Queen Louise of Denmark: A “Clever and Accomplished” Woman

Queen Louise of Denmark, c1893. Image under Creative Commons license. 

In the Life of Queen Alexandra, author Sarah A. Southall Tooley describes Queen Louise  as one “clever and accomplished” woman, who “was an excellent musician (playing both the piano and harp), could converse fluently in French and German, and had some knowledge of English.”

Tooley continues:

“She drew and painted, and the walls of the Gule Palais [Roskilde Royal Mansion or Yellow Mansion] were hung with her sketches, while in common with the Danish ladies she worked exquisitely in silk embroidery. To these graceful accomplishments the Princess Louise added a thorough knowledge of housewifery, and was an expert needlewoman.

The queen was also described as one who possessed wit, “…faculty, discrimination, and tact, and this quality, which in the early years of her married life made her such an excellent wife and mother, rendered her a most helpful Consort to Prince Christian when he ascended the throne.

Then-Prince and Princess Christian of Denmark in the 1840s. 

As queen and mother to her six children (future Frederick VIII of Denmark, future Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom, future King George I of Greece, Dagmar, later Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, Thyra, future Crown Princess of Hanover, and Prince Valdemar), Queen Louise was “very charming and remarkable.” No doubt her “will readily admit that neither of them has inherited all her gifts, which appear, indeed, to have been divided amongst them.”

From Queen Louise, Alexandra inherited her “mother's taste for music, her strong maternal instincts, and excelled her in beauty.” Dagmar, meanwhile, received “more of her faculty and intellectual gifts.  Thyra “resembled her most in charm of manner and love of home-life.” All these traits became evident to her daughters because of Queen Louise’s dedication to train her children “to be perfectly delightful in behavior.” Tooley also writes that when the family later visited relatives, the host would reference their guests with respectful remark as, "Aunt Louise and her charming children are here."

King Christian IX, Queen Louise of Denmark and children, 1862. Image under Creative Commons license. 

Queen Louise of Denmark was born 7 September 1817. Her father Prince William of Hesse-Kassel, while her mother,  Princess Charlotte of Denmark, was the sister of Christian VIII of Denmark who ruled Denmark between 1839 and 1848. She was engaged to Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein in the autumn of 1841 and they were married on May 26, 1842 in Amalienborg Palace. In 1852, with the approval of the great powers, Prince Christian was selected as heir to the childless King Frederick VII. One reason why the choice fell on Christian was his marriage to Louise of Hesse-Kassel, who—as a niece of Christian VIII of Denmark—was closely related to the royal family.  Christian succeeded after Frederick's death in 1863 and he would reign until his death in 1906. Queen Louise predeceased her husband, dying on September 29, 1898. With their extensive progeny and descendants who occupied thrones and married to other European royal families, Louise and her husband were dubbed as the "grandparents of Europe."