Frederik IV
Frederik IV was the eldest son of Christian V and Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel. He was the first son born to a king after the introduction of the absolute monarchy, in 1661.
Early life
Frederik IV was the eldest son of Christian V and Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel. He was the first son born to a king after the introduction of the absolute monarchy, in 1661. He was also the first prince christened in the royal baptismal font, which has since been used for all royal christening ceremonies in Denmark. When the font is not in use, it is on display at Rosenborg Castle.
First marriage
On 5 December 1695, Frederik (IV) married Louise of Mecklenburg-Güstrow. The wedding took place at Copenhagen Castle, which stood where Christiansborg Palace stands today.
Their marriage was not based on a big royal romance. Frederik IV had been sent on a tour of Germany with a view to finding his future consort but only managed to visit the small court of Güstrow before his trip was cut short. The Crown Prince therefore had to choose one of the four marriageable daughters at Güstrow in haste before returning home. His choice fell on Louise, who was four years his senior. According to contemporary sources, his reason was that he found her less ‘difficult’ than the other three and expected her to cause him the least ‘Unruhe und Molestie’ – trouble and annoyance.
Royal weddings were an important political instrument at this time in history, and one of the couple’s primary duties was to produce rightful heirs to the throne. Louise gave birth to the couple’s first child in 1697, but the little prince died before he had reached his first birthday. On 25 August 1699, the couple were anointed as King and Queen of Denmark and Norway, and about three months later, on 30 November, The Queen gave birth to another son, the later Christian VI.
The couple had five children in all, but only two survived to adulthood. Their marriage suffered under Frederik IV’s many extramarital affairs, which caused Queen Louise much pain and led to unpleasant scenes at court.
Two morganatic marriages
While Frederik III was married to Queen Louise, he twice entered into morganatic marriages. Previous kings had also had morganatic marriages, but Frederik IV was the first to do so while he was married to someone else. Having more than one spouse was bigamy, which was strictly forbidden, but Frederik IV was the absolute monarch, so there was no one to judge him.
Elisabeth Helene von Vieregg
Frederik IV married his mistress Elisabeth Helene von Vieregg in 1703.
She was the daughter of the Prussian envoy to Copenhagen and had been a lady-in-waiting to Frederik IV’s sister Princess Sophie Hedevig since 1699. Frederik IV soon took a shine to her, and before long, they were having an affair. In 1703, they secretly entered into a morganatic marriage. At the same time, The King made her a countess and gave her Antvorskov Estate.
On 18 June 1704, Elisabeth Helene von Vieregg gave birth to a son, who was christened Frederik Gyldenløve. It was a complicated delivery, and nine days later, Elisabeth Helene von Vieregg died due to complications of childbirth, just 25 years old.
At the funeral of Elisabeth Hele von Vieregg, Frederik IV decreed that the bells from three of the churches should toll for two hours. The boy, Frederik Gyldenløve, died the following year, just nine months old, and was buried alongside his mother at the Church of Our Saviour in the Copenhagen district of Christianshavn.
In 1712, Frederik IV publicly took Anne Sophie Reventlow as his morganatic wife.
Anna Sophie Reventlow
Frederik IV and Anna Sophie Reventlow first met at a masked ball at Koldinghus in 1711. The King and his court had decamped to the castle in Jutland. Here, the air was ‘pure’, not noxious as in Copenhagen, where the plague was raging. At Koldinghus, the court organised various forms of entertainment, including the popular masquerade, which let party-goers flirt with the opposite sex, hidden behind a half-mask.
In the bustle of the party, Frederik IV spotted the young Anna Sophie Reventlow, daughter of the Grand-Chancellor Conrad Reventlow, and a remarkable chapter of Danish history began. The King was smitten with the 18–year-old Lady. She was not unreceptive to The King’s advances, but according to contemporary sources, her mother did not want her daughter to be The King’s mistress, so at first, nothing came of it.
The following summer, however, Frederik IV was more insistent when he visited Anna Sophie and her mother at Clausholm Palace. Encouraged by Anna Sophie’s half-siblings, who probably saw that they might benefit if their half-sister became The King’s mistress, Frederik IV was determined to make Anna Sophie his lover, and the young Lady did not seem opposed to the idea. With assistance from the Reventlow family’s servants, who were generously rewarded, Anna Sophie climbed out of a window at Clausholm to elope with The King. When Anna Sophie stepped out of his coach in the city of Skanderborg, after a long night-time journey, Frederik IV made her Duchess of Schleswig. This elevated her status from noble to princely, and on that same evening, on 26 June 1712, the two were joined in a morganatic marriage.
On 15 March 1721, Queen Louise died, leaving behind a husband who was not exactly crippled with grief. The funeral was held on 3 April, and the following day, Frederik IV married Anne Sophie Reventlow again, this time in a proper marriage. Later that year, Anna Sophie was anointed as queen. The marriage led to strife in the Royal Family, in part because the Crown Prince was not thrilled with his father’s womanising. When Frederik IV died, in 1730, Queen Anna Sophie was expelled from the royal court.
Frederik IV as king
Frederik IV was the last king to use Rosenborg Castle. Among other things, he is remembered for introducing organised education for Danish children. From 1720 on, he had no fewer than 240 free public schools built. Their purpose was to raise children in the Christian faith and instil respect for king and country.
He also introduced weekly public audiences, where anyone could present their requests or complaints to The King, a tradition that continues to this day. Frederik IV also showed interest in the missionary activities of the church, and in 1721, he initiated the Greenland Mission, headed by Hans Egede, which marked the beginning of the Danish colonisation of Greenland.
Great Northern War
Frederik IV’s reign was deeply impacted by the Great Northern War, which lasted from 1709 to 1720. In this war, Frederik IV tried – unsuccessfully – to reclaim areas in Sweden that Denmark had lost. Ultimately, however, Denmark came out on the winning side, and in 1720, Frederik IV was therefore able to annex the territories of Gottorp in Schleswig. Denmark’s traditional arch enemy, Sweden, suffered a major defeat in the war and had to give up all its Baltic territories and part of Finland in addition to losing its former exemption from dues for ships passing through the Sound, the strait between Denmark and Sweden.
The war officially came to an end on 3 June 1720, when the Treaty of Frederiksborg was signed at Frederiksborg Castle.
