Queen of Denmark

“ The King of Denmark was an exceedingly small, but not an ill-made, a weakly, not an ill-favoured man. His character was, however, in every respect detestable; and when poor Caroline Matilda passed on in tears, amid the congratulations of the court of Queen Charlotte, her tears were better founded than their smiles. She was speedily treated with cruelty, and abandoned at home while her lord travelled in foreign countries and indulged in profligacy. Queen Charlotte accorded him a more hearty reception than he deserved when he came over to England, two years subsequent to the marriage. ”

“ So exceedingly cautious are foreign states when they marry a daughter of England not to let an English woman attend the princess into their territories, for fear of her having too much influence over the mind of her royal mistress, that when the Queen of Denmark was sent over to her illustrious consort, she had only one bed-chamber woman in her suite as far as Altona, and even this one was sent back on her arrival at that place, that the Danish ladies only might have the ear of her Majesty. ”

“ The king and queen of Denmark in the city. In June the king and queen of Denmark paid a visit to the city and attended mass at St. Paul's,1121 [pg 372] when the Court of Aldermen made them a present of two hogsheads of wine, one of white and another of claret, and two "awmes" of Rhenish wine, two fresh salmon, a dozen great pike, four dozen of "torchettes," and eight dozen of "syses."1122
England invaded by the Scots. ”

“ In Denmark, one might easily get a fair view of the characters of the royal people. The Danes are keen judges of persons—perhaps too keen, and the members of their aristocracy had been constantly on intimate terms with European kings and princes. 'As for Queen Alexandra,' Miss Knollys once said, 'she will go down in history as the most beautiful of England's queens, but also as the most devoted of wives and mothers. ”

“ But for the King of Denmark, he is governed by his Queen and a few of her party, men of no honour nor wisdom nor experience in public affairs, but proud and haughty, according to the way of these parts of the world. ”

“ The young queen, it is evident, won golden opinions from all manner of men. Even the Danish author of the "Secret History" is compelled to avow: "I saw this ill-fated princess when she first set her foot on the soil of. Denmark. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Few monarchs ever began their reign with more ardent prayers of their people, or inspired brighter hopes, than “Christian VII., by the grace of God King of Denmark, Norway, of the Goths and Wends, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, Stormarn and the Dittmarsches, Count of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst”—to quote his full style and titles. The young King was regarded as the probable regenerator of Denmark. “The eminent virtues and truly royal disposition of the new Sovereign afford a very agreeable prospect of his future reign,” writes Titley. ”

“ 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. ”

“ But as there can be little hopes of gaining the other two [Rantzau and Gahler] , or if there were, of any reliance being placed on them, their dismission ought to be effected. The critical state of the King of Denmark’s health makes it of the last importance, both to the Queen’s happiness and the tranquillity of this kingdom, that she should not, in case of the regency devolving on her, be surrounded and advised by men so extremely unpopular and so justly detested as these are universally. ”

“ Denmark yielded up rich provinces, while Germany was compelled to grant Sweden membership in the German diet.
Then came a period of immense prosperity through commerce, through economies in government, through the improvement of agriculture and the opening of mines. This girl queen, without intrigue, without descending from her native nobility to peep and whisper with shady diplomats, showed herself in reality a great monarch, a true Semiramis of the north, more worthy of respect and reverence than Elizabeth of England. She was highly trained in many arts. ”

“ He is very charming and belongs to one of the best families in Denmark. We went to the German Ambassador's (Herr von Keudell's) ball last evening at the Palazzo Caffarelli, which the King and the Queen honored with their presence. As soon as I could, I approached the Queen, who was sitting in one of the gilded chairs on the estrade which does duty for a throne, and told her of Nina's engagement. She came forward to the edge of the platform and, beckoning Nina to come to her, held out her hand and kissed her on both cheeks before the whole assemblage. ”

“ This union, till the expiration of four hundred and thirty-four years, was not dissolved. When Olaf V, seven years after, died in Falsterbo, both kingdoms elected Margaret their queen, though custom had not yet authorized the election of a female.
During the reign of this great Princess, who deservedly has been called the "Semiramis of the North," Denmark and Norway exercised in Europe an influence the effects of which were long felt throughout the Scandinavian countries with their vast extent and rival races. ”

“ 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. ”

