Count Ingolf of Rosenborg

Count Ingolf of Rosenborg, RE (formerly Prince Ingolf of Denmark; Danish: Prins Ingolf Christian Frederik Knud Harald Gorm Gustav Viggo Valdemar Aage til Danmark) (born 17 February 1940), is a grandson of King Christian X of Denmark and first cousin of the present Queen Margrethe II. At his birth, his accession to the throne of Denmark appeared likely until the new right of females of the royal family to inherit the crown displaced him in favor of his cousin Princess Margrethe in 1953.

He was born at Sorgenfri Palace, Sorgenfri, as His Highness Prince Ingolf of Denmark. He was the elder son of Knud, Hereditary Prince of Denmark, by his wife (and first cousin) Princess Caroline-Mathilde of Denmark.

Loss of place in succession

From the death of his grandfather in 1947, Ingolf stood only behind his father in the order of hereditary succession to the throne and was expected to become king in his turn. His father Prince Knud was then the heir presumptive, due to succeed Ingolf's uncle King Frederick IX, who had three daughters but no sons.

In 1953, the Constitution of Denmark was amended to allow cognatic primogeniture. The new law made thirteen-year-old Princess Margrethe the new heiress presumptive, placing her and her two sisters before Prince Knud and his family in the succession. Ingolf was thus relegated to fifth in the line of succession to the Danish throne, but more importantly, he now ranked behind Margrethe and others who were likely to have dynastic children of their own (as has, in fact, happened). The princess became Queen Margrethe II in 1972 and is still reigning as of 2011. Ingolf's place in the line of succession, were he still eligible, would be no higher than ninth today.

Loss of dynastic rights

In 1968, now with little hope of ascending the throne, Ingolf chose to forfeit his right of succession to the throne by marrying without having received the royal assent of the monarch in the Council of State. The king's permission to marry was not sought because it was expected to be denied, since Ingolf's fiancée was an untitled commoner.^[1] Though Frederick IX had liberalized traditional practice by allowing royal spouses who were not themselves royal, but who claimed noble blood and were known by courtesy titles (Anne Bowes-Lyon was the granddaughter of an earl and through her first marriage to the son of an earl bore the title of viscountess; Henri de Laborde de Monpezat used the title of count, though his family's claim to nobility was later acknowledged to be flawed), it would not be until 1995 that Margrethe II would allow her children to marry commoners with neither title nor claim to noble blood. Ingolf was given the title Count of Rosenborg and the style of Your Excellency, as was customary in the twentieth century for Danish princes who forfeited their dynastic rights.

Prior to his son's wedding, Prince Knud sought to convince his brother that Ingolf should be allowed to retain his royal title after marriage.^[2] But the king refused, on the grounds that other males of the dynasty who had been demoted to Counts of Rosenborg upon marriage might try to reclaim their royal rank if Ingolf were allowed to do so, despite marrying a commoner as they had done.^[2] So, in 1968, Ingolf forfeited his rights to the throne and took the title Count of Rosenborg. His younger brother Christian did the same three years later.

Ingolf married firstly Inge Terney (Copenhagen, 21 January 1938 – 21 July 1996), daughter of Georg Terney (1906–1977) and wife Jenny Hansen (1908–1990), on 13 January 1968, at Lyngby, Denmark. After being widowed, he married secondly Sussie Hjorhøy (born Copenhagen, 20 February 1950), who thus became "Her Excellency Countess Sussie of Rosenborg" on 7 March 1998, at Engtved, Denmark. He has no children. Ingolf is godfather to his great-nephew, Leopold Rosanes af Rosenborg, who is the grandson of his brother Christian.^[3]

Public role

Count Ingolf sometimes takes part in major public events associated with the royal family; in 2004, he and Countess Sussie attended the wedding on 14 May 2004 of Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark at Copenhagen Cathedral,^[4] and the subsequent reception at Fredensborg Palace.^[5] They also attended the Memorial Service in honour of Empress Maria Feodorovna held on 22 September 2006.^[6] On some occasions, they are listed as members of the Royal Family such as when they attended the wedding of Prince Joachim in 2008^[7] and the luncheon to celebrate the 75th birthday of Henrik, Prince Consort of Denmark at Fredensborg Palace on 11 June 2009^[8] On other occasions, such as the celebrations for the 70th birthday of Margrethe II of Denmark,^[9] they are listed along with non-royal guests but even in this case, usually at the ceremonies themselves they are given precedence immediately after his sister Princess Elisabeth of Denmark.

Ingolf receives an annual allowance of 1.4 million kroner according to the Danish Royal House web-site.^[10] Presumably this is to compensate him for having lost the right of succession to the throne, as neither his sister Princess Elisabeth of Denmark, nor his brother Count Christian of Rosenborg, formerly Prince Christian of Denmark, receive such an allowance, even though in 1971 Count Christian also lost his rights to the throne, and Princess Elisabeth remains in the line of succession.

Ancestry

References

External links

• Royal House of Denmark and Royal House of Iceland