Alexandra of Denmark

“ The Queen called her "the fairy," and so great a dignitary as Dean Stanley thought of her in the same way, for after he had had a long talk with her in the corner of the drawing room, telling her how the service of the Church of England differed from that of the Danish Church, he wrote in his diary, "She is as charming and beautiful a creature as ever passed through a fairy tale." "The little gem of Denmark is the pet of the country," declared the newspapers. The unbounded admiration that had been shown to Queen Victoria in the early days of her reign was given to Alexandra. ”

“ We live in better days. The presence of the Church of St. Alban in the lovely gardens by the very citadel, a sanctuary to whose erection Danish Queen Alexandra contributed, is a witness for all time that the relations between Denmark and England to-day are of no ordinary kind. The tall Gothic spire is an ornament to the city and one of its landmarks from the harbour, but there might have been advantages in less purely [144] English architecture and perhaps dedication to some Danish saint. ”

“ It is a peaceful country, and the souls of the people seem as clear as their blue eyes. The Danes are a kind, industrious and simple race, and, if they strike one as being less hardy and vigorous than the other Scandinavian races, they certainly have the same courteous manners as the Swedes and the Norwegians.
The first time that I visited Denmark King Christian, the father of Queen Alexandra and the Empress{206} Marie, was reigning, and the castle, in which his large family used to assemble for those reunions which he loved, was looked on by the Danes with a sort of reverence. ”

“ That England imposed weighty points on the Danish court, and demanded all possible satisfaction for the trick played the queen regnant, is evident from the following facts:—The queen is still called Queen of Denmark, even by the Danish court; her children by the king are brought up royally, and called the crown prince of the Danish kingdom and the king's daughter. When she set out from Kronborg for Celle, all royal honours were granted (which could not have been the case had the fabulous intercourse been true) , and a pension of 30,000 rix-dollars is to be paid her annually. ”

“ It is not uncommon for the royal family to mix in the marketplace with an ease unknown outside Scandinavia. The prevailing attitude toward the monarchy is one of respect; there are in Denmark few passionate royalists and even fewer anti-royalists. ”

“ The happy event, now about to be consummated, of a matrimonial alliance between the Royal Families of England and Denmark, will naturally cement an alliance also between the two countries. Before Prince Christian’s eldest son weds the only daughter of the King of Sweden, his eldest daughter will have become the consort of the heir to the British throne. This promises to be a most happy, as it is of all others, a most natural alliance. The Danes and English are kindred peoples. The former have given to the British nation the best portion of its blood. ”

“ The existence of the Danish people, as a nation, has been pronounced a miracle. It is hardly less. Small and feeble, and surrounded by the foreigner on every side, Denmark has never been ruled by a conqueror. Amid the rise and fall of other states, she has maintained her independence—now powerful and victorious, now depressed and poor, but never succumbing, never submitting to the stranger's yoke. Her present dynasty is the oldest reigning European family. ”

“ These Danish girls were likely to appeal to a young man just returned from travels abroad, during which his emotions had been doubly stirred, for the first time, by feminine affection and by enthusiasm for a woman. They influenced me the more strongly because they were Danish, and because I, who loved everything Danish, from the language to the monuments, had, since the war, felt something lacking in everyone, man or woman, who was foreign to Denmark. ”

“ It is plainly evident that Danish women are weary of the part allotted to them in the old society, a part characterized by the sentiment that the best that can be said of a woman is that there is nothing to say about ere... When, in due time, the claim for political rights is made here in Denmark, then will women from all classes unite in their efforts to secure the palladium which alone can protect them from arbitrariness and subjection. ”

“ Considering Copenhagen as the capital of Denmark and Norway, I was surprised not to see so much industry or taste as in Christiania. Indeed, from everything I have had an opportunity of observing, the Danes are the people who have made the fewest sacrifices to the graces.
The men of business are domestic tyrants, coldly immersed in their own affairs, and so ignorant of the state of other countries, that they dogmatically assert that Denmark is the happiest country in the world; the Prince Royal the best of all possible princes; and Count Bernstorff the wisest of ministers. ”