“ There are many other works of art here which are well known out of Denmark by reputation, especially the ivory head of Queen Helen, a horse modelled out of one piece of steel, with a fly on its leg, and various cameos and coral carvings. But the genuine antiquities are in reality the most valuable, from their scientific accuracy of arrangement and completeness.
Nobody should leave Copenhagen without driving out to the Deerpark and the Castle. ”

“ The queen dowager now governed the kingdom for many years in the name of the king, whose mind sunk beneath these alarms and agitations. Disease brought on by intemperate indulgences had early undermined his mental health, and his further reign was but nominal. In 1784 his son Frederick, supported by the nobles, succceeded in subverting the power of the queen dowager, and became in fact sole regent of Denmark. In 1807, on the bombardment of Copenhagen by Lord Cathcart, Christian VII. was conveyed to Rendsburg in Holstein, where he died. ”

“ The crisis arose on the death of Frederick VII., King of Denmark. The succession, as had been decreed by the Great Powers in 1852, devolved on the father of the Princess of Wales, who became King Christian IX. of Denmark. |The Schleswig-Holstein Difficulty.| There had existed between Germany and Denmark a long-standing dispute about the possession of the Duchies of Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenburg. The King of Denmark was also Duke of Holstein and Lauenburg, just as, previous to Queen Victoria’s accession, the King of England had been also King of Hanover. ”

“ Very astonishing indeed these Denmark affairs. [147] We are just as much in the dark about them in London, as you can be at Beriton. It seems that the King, whether from nature or any officious helps of medicine, is totally incapable of Government. The Physician and the Queen ruled him entirely, and had led him into measures which had disgusted the old Ministry, the Nobility and at last the Army. The Mal-contents linked themselves with the Queen Dowager and her son, and the weak Monarch is now in their hands. Mothers-in-law are very dreadful animals, and he stands a very poor chance indeed. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The crown-lands and most of the towns were under his immediate jurisdiction, but by the side of the crown-lands lay the estates of the nobility, which already comprised about one-half of the superficial area of Denmark, and were in many respects independent of the central government both as regards taxation and administration. In a word, the monarchy had to share its dominion with the nobility; and the Danish nobility in the 16th century was one of the most exclusive and selfish aristocracies in Europe, and already far advanced in decadence. ”

“ The King of Denmark has always founded his glory and his grandeur upon the esteem and the confidence of other people; he has made it a law to himself, from the commencement of his reign, to manifest to all the powers, his friends, a conduct the most capable of convincing them of his pacific sentiments, and of his sincere desire to contribute to the general prosperity of Europe. His proceedings, the most uniform and which nothing can conceal, are a proof of this. ”

“ 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. ”

“ But the greater the hatred and contempt of England, the greater the loyal attachment of Denmark to the king. Thus while he stretched out his two hands to both provinces in his desire for sway, he gained one, but lost the lordship of the other irretrievably; for he never made any bold effort to regain it. So hard is it to keep a hold on very large empires.
After this man his son HARALD came to be king of Denmark; he is half-forgotten by posterity, and lacks all record for famous deeds, because he rather preserved than extended the possessions of the realm. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The royal house of Denmark is the most ancient dynasty in Europe, dating back in a more or less direct line to Gorm the Old, who reigned from 900 to 950. Danish Monarchs have blood ties with virtually every other royal family of Europe and special ties of family and friendship with the Norwegian and Swedish Monarchs. The Danes expect their Monarch to be regal on regal occasions, and they would prefer their royalty to marry royalty. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The great powers of the late 16th and early 17th centuries were to be the strong, highly centralized, hereditary monarchies, like France, Spain and Sweden. There seemed to be no reason why Denmark also should not become a powerful state under the guidance of a powerful monarchy, especially as the sister state of Sweden was developing into a great power under apparently identical conditions. Yet, while Sweden was surely ripening into the dominating power of northern Europe, Denmark had as surely entered upon a period of uninterrupted and apparently incurable decline. ”

“ The Danish monarchy since the days of Margaret had continued to be purely elective; and a purely elective monarchy at that stage of the political development of Europe was a mischievous anomaly. It signified in the first place that the crown was not the highest power in the state, but was subject to the aristocratic Rigsraad, or council of state. The Rigsraad was the permanent owner of the realm and the crown-lands; the king was only their temporary administrator. If the king died before the election of his successor, the Rigsraad stepped into the king’s place. ”