Sophia Amelia of Brunswick-Lüneburg

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Queen Sophie Amalie. Painting by Abraham Wuchters

Sophia Amelia of Brunswick-Lüneburg (24 March 1628 – 20 February 1685) was queen-consort of Denmark and Norway as a wife of the King Frederick III of Denmark.

She was born in Herzberg am Harz. Her parents were George, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and his wife Anne Eleonore of Hesse-Darmstadt. Sophie Amalie married to Prince Frederick in Castle Glücksburg on 1 October 1643 and became Queen of Denmark in 1648. They had 8 children, including King Christian V of Denmark and Ulrike Eleonora of Denmark who married King Charles XI of Sweden.

In the first part of Frederik III's reign and later during the reign of her son Christian V from 1670, Sophie Amalie had some influence on political decisions. In the early 1650s, she was active in the power struggle with Corfitz Ulfeldt and Leonora Christina, who had become a humiliating threat to the position of the Royal Couple. Sophie Amalie probably took part in the decision to introduce the absolute monarchy. This happened while the popularity of the Royal Couple was at its highest after the Swedish siege of Copenhagen in 1658-1660.

Sophie Amalie loved hunting and, in spite of the dire financial situation of the Kingdom, she was the centre of a sumptuous Court life, with exclusive luxury items and grand parties, which shed glory on the royal power. The palace Sophie Amalienborg was built between 1669 and 1673 where Amalienborg Palace is situated presently. She mostly lived there after she was widowed.

She died in Copenhagen and was buried in the Roskilde Cathedral.