Prince Fredrik of Denmark (1753-1805)
Born 11 October 1753 Copenhagen
Died 7 December 1805 Copenhagen
Married 21 October 1774 Copenhagen
Duchess Sophie Frederikke von Mecklenburg-Schwerin,
daughter of Duke Ludwig von Mecklenburg-Schwerin and
Princess Charlotte Sophie of Saxe-Saalfeld-Coburg, Duchess
of Saxony
Born 24 August 1758 Schwerin
Died 29 November 1794 Copenhagen
Buried Roskilde
He was the product of a politically arranged marriage. The popular King
Frederick V, on losing his beloved first wife, married the unpopular Juliane
Marie of Brunswick-Wolfenbuettel and, fifteen months later, Prince Fredrik
was born.
When King Frederick V died, his 17-year-old son, Christian VII became
king. Christian VII was regarded as pleasant and intelligent, but unfortunately,
he suffered from porphyria. As well, he had been brought up by a brutal
governor and corrupted by debauched page-boys. His mental capacity was
impaired by his porphyria, inherited from his mother. In 1766 he married
his first cousin, the attractive and vivacious Caroline Mathilde of England.
They became the parents of a son but the King still indulged "in every
form of gaiety and dissipation". From 1768 the King came under the influence
of his Doctor, Johann Friedrich Struensee, who not only attained almost
unlimited powers but who was possibly the father of the Princess Louise
Augusta, born in 1771.
When this affaire, between Struensee and Queen Caroline Mathilde, became
known, a court revolution was instigated by Fredrik's mother, the Dowager-Queen
Juliane Marie. Juliane Marie was eager to discredit the Queen and promote
the position of her own son. Early in the morning of 17 January 1772, the
King was awakened and induced to sign the arrest warrant for the Queen
and Struensee. Struensee admitted the affaire with the Queen, was condemned
to death, his right hand
severed, his body broken on the wheel, and only then beheaded. The
King and Queen's marriage was dissolved and the Queen taken to Celle where
she lived in comfort; but missing her children, she died of a broken heart
at not yet twenty-four years of age, proclaiming she had been forced to
confess to adultery.
For the next twelve years the rulers of Denmark were Dowager-Queen
Juliane Marie, her son Fredrik and their favourite, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg.
In 1784, the sixteen-year-old crown prince, Fredrik (VI), staged a coup
dissolving the government and appointed a new one.
Source: Leo van de Pas
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