General Notes

Christian IX (1818-1906), king of Denmark (1863-1906), a direct descendant of
Christian III through the Glücksburg line. In 1852, with the consent of the
reigning Frederick VII, a council of the great powers recognized Christian as
heir apparent to the Danish throne. On the death of Frederick in 1863,
Christian became king. The following year, after a war with Prussia and
Austria, Denmark was forced to renounce its claims to Schleswig-Holstein by
the Treaty of Vienna. In domestic affairs, Christian IX's reign was marked by
a struggle between liberal and conservative elements for control of the
Folketing, the lower house of the Danish Rigsdag, the legislature. Christian
sided with the conservatives, but when the liberals gained control of the
Folketing, he consented to the formation of a liberal ministry. By his wife,
Louise, princess of Hesse-Cassel, he had six children. Of these, his eldest
son succeeded him as Frederick VIII; his daughter Alexandra married the prince
of Wales, later King Edward VII of Great Britain and Ireland; another
daughter, Dagmar, married Grand Duke Alexander of Russia, later Czar Alexander
III; and a younger son, George, became George I, king of Greece. Christian was
sometimes called the Grandfather of Europe.