Knud, Hereditary Prince of Denmark

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Knud, Hereditary Prince of Denmark (Knud Christian Frederik Michael; 27 July 1900 – 14 June 1976) was a member of the Danish royal family, the younger son and child of King Christian X and Queen Alexandrine.

From 1947 to 1953, he was heir presumptive to his older brother, King Frederik IX, and would have succeeded him as king following his death in January 1972 had it not been for a change in the Danish Act of Succession that replaced him with his niece, Queen Margrethe II. Later, Knud's two sons, Ingolf and Christian, were stripped of their titles of prince and removed from the line of succession by the new law because they had married commoners without asking consent from their uncle.

Early life

File:Christian X of Denmark with his family.jpg
King Christian X, Queen Alexandrine and their two sons, Crown Prince Frederik and Prince Knud in 1912.

Prince Knud was born on 27 July 1900 at his parents' country residence, the Sorgenfri Palace, located on the shores of the small river Mølleåen in Kongens Lyngby north of Copenhagen on the island of Zealand in Denmark, during the reign of his great-grandfather King Christian IX.Template:Sfn His parents were Prince Christian of Denmark, son of the heir apparent Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, and Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Knud's only sibling, Prince Frederik, had been born one year before him.Template:Sfn

Christian IX died on 29 January 1906, and Knud's grandfather succeeded him as Frederik VIII. Six years later, on 14 May 1912, Frederik VIII died, and Knud's father ascended the throne as Christian X.

As was customary for princes at that time, Knud started a military education and entered the naval college.Template:Sfn

Engagement and marriage

File:Princess Caroline-Mathilde of Denmark.webp
Princess Caroline-Mathlde of Denmark.

On 27 January 1933, at the age of 32, Prince Knud was engaged to his first cousin, the 20-year-old Princess Caroline-Mathilde of Denmark.[1] Princess Caroline-Mathilde was the second daughter of Prince Harald of Denmark and Princess Helena of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, and their fathers were brothers. The wedding was celebrated on 8 September 1933 at the chapel of Fredensborg Palace in North Zealand, Denmark.Template:Sfn

After the wedding, they were given a side wing of Sorgenfri Palace, Prince Knud's childhood home, as their residence.[2] Here they created a home for their three children: Princess Elisabeth (born in 1935), Prince Ingolf (born in 1940) and Prince Christian (born in 1944).Template:Sfn

The couple lived the rest of their lives at Sorgenfri Palace. In 1944, Prince Knud inherited Egelund House near Fredensborg in North Zealand from his uncle, Prince Gustav of Denmark, which the couple then used as their summer residence until the hereditary prince sold it to the Danish Employers' Association in 1954.[3] In 1952, Prince Knud also inherited his parents' holiday residence Klitgaarden in Skagen in North Jutland from his mother, Queen Alexandrine, which the couple then used as their holiday home, and which remained in the family's possession until 1997.[4]

Heir presumptive

On 20 April 1947, Christian X died, and Knud's brother Frederick succeeded to the throne as Frederik IX. Since Frederik IX had fathered no sons and the Danish Act of Succession at the time followed the principle of agnatic primogeniture, Prince Knud became heir presumptive and first in line to succeed his brother as king.

Frederik IX had, however, fathered three daughters. In 1953, the Act of Succession was amended to follow the principle of male-preference primogeniture. The new law made Frederik IX's thirteen-year-old daughter Margrethe the new heir presumptive, placing her and her two sisters before Knud and his family in the line of succession.

Later life and legacy

King Frederik IX died in 1972 and was succeeded by his daughter Queen Margrethe II. Prince Knud died in Gentofte on 14 June 1976. He was buried at Roskilde Cathedral. His widow died on 12 December 1995.

In 1953 a students' home in Frederiksberg was named "Arveprins Knuds Kollegium" in honor of Prince Knud. At the time, Prince Knud was protector of Sydslesvigsk Studie- og Hjælpefond (Study and relief fund of Southern Schleswig),(see Danish minority of Southern Schleswig), an area that could be considered the birthplace of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, the royal family of which Knud was a part.

The Princess Caroline-Mathilde Alps in Greenland were named by the 1938–39 Mørkefjord Expedition in his wife's honour for Prince Knud had been the patron of the expedition.[5]

The popular saying “En gang til for Prins Knud” (“One more time for Prince Knud”) is sometimes used when repeating or clarifying because the interlocutor is a bit slow-witted or didn't immediately grasp something.[6] The expression was first used in an article by Bent Thorndahl in the Copenhagen newspaper Politiken to describe the November 24, 1958 premiere, at the Falkoner Center in Frederiksberg, of the ballet “Det Forsinkede Stævnemøde” (“The postponed rendezvous”). Prince Knud and Princess Caroline Mathilde had sat in the former royal loge at the far left of the hall (i.e., stage right), but one especially memorable scene had not been fully visible from where they had sat. The ballet director, Ingvar Balduin Blicher-Hansen (1911–1995) persuaded the ballet ensemble to re-enact the scene for the royal couple. The following year, Birgitte Reimer, at the theatrical revue known as Cirkusrevyen, performed a song,[7] written by Erik Leth to a tune by Sven Gyldmark, which immortalized Prince Knud, somewhat unfairly mocking him as supposedly being a dullard: “Så ta'r vi den en gang til for Prins Knud.” (“Now we'll do it one more time for Prince Knud.”)[8]

Issue

Honours

Danish and Icelandic honours[9]
Foreign honours[9]

Ancestors

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References

Citations

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  6. [1], Den Danske Ordbog. Accessed 5 April 2021.
  7. Birgitte Reimer, Ørkenens Sønner: Een gang til for prins Knud - Gyllegården. Accessed 5 April 2021.
  8. Bo Børresen, Det var i Falkonersalen, at man første gang 'tog den én gang til for Prins Knud' ("It was in the Falkoner hall that they first did ‘one more time for Prince Knud’,” 2 September 2020, Frederiksberg Liv, Ugeavisen. Accessed 5 April 2021.
  9. a b Kongelig Dansk Hof-og Statskalendar (1963) (in Danish), "De Kongelig Danske Ridderordener", p. 17
  10. Elenco dei Cavalieri dell'Ordine supremo della Santissima Annunziata
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Bibliography

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External links

Template:Sister project

Knud, Hereditary Prince of Denmark
Born: 27 July 1900 Died: 14 June 1979
Danish royalty
Preceded byas Crown Prince Template:S-bef/check Heir to the Danish throne
1947–1953 Template:S-ttl/check
Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by

Template:Danish princes Template:Authority control