Christian IX

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King Christian IX from Denmark

Christian IX (* April 8, 1818 at Gottorf Palace in Schleswig ; † January 29, 1906 at Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen ) was King of Denmark from 1863 . He became the progenitor of the Glücksburg line , which still sits on the Danish throne today. Through his numerous descendants and their marriages with members of European royal families, he was nicknamed "Europe's father-in-law".

Origin and line of succession

Christian IX (1864)

Prince Christian was the fourth son of Duke Wilhelm of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (1785-1831) and his wife Princess Luise Caroline (1789-1867), daughter of Landgrave Karl von Hessen-Kassel and his wife Princess Louise, daughter of Danish King Friedrich V from the House of Oldenburg .

When the Danish King Frederick VII died on November 15, 1863 , Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg resigned as King Christian IX in accordance with the London Protocol of 1852. to succeed him. His official title was King of Denmark, the Wends and the Goths , Duke of Schleswig , Holstein , Stormarn , Dithmarschen , Lauenburg and Oldenburg .

Marriage and offspring

Christian IX With his family
Carte de Visite by Georg Emil Hansen , 1862

On May 26, 1842, he married his cousin, Princess Louise of Hesse (1817–1898), daughter of Landgrave Wilhelm von Hessen-Kassel-Rumpenheim and his wife Louise Charlotte of Denmark (1789–1864), daughter of the Danish Hereditary Prince, at Amalienborg Palace Friedrich .

Six offspring resulted from the connection:

His eldest son and heir to the throne Friedrich VIII married Princess Louise , the daughter of King Charles XV. of Sweden . His daughter Alexandra was married to the future British King Edward VII , his daughter Maria Dagmar to Tsar Alexander III. and his daughter Thyra with Duke Ernst August von Cumberland and Braunschweig .

His second son, Wilhelm, became King of Greece as George I in 1863 and the third, Prince Waldemar , rejected the Bulgarian and Norwegian throne. In 1905 Christian's grandson Carl became King of Norway under the name Haakon VII . The Danish royal family was thus directly related to many of the ruling royal houses in Europe, which later earned Christian the nickname “Europe's father-in-law”. For example, he is the great-grandfather of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and at the same time the great-great-grandfather (!) Of his wife, the British Queen Elizabeth II.

German-Danish War

Monument at the Düppeler Schanzen
Gold coin with a portrait of Christian IX, issue for the Danish West Indies (1905)
Sarcophagus for King Christian IX. and Queen Louise in Roskilde Cathedral

In the London Protocol of 1852, Denmark achieved the recognition of the entire state and the approval of a common succession for Denmark and the duchies, but had to commit to the two German powers Prussia and Austria not to give Schleswig (as Denmark's fief) any closer to the actual Kingdom of Denmark bind as Holstein (as a member of the German Confederation). To this end, the Danish government passed the bilingual general state constitution in 1855 , according to which the individual territories were related to one another as part of states. In Denmark, the democratic constitution of 1849 continued to apply, which was, however, supplemented at the level of the general state by the new general state constitution. In fact, this led to a juxtaposition of a constitutional monarchy in Denmark and maintaining a paternal model with by census option selected estate assemblies in the duchies. After the rejection of the entire state constitution by the Holstein assembly of estates and by the German Confederation in 1858, it was only valid in Denmark and Schleswig, which did not seem tenable in the long term.

With the appointment of Orla Lehmann , who was more strongly influenced by national liberalism , as Danish Minister of the Interior in September 1861, government work was again more dominated by the policy of the oath . This was expressed not least in the drafting of the so-called November Constitution of November 1863, which after the previous rejection of the entire state constitution by the Dt. Bund should only apply to Denmark and Schleswig. The new constitution, however, actually meant a breach of the London Protocol of 1852 on the relationship between the duchies within the state as a whole. Christian IX, who came to the throne after the death of Frederick VII . feared conflicts with Bismarck and hesitated to sign the new constitution. Public opinion in Copenhagen was, however, strongly influenced by the national liberal Eider policy and Scandinavianism . Corresponding demonstrators in front of the palace openly sympathized with the idea of ​​a pan-Scandinavian state from the Eider to the North Cape under the new Scandinavian-minded Swedish-Norwegian King Karl XV. Not least under this pressure Christian IX signed. the November constitution, but at the same time declared that the responsibility for the new constitution was borne solely by the national liberal government. There were further tensions in the duchies themselves, where after the death of King Friedrich VII the German-minded Augustenburger Friedrich VIII of Schleswig-Holstein, contrary to the London Protocol, was proclaimed the new Duke of a united Schleswig-Holstein, which, however, was neither in Denmark was still recognized in Prussia.

