Christian IX

In 1848, King Christian VIII passed away. His only son, Frederick VII, ascended the throne. The new king was married twice, but had no descendants. A crisis of succession to the throne arose in the country. Frederick was King of Denmark and Duke of Schleswig-Holstein . In the latter, the Salic Law was in effect, which did not give women the right to ascend the throne. There was no such law in Denmark. In the same year, Prussia, with the support of the German-speaking population of Schleswig-Holstein, invaded its territory, starting the Danish-Prussian war . The result of the conflict was the defeat of Prussia. In 1852, after the end of hostilities, the Great Powers convened a , where the main topic was the approval of the status of the duchy and the inheritance of the Danish throne after the death of Frederick VII. At the conference, Russia, France, Great Britain, Prussia, Austria and Sweden decided that Prince Christian Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg would become the new king of Denmark and all other possessions of King Frederick after the death of the latter. Christian lived in Denmark since the age of 13, served in the Danish army and was considered a confidant of kings Frederick VI and Christian VIII , which, of course, played in his favor. The decision was enshrined in a document signed on May 8, 1852 ^[4] . Christian, therefore, bypassed other pretenders to the throne, including his wife, her brother and their mother ^[5] .

Christian was granted the title of Prince of Denmark and another Bernstorf palace was given for use, where the couple lived with the children in the warm season. The family continued to lead a modest lifestyle and very rarely go to the royal court. Christian and Louise had a cool relationship with the king due to the disapproval of his third morganatic marriage with actress , who received the title of Countess Danner ^[6] .

Having ascended the throne in 1863, Christian IX almost immediately became involved in the struggle against Prussia due to the inheritance of the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein , which ended in the Danish-Prussian war in 1864. Since Christian was not the heir to the previous Danish kings on the male side, he did not could inherit Schleswig-Holstein according to the Salic law . Prussia (and the Schleswig Germans) put up against Denmark the German heir to the duchy - Frederick of Augustenburg, later the father-in-law of William II (father of Empress Augusta Victoria ). As a result of the war, Denmark lost both Schleswig and Holstein; the latter was not negotiated by Prussia with its ally, Austria, and led already to the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 . Christian subsequently retained negative feelings for the German Empire that grew up as a result of these wars.

Christian was a conservative who was reluctant to go to parliamentary reforms. Towards the end of his reign, he gave Iceland autonomy and democratized the composition of the Folketing . In 1891, old-age pensions were introduced, in 1892 - unemployment benefits.

Since 1842, Christian was married to Louise of Hesse of Kassel ( 1817 - 1898 ), niece of King Christian VIII . The couple had six children:

• Prince Christian Frederick Wilhelm Carl (06/03/1843 - 05/14/1912) - King of Denmark Frederick VIII from 1906 to 1912; He was married to Princess Luisa of Sweden and Norway , the daughter of King Charles XV and Louise of the Netherlands , with whom he married eight children, including the King of Denmark Christian X and the King of Norway Haakon VII ;
• Princess Alexandra Carolina Maria Charlotte Louise Julia (12/01/1844 - 11/20/1925) - married to the King of Great Britain and Emperor of India Edward VII , son of Prince Consort Albert Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Queen Victoria , had three sons and three daughters Great Britain George V and Queen of Norway Maud ;
• Prince Christian Wilhelm Ferdinand Adolf Georg (12.24.1845-18.03.1913) - King of Greece George I in 1863-1913, was married to Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna , daughter of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich and Alexandra Iosifovna , had five married daughters, including King Constantine I ;
• Princess Maria Sofya Frederika Dagmar (11/26/1847 - 10/13/1928) - married to the Russian Emperor Alexander III , the son of Emperor Alexander II and Maria Alexandrovna , took the name Maria Fedorovna; four sons and two daughters were born in the marriage, and the firstborn was Emperor Nicholas II ;
• Princess Tira Amalia Carolina Charlotte Anne (09.29.1853-26.02.1933) - married to Ernst August II , Prince of Hanover, son of King Hanover George V and Mary of Saxe-Altenburg , had three sons and three daughters;
• Prince Valdemar (10.27.1858 - 01.14.1939) - was married to Mary of Orleans , daughter of Robert, Duke of Chartres and Francoise of Orleans , had four sons and a daughter.

King Christian was in close kinship with the royal houses of Europe. He was the father of two kings - his successor Frederick VIII and King of Greece George I , the British Queen Alexandra , wife of Edward VII , and the Russian Empress Maria Fedorovna , wife of Alexander III .

Christian was thus the grandfather of Nicholas II , who called him in his diary Apapa ("Grandfather", a French word for children). Other Christian grandchildren include Constantine I of Greece , George V of Great Britain , Haakon VII of Norway . This incredible success of the offspring of Christian and Louise - the "father-in-law" and "mother-in-law of Europe", as they were called - is not associated with the talents of the king, but with the dynastic ambitions of his wife.

Now most of the monarchs of Europe are direct descendants of Christian IX.

On August 4, 1844 he was awarded the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called ^[7] .

• general (11.11.1863, Denmark)
• Colonel General (11/15/1903, Prussia)

• Battiscombe, Georgina. Queen Alexandra : [ eng. ] . - London: Constable, 1969. - P. 8. - ISBN 0-09-456560-0 .
• Duff, David. Alexandra: Princess and Queen : [ eng. ] . - London: Collin, 1980. - P. 19-20. - 327 p. - ISBN 0002166674 , 9780002166676.
• Tooley, Sarah A. Southall. The life of Queen Alexandra : [ eng. ] . - London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1902. - P. 11-12. - 194 p.

• The official site of the royal house
• Descendants of Christian