Princess Frederica Amalia of Denmark

Princess Frederica Amalia of Denmark (11 April 1649 – 30 October 1704) was the second daughter of King Frederick III of Denmark and Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and Duchess of Holstein-Gottorp from 1667 to 1695 as the consort of Duke Christian Albert.

Life

Frederica Amalie Oldenburg, Princess of Denmark, was a daughter of King Frederick III of Denmark and his queen, Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Her father had been crowned king on 23 November 1649, about five months before she was born.

She was married at Glücksburg Castle on 24 October 1667 to Duke Christian Albrecht of Holstein-Gottorp as part of a peace treaty between Denmark and Holstein-Gottorp, but the hostile parties continued to fight. The marriage was unhappy, with Frederica Amalia often tormented by the frequent disagreements between her brother, Christian V of Denmark, and her spouse. She was reportedly well known to be badly treated by Christian Albrecht, while the Danish royal family gave her all sorts of personal privileges and proofs of affection.

The couple visited her sister, the Swedish queen Ulrika Eleonora. Her visits to Sweden inspired great parties and festivities at the otherwise strict Swedish court, and were much appreciated. She became a widow in 1694. As her sons where also anti-Danish, the conflict between Denmark and Holstein-Gottorp continued to put her in a difficult position also as a widow; when she died in her residence in Kiel in 1704, a conflict between Holstein-Gottorp and Denmark abut the proper way to ring the bells at her funeral almost provoked war between the two states.

Issue

With Duke Christian Albrecht of Holstein-Gottorp, she had four children:

1. Sophie Amalie (19 January 1670 – 27 February 1710), married on 7 July 1695 to Duke Augustus William of Brunswick-Lüneburg. No issue.
2. Frederick (18 October 1671 – 19 July 1702), succeeded his father as Duke Frederick IV of Holstein-Gottorp.
3. Christian August (11 January 1673 – 24 April 1726), succeeded his brother as Duke Christian August of Holstein-Gottorp.
4. Marie Elisabeth (21 March 1678 – 17 July 1755), Abbess of Quedlinburg.

She was a great-grandmother of Catherine the Great, Empress regnant of Russia, through her son Christian August, and was also a great-grandmother of Catherine's husband Peter III of Russia through her son Frederick. Additionally, she was the paternal grandmother of Adolf Frederick of Sweden.

Ancestors

References

• (Danish) Article in the Dansk biografisk Lexicon
• Lindqvist, Herman. Storhet och fall. Sweden: Bokförlaget Pan, 2000 (1997). Vol 4 of Historien om Sverige. 10 vols. 1992-2002. ISBN 9172630922. (Swedish)