Ferdinand, Hereditary Prince of Denmark

Ferdinand
Hereditary Prince of Denmark
Born	(1792-11-22)22 November 1792 Christiansborg Palace, Copenhagen, Denmark
Died	29 June 1863(1863-06-29) (aged 70) Copenhagen, Denmark
Burial	Roskilde Cathedral
Spouse	Princess Caroline of Denmark ​ ​ (m. 1829)​
House	Oldenburg
Father	Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Denmark (officially) Frederick von Blücher (rumored)
Mother	Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Frederick Ferdinand, Hereditary Prince of Denmark (Danish: Arveprins Ferdinand) (22 November 1792 – 29 June 1863) was grandson of King Frederick V and heir presumptive to the throne from 1848 until his death. Had he lived five months longer, he would have outlived his nephew, King Frederick VII, and become King of Denmark.

Early life

Portrait of Prince Ferdinand as a child, c. 1802

Prince Ferdinand was born at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen on 22 November 1792 as the youngest child of Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Denmark and Norway and Sophie Frederikke of Mecklenburg, thus being a grandson of late King Frederick V of Denmark and Norway.

His uncle King Christian VII being mentally unstable, his father had acted as regent after the fall of Johann Friedrich Struensee in 1772. But after the coup of 1784, when the king's son Crown Prince Frederick took power and regency, Hereditary Prince Frederick had been without influence at the court. However, Crown Prince Frederick being without male heirs, Hereditary Prince Frederick and his sons were in the immediate line of succession to the throne.

When Christiansborg Palace was destroyed by fire in 1794, the young Prince and his family moved to Amalienborg Palace where he was brought up, spending the summers at Sorgenfri Palace.

Marriage

Prince Ferdinand as hereditary Prince and his wife Princess Caroline, c. 1863

Prince Ferdinand married at Frederiksberg Palace on 1 August 1829 his first cousin once removed, Princess Caroline of Denmark (1793–1881). She was the eldest daughter of the above-mentioned sonless Crown Prince Frederick, now King Frederick VI of Denmark. When Frederick VI died in 1839, because of the Salic Law Caroline did not succeed to the throne, which was inherited by the closest male relative, Ferdinand's elder brother Prince Christian Frederick.

Later life

The number of male members of the Royal House was so low in those decades that Ferdinand himself was always very close to the succession. At the death of his brother Christian VIII in 1848, the aged Ferdinand became heir presumptive.

Ferdinand died childless, which was one of the reasons why the main branch of the Danish Royal House soon became extinct, triggering the second war of Schleswig.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Ferdinand, Hereditary Prince of Denmark

8. Christian VI of Denmark 4. Frederick V of Denmark 9. Princess Sophie Magdalene of Brandenburg-Kulmbach 2. Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Denmark 10. Ferdinand Albert II, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel 5. Duchess Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel 11. Duchess Antoinette of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel 1. Ferdinand, Hereditary Prince of Denmark 12. Christian Ludwig II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin 6. Duke Louis of Mecklenburg-Schwerin 13. Duchess Gustave Caroline of Mecklenburg-Strelitz 3. Duchess Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin 14. Francis Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld 7. Princess Charlotte Sophie of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld 15. Princess Anna Sophie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt

References

Bibliography

• Bramsen, Bo (1985). Ferdinand og Caroline : en beretning om prinsen, der nødig ville være konge af Danmark [Ferdinand and Caroline: an account of the prince who was reluctant to be king of Denmark] (in Danish) (4th ed.). Copenhagen: Nordiske Landes Bogforlag. ISBN 8787439220.
• Thorsøe, Alexander (1891). "Ferdinand, Arveprins". In Bricka, Carl Frederik (ed.). Dansk Biografisk Lexikon, tillige omfattende Norge for Tidsrummet 1537-1814. Vol. XVIII (1st ed.). Copenhagen: Gyldendal. pp. 125–127.

External links

• The Danish Monarchy Archived 2009-02-18 at the Wayback Machine