Frederick VI of Denmark

Frederick VI (Danish and Norwegian: Frederik; 28 January 1768 – 3 December 1839) was King of Denmark from 13 March 1808 until his death in 1839 and King of Norway from 13 March 1808 to 7 February 1814. He was the last king of Denmark–Norway. From 1784 until his accession, he served as regent during his father's mental illness and was referred to as the "Crown Prince Regent" (Norwegian: kronprinsregent). For his motto he chose God and the just cause (Danish: Gud og den retfærdige sag). Instead of the customary Latin, he used Danish, which established a precedent for later Danish kings who used Danish as well.

Born in Christiansborg Palace, Copenhagen, Frederick VI was the eldest of two children and the only son of Christian VII and Caroline Mathilde. In 1790, Frederick VI married Marie Sophie. Together, they had eight children, though only two daughters, Princess Caroline and Princess Wilhelmine, survived to adulthood. Additionally, He was the last Danish king to have an official mistress, Frederikke Dannemand, with whom he had five children.

His reign as regent is highlighted by the abolition of serfdom, the end of hanging as a capital punishment in the kingdom, and the withdrawal of Dano-Norwegian involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. Other significant events during his time as regent include the Battle of Copenhagen of 1801 and the Battle of Copenhagen of 1807. His later reign as king is highlighted by his patronage of astronomy, the introduction of primary schools, the creation of the Assemblies of Estate, and the ensurement of full civil rights to the Jews. Other significant events during his reign as king include the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the Congress of Vienna, the loss of Norway, and an economic depression.

With no surviving legitimate sons, Frederick VI was succeeded by his half-cousin, Christian.

The future King Frederick VI was born between 10 and 11 p.m. on 28 January 1768 in the Queen's Bedchamber at Christiansborg Palace, the royal residence in central Copenhagen. He was the first child born to King Christian VII and Queen Caroline Mathilde of Denmark and Norway. He was born 15 months after his parents' wedding, the day before his father's 19th birthday, and while his mother was just 16 years old. The King had shown little interest in the Queen after the marriage and only reluctantly visited her in her chambers. The King's advisors had to step in, among other things with love letters written in the King's name, in an attempt to make the marriage lead to a pregnancy and thus an heir to the throne.

The young prince was baptised already two days after the birth on 30 January at Christiansborg Palace by the royal confessor Ludvig Harboe, Bishop of Zealand, and was named after his late grandfather, King Frederick V. His godparents were King Christian VII (his father), the dowager queen Juliana Maria (his step-grandmother) and his half-uncle, Hereditary Prince Frederick.

At the time of Crown Prince Frederick's birth, conditions at the Danish court were characterized by Christian VII's increasing mental illness, including suspected schizophrenia expressed by catatonic periods. In the resulting intrigues and power struggles which followed, Christian's personal physician, the progressive and radical thinker Johann Friedrich Struensee, became the King's advisor and rose steadily in power during the late 1760s, and from 1770 to 1772, Struensee was de facto regent of the country. Struensee soon also became the confidant of Queen Caroline Mathilde, Frederick's mother, partly because during a smallpox epidemic in the autumn of 1769, in which over 1,000 children died, he successfully inoculated Crown Prince Frederick with good results. In doing so, Struensee won the gratitude and trust of the neglected Queen and soon became her lover as well. It is widely believed that Struensee was also the biological father of Prince Frederick's only sister Princess Louise Augusta, who was born in 1771.

Both the Queen and Struensee were ideologically influenced by Enlightenment thinkers such as Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Therefore, the Queen also fully approved the harsh education recommended by Struensee for the Crown Prince, who was perceived as weak and needed to be strengthened physically and mentally. While Struensee was in power, the young Frederick was raised at Hirschholm Palace following an interpretation of the educational approach advocated by Rousseau in his famous work Émile. Instead of receiving direct instruction, Frederick was expected to learn everything through his own efforts through playing with two commoner boys as per Struensee's instructions.