Talk:Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg

seniority

Why was his younger brother king of Denmark rather than himself? —Tamfang (talk) 06:04, 7 April 2023 (UTC)

It is a bit complicated but this is basically because Christians claim primarily was due to his marriage to Louise of Hesse-Kassel who was a cousin of Frederick VII of Denmark and a descendant of Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Denmark, Fredericks VII grandfather. You see, the Danish constitution at the time said that the heir to the Danish throne must be an agnatic descendant of Frederick III of Denmark of the older Oldenburg line who commissioned the constitution in the 17th century. Frederick VII did not have any legitimate children which meant that the male line of Fredericks III descendants would become extinct with Fredericks VII death. For that case the constitution provided for the semi-salic inheritance, that is, the closest female relative of the king would become heir and in case she no longer was alive, her own male descendants would follow. This puts Louise of Hesse in the line of succession and technically Christian, as I understand it, would ascend the throne legally as a consort, but factually as the king. It was different for the Schleswig-Holstein duchies, though, where also the rule of male agnatic descendancy applied, but not restricted to descendants of Frederick III, which had the effect that the younger Oldenburg line would inherit the dukedom of Schleswig-Holstein from Frederick VII but based on their male-line relationship with the Danish kings. As there also were other claimants and the people of Schleswig-Hostein had pro-German leanings, things led to the First Schleswig War of 1848-1851 which was settled by the London Protocol (1852) which clarified the question of the successsion, placing Christian in the line of the Danish succession (after Ferdinand, Hereditary Prince of Denmark, Fredericks VII uncle, who died in 1863). This is why Christian had a better claim to the Danish throne than his brothers Friedrich and Karl while Karl and then Friedrich became dukes of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg; the latter had become a purely nominal title, though, after the Second Schleswig War of 1864 and the following annexation of Schleswig-Holstein by Prussia. Proofreader (talk) 22:32, 18 February 2024 (UTC)