20 Krone Denmark Gold Christian IX of Denmark (1818-1906)

Mint Year: 1873
Denomination: 20 Kroner
Mint Place: Copenhagen (heart) 
Reference: Friedberg 295, KM-791.1.
Provenance: ex. Jack A. Frazer Collection
Mint Master: Diderik Christian Andreas Svendsen (CS) 
Material: Gold (.900)
Diameter: 23mm
Weight: 8.96gm

Obverse: Head of  Christian IX right. Privy mark (heart) of Copenhagen, date (1873) and mint master´s initials (CS) below.
Legend: CHRISTIAN IX KONGE AF DANMARK
Exergue: (heart) 1873 CS

 
Reverse: Seated Dania (personification of Denmark), leaning on shield and holding scepter. Dolphin to her feet below.
Legend: 20 KRONER

Christian IX (8 April 1818 – 29 January 1906) was King of Denmark from 16 November 1863 to 29 January 1906. He became known as the father-in-law of Europe, as his six children married into other royal houses; most current European monarchs are descended from him.

He was born in Gottorp, the fourth son of Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and Louise Caroline, Princess of Hesse. Through his mother, Christian was a great-grandson of Frederick V of Denmark, great-great-grandson of George II of Great Britain and descendant of several other monarchs, but had no direct claim to any European throne.

Through his father, Christian was a member of a junior male branch of the House of Oldenburg and a prince of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg line, a  junior branch of the family which had ruled Denmark for centuries (he  was a direct male-line descendant of King Christian III of Denmark) and was (albeit a junior) agnatic descendant of Helwig of Schauenburg (countess of Oldenburg), mother of King Christian I of Denmark, who was the “Semi-Salic” heiress of her brother Adolf of Schauenburg, last Schauenburg duke of Schleswig and count of Holstein. As such, Christian was eligible to succeed in the twin duchies of Schleswig-Holstein, but not first in the line.

He grew up in Denmark and was educated in the Military Academy of Copenhagen.

As a young man, he unsuccessfully sought the hand of his third cousin Queen Victoria in marriage. At the Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen on 26 May 1842, he married Louise of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), a niece of Christian VIII.

In 1847, under the blessing from the great powers of Europe, he was chosen as heir presumptive after the extinction of the most senior line to the Danish throne by Christian VIII, as the future Frederick VII seemed incapable of fathering children. A justification for this choice of heir was Christian’s wife Louise of Hesse-Kassel. (As a great-niece of Christian VII, she was a closer heir to the throne than her husband.)

Christian succeeded upon his death Frederick VII to the throne on 15  November 1863. Denmark was immediately plunged into a crisis over the  possession and status of Schleswig and Holstein,  two provinces to Denmark’s south. Under pressure, Christian signed the  November Constitution, a treaty that made Schleswig part of Denmark.  This resulted in a brief war between Denmark and a Prussian/Austrian  alliance in 1864. This Second war of Schleswig’s  outcome was unfavorable to Denmark and led to the incorporation of  Schleswig into Prussia in 1865. Holstein was likewise incorporated into  Prussia in 1865, following further conflict between Austria and Prussia.

Frederick’s childlessness had presented a thorny dilemma and the  question of succession to the Danish throne proved problematic.  Denmark’s adherence to the Salic Law and a burgeoning nationalism within the German-speaking parts of Schleswig-Holstein hindered all hopes of a peaceful solution. Proposed resolutions to keep  the two Duchies together and as a part of Denmark proved unsatisfactory  to both Danish and German interests. While Denmark had adopted the  Salic Law, this only affected the descendants of Frederick III of Denmark, who was the first hereditary monarch of Denmark (before him, the kingdom was officially elective). Agnatic descent from Frederick III ended when Frederick VII died. At that point, the  law of succession promulgated by Frederick III provided for a Semi-Salic succession. There were however several ways to interpret to whom the  crown could pass, since the provision was not entirely clear as to  whether a claimant to the throne could be the closest female relative  or not.

As the nations of Europe looked on, the numerous descendants of  Helwig of Schauenburg began to vie for the Danish throne. Frederick VII  belonged to the senior branch of Helwig’s descendants. In 1863, Frederick, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (1829–1880) (the future father-in-law of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany), proclaimed himself Frederick VIII of Schleswig-Holstein. Frederick von Augustenburg became the symbol of the nationalist German independence-movement in Schleswig-Holstein, after his father (in exchange for money) renounced his claims as first in line to inherit the twin-duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. Following the London protocol of 8 May 1852, which concluded the First war of Schleswig and given his father’s renunciation, Frederick was deemed ineligible to inherit.

The closest female relatives of Frederick VII were his paternal aunt, Louise,  who had married a scion of the cadet branch of the House of Hesse, and  her daughters. However, they were not agnatic descendants of the royal  family and thus not eligible to succeed in Schleswig-Holstein.

The dynastic female heiress reckoned according to the original law of primogeniture of Frederick III was Caroline of Denmark (1793–1881), the childless eldest daughter of the late king Frederick VI. Along with another childless daughter Wilhelmine of Denmark (1808–1891), Duchess of Glücksburg, and sister-in-law of Christian IX,  the next heir was Louise, sister of Frederick VI, who had married the  Duke of Augustenburg. The chief heir to that line was the selfsame Frederick of Augustenborg, but his turn would have come only after the death of two childless princesses who were very much alive in 1863.

The House of Glücksburg also held a significant interest in the  succession to the throne. A more junior branch of the royal clan, they  were also heirs of Frederick III, through the daughter of King Frederick V of Denmark.  Lastly, there was yet a more junior agnatic branch that was eligible to  succeed in Schleswig-Holstein. There was Christian himself and his  three older brothers, the eldest of whom, Karl, was childless, but the  others had produced children, and male children at that.

Prince Christian had been a foster “grandson” of the  ‘grandchildless’ royal couple Frederick VI and his queen consort Marie  (Marie Sophie Friederike of Hesse). Familiar with the royal court and  the traditions of the recent monarchs, their young ward, Prince  Christian was great-nephew of queen Marie, and descendant of a first  cousin of Frederick VI. He was brought up as Danish, having lived in  Danish-speaking lands of the royal dynasty, and had not become a German  nationalist which made him a relatively good candidate from the Danish  point of view. As junior agnatic descendant, he was eligible to inherit  Schleswig-Holstein, but was not the first in line. As descendant of  Frederick III, he was eligible to succeed in Denmark, although here  too, he was not first in line.

In 1842, Christian married Princess Louise of Hesse,  daughter of the closest female relative of Frederick VII. Louise’s  father and brother, both princes of Hesse, and elder sister too,  renounced their rights in favor of Louise and her husband. Prince  Christian’s wife was now the closest female heiress of Frederick VII.

In 1852, the thorny question of Denmark’s succession was resolved by  legislation through which Christian was chosen to succeed Frederick VII  as the country’s next reigning monarch.

Christian IX was the 1,007th Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Spain in 1864 and the 744th Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1865.

When Frederick died in 1863, Christian assumed the throne as Christian IX.

In November 1863 Frederick of Augustenburg claimed the twin-duchies in succession after King Frederick VII of Denmark, who also was the Duke of Schleswig and Holstein, and who had died without a male heir.

In 1864, Prussia and Austria initiated the Second war of Schleswig which eventually led to the Danish loss of both South Jutland and Holstein.