Lovisa of Sweden

Queen Louise of Denmark (October 31, 1851 — March 20, 1926) was a princess of Sweden and the Queen consort of Frederik VIII of Denmark.

Louise Josephine Eugenie of the House of Bernadotte was born Princess Lovisa of Sweden in Stockholm. She was the only daughter of King Charles XV (1826-1872) and Queen Lovisa of Sweden (1828-1871).

Lovisa had a happy childhood; after her brother's death in 1854, her father treated her like a boy and let her grow up as one, and she was therefore allowed to develop much less restrained than most girls of her time and became a confident, natural and happy girl. This somewhat worried her mother, Queen Lovisa, herself very eager to behave according to the feminine ideal of the time. But her father once lovingly said about her, "She's an ugly devil, but she's funny!" and treated her with the same gruff affectionate manners as he would have with a son. There were several discussions about making Lovisa the heir to the throne of Sweden and Norway, as her mother could not have any more children and she was the only surviving child. But although Sweden had previously had female monarchs, and approval of female succession was declared in 1604, provision had not been made for it in the new constitution of 1809. Lovisa's succession would have required a change in the law, as would also have been necessary regarding the throne of Norway, which did not have female succession. The matter became moot when Lovisa's uncle, her father's brother, had his first son in 1858.

Louise married Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark (1843-1912) in Stockholm on July 28, 1869. The wedding was celebrated with great pomp and splendor at a time when Sweden was plagued by its last severe starvation epidemic, but the dowry of the Princess was all made by native hands.

In Denmark, Louise became quite popular during her long time as Crown Princess with her cheerful personality. But as the years passed by, her personality changed; she became more reserved and firm, and her husband's infidelity caused her to have a greater interest in religion. She raised her children very strictly, much unlike her own free upbringing. Her only pleasure was her visits to her old home-country, Sweden, where she visited her old family and friends. She was saddened about the political situation of 1905, when Norway became independent from Sweden with Danish support, as it was nearly impossible at the time to visit Sweden. She eventually became Queen of Denmark in 1906 as Frederik's consort. The couple had 8 children, four sons and four daughters:

# Crown Prince Christian of Denmark (1870-1947), later King Christian X of Denmark. He married Princess Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1898 and had issue.
# Prince Carl of Denmark (1872-1957), later King Haakon VII of Norway. He married Princess Maud of Wales in 1896 and had issue.
# Princess Louise of Denmark (1875-1906). She married Prince Friedrich of Schaumburg-Lippe in 1896 and had issue.
# Prince Harald of Denmark (1876-1949). He married Princess Helena of Glücksburg in 1909 and had issue.
# Princess Ingeborg of Denmark (1878-1958). She married Prince Carl of Sweden and Norway in 1897 and had issue.
# Princess Thyra of Denmark (1880-1945). No issue.
# Prince Gustav of Denmark (1887-1944). No issue.
# Princess Dagmar of Denmark (1890-1961). She married Jørgen Carstenskiold and had issue.

As tradition precluded the succession of a woman to the thrones of Sweden and Norway, Louise could not inherit them. Her father Charles XV was succeeded by his brother Oscar II. By a twist of fate, Louise's son, Prince Charles, did, in fact, eventually became King of Norway. He was elected to succeed her uncle to the Norwegian throne as a result of Norway's independence from Sweden in 1905.

Queen Louise died in Amalienborg in 1926 and is interred next to her husband in Roskilde Cathedral near Copenhagen.

Ancestry

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1= 1. Princess Lovisa of Sweden
2= 2. Charles XV of Sweden
3= 3. Princess Louise of the Netherlands
4= 4. Oscar I of Sweden
5= 5. Duchess Josephine of Leuchtenberg
6= 6. Prince Frederik of the Netherlands
7= 7. Princess Louise of Prussia
8= 8. Charles XIV John of Sweden
9= 9. Désirée Clary
10= 10. Eugène de Beauharnais
11= 11. Princess Augusta of Bavaria
12= 12. William I of the Netherlands
13= 13. Princess Wilhelmine of Prussia
14= 14. Frederick William III of Prussia
15= 15. Duchess Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
16= 16. Jean Henri Bernadotte
17= 17. Jeanne de Saint Vincent
18= 18. François Clary
19= 19. Françoise Rose Somis
20= 20. Alexandre, vicomte de Beauharnais
21= 21. Joséphine de Tascher de La Pagerie
22= 22. Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria
23= 23. Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt
24= 24. William V, Prince of Orange
25= 25. Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia
26= 26. Frederick William II of Prussia
27= 27. Princess Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt
28= 28. Frederick William II of Prussia (= 26)
29= 29. Princess Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt (= 27)
30= 30. Charles II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
31= 31. Princess Friederike Caroline Luise of Hesse-Darmstadt

References

*Bomann-Larsen, Tor (2004): "Folket - Haakon & Maud II" (in Norwegian)
* Lars Elgklou, "Familjen Bernadotte. En kunglig släktkrönika" (In Swedish)