trying to unite Denmark and Schleswig (South Jutland) led to some changes of the constitution in order to fit the foreign political situation which created frustration in Denmark. The National Liberals therefore at last favoured a more resistant course against the Germans which led to the war of 1864. The king whole-heartedly supported this course and just before his sudden death he was prepared to sign a new special constitution for Denmark and Schleswig (the so-called November Constitution).
The Reign of Frederick
Frederick was married three times, and had numerous affairs to boot, but was apparently sterile. The fact that he reached middle age without producing an heir meant that Prince Christian of Glücksburg (1818-1906), the descendant of a cousin of King Frederick VI, was chosen to succeed him in 1852. When Frederick died in 1863, Christian took the throne as Christian IX.
Because of Salic Law, the succession after childless Frederick was a question very thorny to arrange, and it did not go smoothly, but caused a war. Nationalism pursuing towards independence in the German-speaking parts of Schleswig-Holstein caused that no solution to keep the Duchies together with Denmark was satisfactory. The duchies were inherited after the salic law among descendants of Helwig of Schauenburg, senior of which after Frederick himself was Frederick, Duke of Augustenburg (who proclaimed himself Duke of Schleswig-Holstein after Frederick VII's death). This Friedrich von Augustenburg had become the symbol of the nationalist German independence-movement in Schleswig-Holstein, after his father in exchange for money had renounced his claims as first in line to inherit the twin-duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, following the London protocol of May 8th, 1852, which concluded the First war of Schleswig. Because of his father's renunciation, Frederick was regarded not eligible to succeed.
Denmark was also under Salic Law, but only among descendants of Frederick III (who was the first hereditary monarch of Denmark, before him the kingdom was officially elective). Agnatic descendance of Frederick III went extinct when Frederick VII died, and at that point, the succession law promulgated by Frederick III provided a Semi-Salic succession. There were however several alternative ways to interpret to whom the crown passes then, since the provision was not entirely clear on whether it be the closest female relative or what and who to inherit. The question was solved by an election and a separate law to confirm the new successor.
The closest female relatives of Frederick VII were the issue of his paternal aunt, Louise, who had married a cadet Landgrave of Hesse. However, they were not agnatic descendants of royal family and thus not eligible to succeed in Schleswig-Holstein. The dynastic female heiress according to the original primogeniture from Frederick III was the childless daughter of late king Frederick VI, after whom the original primogeniture would have lead to heirs of Louise, sister of Frederick VI, who had married the then duke of Augustenburg. The chief heir to that line was the selfsame Frederick of Augustenburg, but his turn would have come only after the death of a childless princess who was very much alive in 1863.
Some rights belonged also to the line of Glucksburg, a more junior branch of the royal clan. They were also heirs of Frederick III, through their one ancestress who was daughter of King Frederick V of Denmark, and they were a more junior agnatic heirs eligible to succeed in Schleswig- Holstein. There were Christian of Glücksburg (1818-1906) and his two elder brothers, eldest of whom was cildless, but the second had produced children, also male children.
Prince Christian of Glücksburg (1818-1906) had been a foster "grandson" of the sonless royal couple Frederick VI and his queen consort Marie, thus familiar with the royal court and the traditions of the recent monarchs. Prince Christian was great-nephew of queen Marie, and descendant of a first cousin of Frederick VI. He was brought up as Danish, having lived in Danish-speaking lands of the royal dynasty, and was not attached to German nationalism. Although these did not mean anything legally, they made him a relatively good candidate from the Danish viewpoint. As junior agnatic descendant, he was eligible to inherit Schleswig-Holstein, but not the first in line. As descendant of Frederick III, he was eligible to succeed in Denmark, but not first in line, however that line was not very clear.
Christian of Glücksburg (1818-1906) married then princess Louise of Hesse, eldest daughter of the eldest son of the closest female relative of Frederick VII. Louise's father and brothers, princes of Hesse, renounced their rights in favor of Louise and her husband. Prince Christian's wife was now the closest female heiress of Frederick VII.
The thorny question of operation of Semi-Salic provision in succession of Denmark was at that point resolved by legislation through which Prince Christian of Glücksburg (1818-1906) was 1852 chosen to succeed the King Frederick VII in Denmark.
Frederick VII died in 1863 and was interred in Roskilde Cathedral. Christian took the throne as Christian IX.
In November 1863 Frederick of Augustenborg claimed the twin-duchies in succession after King Frederick VII of Denmark, who also was the Duke of Schleswig and Holstein, and who had died without a male heir.
Prussia and Austria started the Second war of Schleswig.
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