Caroline Amalie of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg

Caroline Amalie of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenborg (28 June 1796 – 9 March 1881), was Queen consort of Denmark as the second spouse of King Christian VIII between 1839 and 1848.

Biography

Caroline Amalie was the daughter of Frederick Christian II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, and Princess Louise Auguste of Denmark, the only daughter of Christian VII and his British wife, Queen Caroline Matilde. She was born in Copenhagen and lived there until 1807, when she moved with her family to Augustenborg.

In 1814 she was promised in marriage to the heir to the Danish throne, the future Christian VIII, and were married in 1815. Christian had divorced his first spouse Charlotte Fredericka of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1810 on grounds of adultery, and had just returned to Denmark after his abdication of the Norwegian throne. This meant that Christian could devote himself to the sciences, mineralogy and geology in particular. While Christian became celebrated as a man with scientific tendencies, Caroline Amalie was a composer who wrote numerous piano pieces. Her acceptance of her spouse's infidelity was regarded as something suitable and appropriate for a woman of the time.

Between 1816 and 1817, the couple lived in Odense, where Christian served as Governor of Fionia. Between 1818 and 1822, she undertook numerous trips through Europe with her husband.

In 1839, when King Frederick VI died, Caroline Amalie, as the wife of Christian VIII, became Queen of Denmark. She was considered instrumental in the pro-German party on the matter of the duchies of Schleswig-Holstein. The extent of her political influence is unclear, but she was exposed to some hostility during the conflict between Denmark and Holstein and accused of conspiring with her brothers against Denmark.

Caroline Amalie was active in many social and humanitarian projects, especially the founding and support of orphanages. Caroline Amalie also acted as the protector of Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig, the leader of an ecclesiastic Danish party. Except for the suspicions directed toward her during the conflict between Holstein and Denmark, she was quite popular, and continued to be so as Queen Dowager.

Caroline Amalie became a widow in 1848 and survived her spouse for more than thirty years. She also outlived her stepson by seventeen years. Hence she lived to see Christian IX become king with her spouse's niece Louise of Hesse-Kassel as queen.

She died in 1881 without issue and was buried at Roskilde Cathedral next to her husband.

Ancestry

Bibliography and references

• Cohen, Aaron I. International Encyclopedia of Women Composers.
• http://www.kvinfo.dk/side/597/bio/590/origin/170/

Succession