1511-1571
Queen Dorothea
Queen Dorothea, born Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg, was married to Christian III.
✩ 24 March 1628 ✝ 20 February 1685 ♔ 1648-1670
Queen Sophie Amalie
Skilful queen with a poor posthumous reputation
Childhood and upbringing
Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg was the daughter of George, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and Anna Eleonora of Hesse-Darmstadt. We know little of her life until 1640, when she was engaged, at the age of 12, to the 31–year-old Danish Prince Frederik (III). As the second son of Christian IV and Queen Anna Cathrine, he was not the heir to the throne but held the title of Prince-Bishop of Bremen and Verden (an imperial city near Bremen in north-western Germany).
Wife and queen
Three years later, in 1643, when Sophie Amalie had turned 15, the couple was married. During the initial years of their marriage, they led a relatively modest life as administrators of Bremen and Verden. However, in 1647, Frederik’s older brother, Prince-Elect Christian, died without leaving an heirs. Now the couple were suddenly in play to take over the Danish throne. When Frederik III’s father, Christian IV, died the following year, in 1648, the couple were crowned and anointed as King and Queen of Denmark-Norway.
A popular royal couple
Frederik and Sophie Amalie were a popular royal couple, in part for their refusal to leave Copenhagen during the Swedish siege of the city from 1658 to 1660. During the siege, they often rode through the streets and also visited the soldiers at the ramparts during the Assault on Copenhagen in 1659.
The feud with Leonora Christina
Sophie Amalie’s legacy after death as cruel, vindictive and power-hungry stemmed in great part from her feud with her sister-in-law and rival Leonora Christina. There was no love lost between the two women. Leonora Christina even had the decorations removed from the central Copenhagen square Amagertorv the night before Sophie Amalie’s coronation. As a countermove, Sophie Amalie introduced a new rule for non-nobles attending parties at the royal palace: they could no longer drive all the way up to the palace but had to be dropped off at the gate and walk the last part of the way. This rule was directly aimed at Leonora Christina and her husband, Corfitz Ulfeldt, although it applied to all non-nobles.
When Corfitz Ulfeldt was later accused of high treason, the Ulfeldt couple had to flee Denmark. Leonora Christiana was eventually captured and spent nearly 22 years as a prisoner inside Blåtårn, the Blue Tower, at Copenhagen Castle (1663–1685). During her imprisonment there, Leonora Christina wrote her autobiography, ‘Jammersminde’ (Memory of Woe), which painted a far from flattering picture of Sophie Amalie.
When ‘Jammersminde’ was first published, in 1869, it had a significant impact on the posthumous view of Leonora Christina but also of Sophie Amalie. For example, the painter Kristian Zahrtmann took an interest in the gripping story of the unfortunate daughter of a king. Leonora Christina became a life-long source of inspiration to him and the subject of no less than 20 of his paintings. As a result of his sympathy with Leonora Christina, Zahrtmann also painted historical portraits of the ageing Sophie Amalie, presenting her in a very poor light. These paintings also contributed to Sophie Amalie’s poor legacy in Danish history.
Queen Dowager with her own palace
After Sophie Amalie was widowed in 1670, she continued to meddle in the affairs of the realm. This may have been a bit irksome to the new king, her son Christian V. In a letter that has been preserved, Christian V writes what a relief it is that his mother has decamped to the town of Hørsholm, so that he does not have to deal with her interference.
In Copenhagen at this time, Sophie Amalie was building her own Baroque palace. She named the new palace after herself: Sophie Amalienborg. It was finished in 1673 and was located about where Amalienborg Palace stands today. Sophie Amalienborg burnt down in 1689, and in a sense, the current Amalienborg is named after Sophie Amalie, as it was named after Sophie Amalienborg.
As Dowager Queen, Sophie Amalie mainly resided at Sophie Amalienborg, where she also died, on 20 February 1685, 56 years old.
Sophie Amalie is entombed next to Frederik III in Christian IV’s Chapel at Roskilde Cathedral.
Leonora Christina was not released from the Blue Tower until after Sophie Amalie’s death.