Windsor Castle, 4th January 1852.
Sir, my Brother,—I received the letter which your Majesty addressed to me on the 24th of August last, and in which, after referring to the necessity for establishing some definite arrangement with regard to the eventual succession to the Crown of Denmark, your Majesty is pleased to acquaint me that, in your opinion, such an arrangement might advantageously be made in favour of your Majesty's cousin, His Highness the Prince Christian of Glücksburg, and the issue of his marriage with the Princess Louisa of Hesse, in favour of whom the nearer claimants have renounced their rights and titles.
I trust I need not assure your Majesty of the sincere friendship which I entertain for you, and of the deep interest which I feel in the welfare of the Danish Monarchy. It was in accordance with those sentiments that I accepted the office of mediator between your Majesty and the States of the German Confederation, and it afforded me the sincerest pleasure to have been thus instrumental in re-establishing the relations of peace between your Majesty and those States.
With regard to the question of the eventual succession to both the Danish and Ducal Crowns, I have to state to your Majesty that although I declined to take any part in the settlement of that combination, it will be a source of great satisfaction to me to learn that an arrangement has been definitely determined upon equally satisfactory to your Majesty and to the Germanic Confederation; and whenever it shall have been notified to me that such an arrangement has been arrived at, I shall then be ready, in accordance with what was stated in the Protocol of the 2nd of August 1850, to consider, in concert with my Allies, the expediency of giving the sanction of an European acknowledgment to the arrangement which may thus have been made.
I avail myself with great pleasure of this opportunity to renew to your Majesty the expression of the invariable attachment and high esteem with which I am, Sir, my Brother, your Majesty's good Sister,
Victoria R.
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(The Schleswig and Holstein duchies at the time of the conflict and Danish succession crisis. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons.)
Ah, the Schleswig-Holstein issue and the Danish succession question all rolled into one rather brief, clear letter. But both issues were so, so intertwined and so, so complex that they dominated several decades of discussion, debate, plotting, scheming, and wars in both Denmark and Germany. So let’s begin at the beginning, shall we?
In the early 1850s, after both of his marriages to royal women were both childless and ended in divorce, Frederik VII finally married a morganatic wife. Although he likely fathered at least one illegitimate child, it became fairly clear that he would not be providing himself with an acceptable heir. For the monarchy to continue in Denmark – and - because Frederik had accepted the move from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional one, the monarchy still retained a fair amount of popularity in Denmark – an heir was badly needed. Unfortunately for Denmark, a clear heir did not exist.
Frederik had no siblings, and the male lines of the Oldenburg dynasty to which he belonged were running dry. Although the Salic Law was in place in the Danish monarchy, the lack of male heirs permitted succession of a male who was descended from a female line from Frederik III, but the closest female relatives to Frederik (one of them being his ex-wife, Vilhelmine) did not have children either. The succession then moved to a more distant relative, Frederik of Augustenburg, whose father had renounced his claims to the Danish throne in favor of the ducal throne of Schleswig and Holstein, two German-speaking territories who wanted their independence from Denmark. Because Schleswig and Holstein did not allow any succession through the female line, Frederik’s childlessness would cause the rulers in Denmark and the duchies to essentially be different people as he was the last common heir of both Denmark and the duchies. This brings us to Victoria’s involvement in the Danish mess.
The Schleswig and Holstein question sparked the first of a series of wars (in this case, the First Schleswig War) between Germany and Denmark, following which Victoria had been involved with re-establishing peace between the two countries, as she refers in this letter. Frederik himself had irritated the residents of Schleswig by declaring his intentions to Dane-ify it. (Like the little adjective I made up there?) While a protocol had been signed in August 1850 giving the rule of the duchies to Denmark, fighting continued on through 1851 in the duchies resisting Danish rule. The protocol also didn’t fully address the question of whether or not Schleswig and Holstein would be able to retain their duke, as they certainly did not want to be ruled under a monarch who would force a Danish agenda onto them. Victoria’s letter is timed at a point when the succession of Denmark – and, due to its control over Schleswig and Holstein, the duchies – was at its most crucial point.
