Frederick V of Denmark : biography
Frederick V (31 March 172314 January 1766) was king of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Schleswig and Holstein from 1746 until his death, son of Christian VI of Denmark and Sophia Magdalene of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. "Prudentia et Constantia" (By prudence and steadfastness) was the motto he chose for his reign.
Ancestry
Titles and styles
- 31 March 1723 – 12 October 1730: His Royal Highness Prince Frederick
- 12 October 1730 – 6 August 1746: His Royal Highness The Crown Prince
- 6 August 1746 – 14 January 1766: His Majesty The King
The full title of the sovereign was: By the Grace of God, King of Denmark and Norway, the Wends and the Goths, Duke of Schleswig, Holstein, Stormarn and Dithmarschen, Count of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst.
Issue
Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Prince Christian | Copenhagen, 7 July 1745 | Frederiksborg, 3 June 1747 | died in infancy |
Sophia Magdalena, Queen of Sweden | 3 July 1746 | 21 August 1813 | married, 1766, Gustav III, King of Sweden; had issue |
Caroline, Electress of Hesse | 10 July 1747 | 19 January 1820 | married, 1763, William I, Elector of Hesse; had issue |
King Christian VII | 29 January 1749 | 13 March 1808 | married, 1766, Princess Caroline Matilda; had issue |
Louise, Princess Charles of Hesse | 30 January 1750 | 12 January 1831 | married, 1766, Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel; had issue |
Hereditary Prince Frederick | 11 October 1753 | 7 December 1805 | married, 1774, Duchess Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin; had issue |
His officially recognized children by Else Hansen:
- Frederikke Margarethe de Hansen, Countess of Destinon (1747–1802)
- Frederikke Catherine de Hansen, Countess of Lützau (1748–1822)
- Anna Marie de Hansen, Mrs. Fehmann, later Mrs van Meulengacht (1749–1812)
- Sophie Charlotte de Hansen, Countess d’Origny (1750–1779)
- Ulrik Frederik de Hansen (1751–1752)
Reign
The personal influence of Frederick was limited. He was afflicted by alcoholism and most of his rule was dominated by very able ministers like A. G. Moltke, J. H. E. Bernstorff and H. C. Schimmelmann marking his reign by the progress of commerce and the emerging industry of gunpowder plant and cannon foundry in Frederiksværk, built by Johan Frederik Classen. They also avoided involving Denmark in the European wars of his time. The country remained neutral even for the duration of the Seven Years’ War (1756–63), despite its proximity to combatants Russia and Sweden.
In the same period was created the Royal Frederiks Hospital and the Royal Orphanage (Det kgl. Opfostringshus) a school intended for poor boys that still exists today, opened in Christianshavn on 1 October 1753. On 29 June 1753 Frederick V created Denmark’s first lottery called the Royal Copenhagen Lottery, a lottery that still exists to this day as Klasselotteriet.
Art and science were in good conditions under Frederick V, public entertainment and freedom of expression which had been banned under his Pietist father’s reign, was again permitted, and in 1748 Nicolai Eigtved’s Komediehus (Playhouse) on Kongens Nytorv was opened, he also founded the Royal Danish Academy of Art (Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi) in Copenhagen, which officially opened on 31 March 1754, his 31st birthday. Frederick purchased what would become known as the Danish West Indies from the Danish West India Company in 1754.
Masonry
The Norwegian Masonic historian Karl Ludvig Tørrisen Bugge claim that Frederik V as crown prince was included in the Copenhagen Masonic Lodge St. Martin. This was probably third June 1744, and inspired by the Prussian king Frederick the Great which were also included in a masonic lodge in his youth. They both had fathers who were violently opposed to the Masons, but unlike the Prussian king, Frederik V never published his membership of the lodge.