“ Sweden gave back the province of Trondhjem and the isle of Bornholm and released Denmark from the most onerous of the obligations of the treaty of Roskilde. In fact the peace of Copenhagen came as a welcome break in an interminable series of disasters and humiliations. Anyhow, it confirmed the independence of the Danish state. On the other hand, if Denmark had emerged from the war with her honour and dignity unimpaired, she had at the same time tacitly surrendered the dominion of the North to her Scandinavian rival. ”

“ At a fair or public entertainment, where men and women of the working classes are brought together in great numbers, the women of Denmark will be pronounced above the average for good looks, and, perhaps, the same thing would not be said of the men. ”

“ So far from being the mistress, she would not be the wife, of one whose territory consisted in a few insignificant provinces; she would never marry any one beneath the dignity of a monarch,—who did not, like Eric of Sweden, 169and Gorm of Denmark, hold absolute sway over the whole country. The answer of the heroine being brought to the king, he admired her ambition, and vowed to the gods that he would never cut or comb his hair until he had subdued the whole of Norway—until its revenues and authority were his: and if he failed in his attempt, the penalty should be his life. ”

“ Every child between the ages of 7 and 14 is obliged by law to attend some school, and it is rare to meet a Danish peasant, however poor, who cannot read and write. The university of Copenhagen, which dates from 1478, has 40 professors and upward of 1,100 students, and there are colleges in all the large towns, besides 2,940 public schools. The number of periodicals is large in proportion to the population.—The government of Denmark is a hereditary constitutional monarchy. ”

“ A large number of Danes speak English, admits British character traits, and deeply respect the monarchical tradition that the two peoples share. There is a tendency among some Danes to regard the UK role in world politics as more stable, mature, and reliable than that of the United States. The United Kingdom was for a protracted period in the 20th century Denmark's principal trading partner, but now shares the first rank with West Germany and Sweden. ”

“ The young King of Denmark, Christian II., on succeeding to the throne, declined the French marriage which had been arranged for him by his father, and conceived the ambitious design of allying himself with the Imperial Family. In March, 1514, two Danish Ambassadors, the Bishop of Schleswig and the Court-Marshal Magnus Giœ, were introduced into Maximilian's presence by Christian's uncle, the Elector of Saxony, and asked for the Archduchess Eleanor's hand on behalf of their royal master. ”

“ The Norwegians, you will remember, when they finally were able to set up an independent establishment, had to adopt a king. Haakon of Norway is a son of Christian IX.
But the great Danes who never wore kingly crowns or sat upon the ancient throne of Denmark are not forgotten; and the smaller ones who served their day and country in time of war or peace also have a place—even to “J. C. Jacobsen, Ph. D., Captain, Founder of the Carlsberg Fund.” Saxo Grammaticus, the first Danish historian, who lived in the credulous days of the twelfth century, is there in sculpture ”

“ That a proper escort, becoming her dignity, should be formed, to accompany her from Altona through the Danish territories, and that they calculated she might, with despatch, reach Copenhagen in four days from the time of her quitting Celle, if no extraordinary impediment arose in her passing the two Belts. That her presence in the capital of Denmark would animate the courage of her adherents, cover her enemies with consternation, and complete the counter-revolution. ”

“ Meanwhile fresh appeals reached Christina every day from her Danish partisans, while King Eric of Sweden, who had declared war on Denmark, opened negotiations with her through his French Minister, Charles de Mornay. A marriage between this young King and Renée was proposed, and Eric offered to support the Duchess's rights to Denmark if she could obtain the help of the Emperor and of the Netherlands. ”

“ The extreme richness of her small homeland is a still unexploded myth. If it were an American state it would be one [138] of the most thinly settled areas of the country, outside the actual mountains. Denmark's place in the modern world is due to education and to nothing else. ”

