Princess Louise of Denmark (1726–1756)

Louise of Denmark and Norway (19 October 1726 – 8 August 1756) was a Danish and Norwegian princess, the daughter of King Christian VI of Denmark and his wife Sophie Magdalene of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. Following her marriage to Ernest Frederick III, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen, she became Duchess of Saxe-Hildburghausen.

For other people with the same name, see Louise of Denmark (disambiguation).

Louise of Denmark and Norway
Portrait by Johann Salomon Wahl, before 1756
Duchess of Saxe-Hildburghausen
Tenure1 October 1749 – 8 August 1756
Born(1726-10-19)19 October 1726
Copenhagen
Died8 August 1756(1756-08-08) (aged 29)
Hildburghausen
SpouseErnest Frederick III, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen
IssuePrincess Fredericka Sophie
HouseOldenburg
FatherChristian VI of Denmark
MotherSophie Magdalene of Brandenburg-Kulmbach
ReligionLutheranism

Biography
Princess Louise as a child
Miniature of the princess inspired by a portrait painted around the time of her marriage

Louise was described by foreign diplomats as a lively person, not well suited to the rigid and religious court of her parents. The relations between her and her parents were not good because of their differing personalities. She disliked the strict customs at court; her father complained about her "rebellious nature" in a letter to his friend Count Christian Günther Stolberg. Louise's name is recorded to have played a major role in the delicate diplomatic game that was driven in Christian VI's final years.

Scandal and marriage

Initially attentions were drawn to get her married soon with George II of Great Britain's younger son, the Duke of Cumberland but this plan were abandoned following Christian VI's attempt to make her Queen of Sweden during the election of the heir to the vacant Swedish throne in 1742–43 through an engagement with the Prince of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld who acted as France's candidate or the prince of Mecklenburg who were also considered as a suitable option. However, none of these plans came to fruition, amidst the tension between the Danish-Norwegian state and Sweden, Holstein-Gottorp's candidate Adolf Frederick got elected King in 1743 by the Swedish Riksdag, it was a serious topic that a marriage between her and Adolf Frederick would be conducive to an alliance between the two kingdoms, but it was stranded on Christian VI's unwise unwillingness to see his daughter married to a Gottorpian prince.

Under her brother Frederick V's reign in 1749, Louise had an affair—and possibly a child—with a valet de chambre from the noble Danish family Ahlefeldt, who was afterwards sentenced to imprisonment for his audacity in Munkholm Fortress. Later that year, she was hastily married to Ernest Frederick III, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen, with a large dowry to hasten the wedding and calm down the scandal. They married in the Hirschholm Palace, north of Copenhagen, on 1 October 1749.

Duchess of Saxe-Hildburghausen

As duchess of Saxe-Hildburghausen, she hosted a court known for its formal etiquette, great costs and many parties; she was described as proud and with "royal expenses" in her way of living, amusing herself with ballets, masquerades, balls, hunting and gambling, driving through the streets with a carriage (or, in winters, with a sleigh) of gold and silver.

In December 1755 she gave birth to a daughter, who died after a month: Princess Frederica Sophie Juliane Caroline (5 December 1755 – 10 January 1756).

Louise died on 8 August 1756.

Ancestry

References
  • "Dansk Kvindebiografisk Leksikon - Sophie Magdalene". Kvinfo.dk. 15 May 2003. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  • Bricka, Carl Frederik. "403 (Dansk biografisk Lexikon / X. Bind. Laale - Løvenørn)". Runeberg.org. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  • Heinrich Ferdinand Schoeppl: Die Herzoge von Sachsen-Altenburg. Bozen 1917, Neudruck Altenburg 1992
  • Rudolf Armin Human: Chronik der Stadt Hildburghausen Hildburghausen 1886
    Princess Louise of Denmark
    Born: 19 October 1726 Died: 8 August 1756
    German royalty
    Preceded by
    Caroline of Erbach-Fürstenau    		 Duchess consort of Saxe-Hildburghausen
    1 October 1749 – 8 August 1756    		 Succeeded by
    Christine Sophie of Brandenburg-Bayreuth
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