Because of the adoption of the November constitution, in December 1863 there was finally a federal execution against the two states of Holstein and Lauenburg by troops of the German Confederation. In February 1864, despite the condemnation of the German Confederation as illegal, the German-Danish War and the occupation of Schleswig ( Southern Jutland ) and large parts of Northern Jutland by the two great powers Prussia and Austria. The negotiations on a possible partition of Schleswig, which were held during a lengthy ceasefire at the London conference , did not bring any result, so that Denmark had to cede the duchies of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg to Prussia and Austria with the Vienna Peace Treaty , which then administered the territories in a joint condominium . After the German-German War in 1866, Schleswig and Holstein were formally annexed by Prussia and together they formed the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein from 1867 . Since the Danish-minded population in Schleswig was often subject to reprisals from the Prussian authorities, the desire to join Denmark remained lively.

In 2010, the Danish historian Tom Buk-Swienty wrote about letters in the archived private correspondence of the king, in which he offered the Prussian King Wilhelm I that Denmark could join the German Confederation . With this step Christian IX hoped. to be able to preserve the unity of the kingdom including the duchies of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg after the defeat in the German-Danish War . However, the Prussian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Otto von Bismarck refused.

After the failure of the national liberal-dominated governments under Carl Christian Hall and Ditlev Gothard Monrad before the German-Danish War, Denmark's domestic policy was finally determined by conservative governments until around 1900, especially under Prime Minister JBS Estrup (1875–94); the influence of the opposition liberals ( Venstre ) and social democrats grew strongly. In 1901 Christian IX appointed a liberal government that enforced the parliamentary principle .

King Christian IX died in 1906. at the age of 87. He was buried in Roskilde Cathedral on the island of Zealand. His 63-year-old son, Frederick VIII, ascended the Danish throne.

The large white marble sarcophagus in which King Christian IX. together with Queen Louise found their last rest, was designed by Edvard Eriksen and the architect Hack Kampmann . The sarcophagus is surrounded by three sculptures, symbolizing memory, love and sorrow.

ancestors

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Karl Anton of Schleswig-Holstein (1727–1759)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Friedrich Karl Ludwig of Schleswig-Holstein (1757–1816)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Friederike von Dohna-Schlobitten (1738–1786)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Friedrich Wilhelm of Schleswig-Holstein (1785–1831)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Leopold von Schlieben (1723–1788)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Friederike von Schlieben (1757–1827)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Marie Eleonore von Lehndorff (1723–1800)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Christian IX King of Denmark
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Friedrich II of Hessen-Kassel (1720–1785)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Karl of Hessen-Kassel (1744–1836)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mary of Great Britain (1723–1772)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Luise Karoline of Hessen-Kassel (1789–1867)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 King Frederick V of Denmark (1723–1766)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Louise of Denmark (1750-1831)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Louise of Great Britain (1724–1751)
 
 
 
 
 
 

See also

literature

  • Anna Lerche / Marcus Mandahl: A royal family. The story of Christian 9. and his European descendants , Aschehoug, København 2003, ISBN 87-15-10957-7 .

Web links

Commons : Christian IX. from Denmark  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

swell

  • The great dynasties, Karl Müller Verlag 1996 ISBN 3-86070-561-X
  • Europe's royal houses, VGS Verlagsgesellschaft Cologne, 1991
  • Areion World Almanac 2005

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ingrid Raagaard: Danish author covers historical “treason” on Hamburger Abendblatt online, August 19, 2010, accessed on January 9, 2015
predecessor Office successor
Frederick VII King of Denmark
1863–1906 		Frederick VIII
personal data
SURNAME Christian IX
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King of Denmark
DATE OF BIRTH April 8, 1818
PLACE OF BIRTH Gottorf Castle
DATE OF DEATH January 29, 1906
Place of death Amalienborg Palace , Copenhagen