“ Then the Danes knelt down on the battle-field and praised God, while King Valdemar drew his sword, and for the first time under the folds of the Danebrog dubbed five-and-thirty of the bravest heroes knights." Another legend tells the fate of a wicked Queen of Denmark, Gunhild by name. This Queen was first the consort of a Norwegian monarch, who, finding her more than he or his people could stand, thrust her out of his kingdom. She made her way to Denmark, and soon after married the Danish King. ”

“ A single work detains us in the 13th century, a treatise on medicine [3] by Henrik Harpestreng, who died in 1244. The first royal edict written in Danish is dated 1386; and the Act of Union at Kalmar, written in 1397, is the most important piece of the vernacular of the 14th century. Between 1300 and 1500, however, it is supposed that the Kjaempeviser, or Danish ballads, a large collection of about 500 epical and lyrical poems, were originally composed, and these form the most precious legacy of the Denmark of the middle ages, whether judged historically or poetically. ”

“ As to the signs of the times and the aspect of affairs among the nations of Europe, dark forebodings of the future seem to pervade all hearts, and the heads of the nations seem to be conscious that they are steering the ship of State in DANGEROUS SEAS. Denmark is at present the point of the greatest interest. The Dukedoms of Holstein and Sleswick, which are mostly German, have been in a state of REVOLT ever since the death of the old king. The new government has been unable to compel their submission. ”

“ The duchies of Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenburg, which formed more than one third of the kingdom, were lost by the Danish crown in 1864.—The seacoast of Denmark, along the North sea, the Skager Rack, the Cattegat, the Sound, the Baltic, and the Little Belt, is more than 900 m. long, and generally low, flat, and sandy. Next to Copenhagen the principal seaports are Elsinore, Odense, Aarhuus, Aalborg, and Frederikshavn. The fiords or arms of the sea which indent the coasts are among the most remarkable natural features of the kingdom. ”

“ Sea-kings' daughter from over the sea, Alexandra! Saxon and Norman and Dane are we, But all of us Danes in our welcome of thee, Alexandra! Welcome her, thunders of fort and of fleet! Welcome her, thundering cheer of the street! Welcome her, all things youthful and sweet, Scatter the blossom under her feet! Break, happy land, into earlier flowers! Make music, O bird, in the new-budded bowers! ”

“ Among them, the most important were the agent's credentials and despatches. It was dangerous to commit anything to paper, as he might be stopped, searched, and discovered on the road, which, in more than one place, ran through the dominions of Denmark. On the other hand, it was indispensable to convince the queen that he was invested with powers to treat with her, on the part of the noblemen exiled to Altona, as well as other persons in various parts of the Danish territories. ”

“ The time once was when, as we have seen, all Scandinavia, and England also, were governed by Danish kings, and Denmark was one of the great powers of Europe. Since that proud time the power of the Danish throne has steadily declined, until now it is but the shadow of its former self.
A great blow came in 1814, when it was forced to yield Norway to Sweden. All its possessions on the Baltic had vanished and its dominion was compressed into the Danish peninsula and its neighboring islands, with the exception of the duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg lying south of the peninsula. ”

“ The Danes were dissatisfied with the absence of their monarch. From the foundation of the state, never had they been without a present chief—often with many—to defend their coasts against the piratical kings of the north. Now that Olaf and Omund were assailing them with impunity, their complaints became the louder. To appease them, Ulf, the brother-in-law of Canute, and the most powerful of the Danish nobles, had recourse to a bold imposture; he produced forged letters, which he alleged came from Canute, commanding the states to recognise his son 267Harda Canute as king of Denmark. ”

“ While in Sweden the free and energetic peasant was a salutary power in the state, which he served with both mind and plough, the Danish peasant was sinking to the level of a bondman. While the Swedish peasants were well represented in the Swedish Riksdag, whose proceedings they sometimes dominated, the Danish peasantry had no political rights or privileges whatever.
Such then, briefly, was the condition of things in Denmark when, in 1588, Christian IV. ascended the throne. Where so much was necessarily uncertain and fluctuating, there was room for an almost infinite variety of development. ”