Back to who would inherit the Danish throne for a moment - the succession law was not worded clearly, and could be interpreted several different ways on who was Frederik VII’s true successor in Denmark. There were several other candidates for the Danish throne sprinkled about northern Europe with varying degrees of support for the throne. Most were passed over due to various reasons – childlessness, morganatic marriage, and lack of familiarity with Denmark. And now, because of the Schleswig-Holstein question, any candidate would have to be palatable for both the Danish citizens and the German-speaking population in the duchies.
Confused yet? The Danish/Schleswig-Holstein succession question was confusing to everyone involved – not to mention the historians who tried to make sense of it in hindsight. But at the time Victoria wrote this letter, support was moving toward two candidates who had basically united and strengthened their claim to the Danish throne by marrying each other.
(Christian, Louise, and their children circa 1862. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons.)
Christian of Glücksburg was a female-line descendant of Frederik V. Christian had been a favorite of previous king Frederik VI (the father of the previously-mentioned Vilhelmine), who had no sons. Therefore, Christian knew the ins and outs of the Danish court and did not have strong ties to Germany – part of the reason Frederik of Augustenburg was a no go for Denmark. Christian had also fought in the First Schleswig War on the Danish side which naturally won him even more supporters in Denmark.
Christian had also married his distant cousin Louise of Hesse-Kassel in 1842. Louise was a great-granddaughter of Frederik V and a niece of Christian VIII, and had herself been raised chiefly in Denmark. Just a few months before this letter was written, Louise’s mother and older siblings had also renounced their fairly strong claim to the Danish throne in favor of making Louise’s (and therefore Christian’s) much stronger. Although their ties to the Danish throne were not strictly in the male line, Louise and Christian obviously had significant royal ties and roots in Denmark. The couple also had several children, and lived a quiet life free from scandal, making them all the more appealing.
As a monarch of one of the Great Powers, Victoria would have a vote on the Danish succession issue. Frederik understood that Christian and Louise were excellent candidates for the throne due to their lineage and personal lives, but the couple tended to keep their distance from Frederik as they did not approve of his morganatic wife. Victoria’s letter above nudges Frederik toward accepting Christian as his heir, being that it would be acceptable for both Denmark and Germany. Frederik finally approved Christian as his heir in 1853, and he ascended the Danish throne as Christian IX in 1863.
The end of the war kept Schleswig and Holstein with Denmark, although they did gain some increased presence in parliament. The issue was still not fully resolved or satisfying, bringing about the 1864 Second Schleswig War. Prussia defeated Danish forces to permanently take control of the duchies of Schleswig, Holstein, and Saxe-Lauenburg, but bitter feelings remained on both sides of the issue for years to come.
Victoria wrote the above letter in 1852, which was at the end of the First Schleswig War. It is interesting to note that prior to Albert’s death in 1861, Victoria’s sympathies were somewhat balanced among all of the powers on the Continent. Following his death – and in her avid memorialization to honor all things Albert did and loved – Victoria’s views increasingly favored German interests. Had Albert died in 1851, Frederik VII may have received a completely different letter from Victoria.
Victoria’s increasingly pro-German views came into play in the mid-1860s when she had a German-Danish battle waging in her own house. Her son Bertie had married Christian’s and Louise’s daughter Alix in 1863. Wanting at least one daughter to live in Britain, Victoria had more or less handpicked Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, a prince on the German side of the Schleswig-Holstein issue, as her daughter Helena’s spouse. Christian, who had few financial or other marital prospects of his own, was perfectly happy to live in Britain and seemed pleased with the arrangement, as was Helena. Wedding plans were made for the summer of 1866.
But Alix, among others, was furious. Christian’s family claimed the now German-held Schleswig-Holstein duchies which she believed still belonged to her father. Bertie naturally supported his wife, and even Princess Alice objected to the marriage believing Helena was being forced into it to satisfy her mother. The marriage went ahead and was largely a happy one, but Alix and Alice remained on Victoria’s naughty list for a long time after.
In 1852, Victoria had no way of knowing the future impact of her support for Christian ofGlücksburg. As it happened, through the Alix/Bertie marriage and others that followed, Victoria and Christian became direct ancestors of nearly all current European royalty, many of whom are descended from both. Today Victoria’s and Christian’s descendants reign in the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Spain as well as pretenders in Greece, Romania, Italy, and various parts of Germany. Who knew a huge hullaboo over two small duchies and the choice of a very minor prince to succeed would have such a long-lasting impact on Europe?
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