Frederick V of Denmark
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Frederick V
King of Denmark and Norway (more...)
Reign	1746 - 1765
Predecessor	Christian VI
Successor	Christian VII
Consort	Louise of Great Britain Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Issue
Sophia Magdalena, Queen of Sweden Christian VII Louise, Princess Charles of Hesse Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Denmark and Norway
Royal house	House of Oldenburg
Royal motto	By caution and consistency
Father	Christian VI
Mother	Sophia Magdalen of Brandenburg-Kulmbach
Born	March 31, 1723(1723-03-31) Copenhagen
Died	January 13, 1766 (aged 42) Christiansborg Palace
Burial	Roskilde Cathedral

Statue of Frederick V in the center of Amalienborg by Jacques François Joseph Saly

Frederick V (31 March 1723 – 13 January 1766) was king of Denmark and Norway from 1746, son of Christian VI of Denmark and Sophia Magdalen of Brandenburg-Kulmbach.

First Marriage

He was first married to Princess Louise, daughter of King George II and Caroline of Ansbach. They were parents of six children but only five survived birth.

Queen Louise of Great Britian in 1724

Louise died on 19 December 1751 in Christiansborg, predeceasing her husband by fourteen years, and was buried at Roskilde Cathedral. She was pregnant with her sixth child, who also died.

Second Marriage

Frederick married a second time to Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, daughter of Ferdinand Albert II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Their children were notably Hereditary Prince Frederick of Denmark and Norway who was, in his turn, father of King Christian VIII of Denmark and grandfather of Louise of Hesse, the future queen of Denmark. She died in 1796 having been regent for her son Prince Frederick.

King Frederick was also the father of five illegitimate children by Else Hansen.

Death and Burial

Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel

He founded the Royal Danish Academy of Art (Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi) in Copenhagen, which officially opened on March 31, 1754, his 31st birthday. Frederick also purchased what would become known as the Danish West Indies in 1754.^[1]

The personal influence of Frederick was a limited one. He was marked by his alcoholism and most of his rule was marked by very able ministers like A. G. Moltke, J. H. E. Bernstorff and H. C. Schimmelmann. They avoided involving Denmark in the European wars of his time. The country remained neutral even for the duration of the Seven Years' War (1756 - 1763) despite its proximity to combatants Russia and Sweden.

The king died after 43 years of life and twenty years of reign. His last words were reportedly: "It is a great consolation to me in my last hour that I have never wilfully offended anyone and that there is not a drop of blood on my hands."

Frederick V is interred in Roskilde Cathedral next to Queen Louise.

Issue

Within one hundred years of his time, Denmark faced the situation of his male issue (the main branch of the Royal House) going extinct. This created a succession crisis beginning from his grandson's reign, affecting both Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein. Finally, his great-grandson by female line, Christian IX of Denmark, who was married with his great-granddaughter Louise of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), became the designated heir.)

Ancestry

References