Frederick V of Denmark

Frederick V
King of Denmark and Norway
Reign	1746-1765
Born	March 31 1723(1723-03-31)
	Copenhagen
Died	January 13 1766 (aged 42)
	Christiansborg Palace
Buried	Roskilde Cathedral
Predecessor	Christian VI of Denmark
Successor	Christian VII of Denmark
Consort	i) Louise of Great Britain ii) Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Royal House	Oldenburg
Father	Christian VI of Denmark
Mother	Sophia Magdalen of Brandenburg-Kulmbach

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

Frederick V (March 31, 1723 – January 13, 1766) was king of Denmark and Norway from 1746, son of Christian VI of Denmark and Sophia Magdalen of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. He was first married to Princess Louise, daughter of King George II and Caroline of Ansbach. They were parents of seven children but only five survived birth:

• Christian, Prince of Denmark and Norway (July 7, 1745) - June 3, 1747).
• Sophie Magdalen of Denmark (July 3, 1746 - August 21, 1813). Queen consort of Gustav III of Sweden.
• Vilhelmine Caroline (July 10, 1747 - January 19, 1820). Consort of Wilhelm I, Elector of Hesse-Kassel.
• Christian VII of Denmark (January 29, 1749 - March 13, 1808).
• Luise, Princess of Denmark and Norway (30 January, 1750 - 12 January, 1831. She was mother to Luise Caroline, Princess of Hesse-Kassel and grandmother of the future Christian IX of Denmark.

Louise died on 19 December, 1751. Frederick married a second time to Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, daughter of Ferdinand Albert II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. They were parents of seven additional children. They notably included

• 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.

King Frederick was also the father of five illegitimate children by Else Hansen. 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, became the designated heir.) He founded the Royal Danish Academy of Art (Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi) in Copenhagen, which officially opened on March 31, 1754, his 31st birthday. 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.

Ancestry