And now for something I look very much forward to myself.
Summary of article in Billed Bladet #50, 2014.
Written by the Ulrik Ulriksen.
This Sunday DR1 will show a documentary by Anna von Lowzow and Lene Borch Hensen called "Guld, Kong og Fædreland = Gold, King and Country/Fatherland".
The docu is about Denmark and Danes around WWI, but what makes this very remarkable is that Frederik and Joachim will very much be talking about the events, because they in many cases directly involved their great grandfather (oldefar) Christian X.
King Christian X was very conservative and also an army officer of the school, a very strickt man.
In 1914 Christian X had been king for only two years. Joachim explains: "Christian X is standing there and can do nothing. He is one of the least (important) rulers in Europe. He's one of the weakest and he is also by seniority one of the youngest. My great grandfather was... well, he didn't know what to do".
In 1920 King Christian faced his most politically dangerous moment, he sacked the government but did not appoint a new one and such he ruled himself. That led to politicians accusing of having commited a coup d'etat.
Joachim explains: "The de facto political distribution of power back then was that the word of the king, the wish of the king despite all was the final weight on the scale. That was the direction of the politics being made".
Frederik takes over: "You asked what the kings view was and what the king says. It was in reality a time of change, and it was in that direction the democracy was oving. (Ie. politicians taking over). That he had to learn the hard way.
After the end of the war the winning sides decides that there must be a referendum about the adherence of Slesvig/Schleswig. That's why there is voting in two zones and Northern Slesvig which we know as Southern Jutland vote to return to Denmark, but the southern part does not and again Christian X is hit hard by that referendum, because he considers Slesvig a geographical unity".
Joachim: "That's a very, very hard thing for the king to swallow. To him Slesvig was undividable".
That leades to a political crisis, with the conservatives backing the king, while the liberals and radicals being in favor of a division.
Joachim: "As such the parts have dug down unwilling to give in. It ends with flying sparks. The king dismisses the government and the Easter Crisis is a reality. (*) Things screw up that day. The king request the Zahle administration (Radical and Liberal) to resign but without asking them to remain in office until a new government is found. (I.e. DK was without a democratic government). That's where the king makes his biggest mistake. The Radicals led by Zahle states that the king has commited a coup d'etat. The fact is that the country was without government.
My great-grandfather experience a very, very umpleasant situation from his own windows at Amalienborg. Everything is boiling and hissing. (**)
My great-grandfather is standing completely on his own and is on the recieving end all alone".
After four days a compromise was found but that was in reality the end of the DRF's direct political influence. Keep in mind that democracy in DK was only 70 years old.
But Christian X nevertheless ended up becoming a national symbol during the renufication between northen Slesvig and the rest of Denmark in 1920, where he rode across the border on a white horse picking up a little girl in the process.
Frederik: "The highlight of the reunification is when the king rides across the border on his white horse. And in that context a moment is being immortalised as he picks up a little girl in a white dress on his white horse".
Joachim: "The crowd is packed densely, cheering, he grabs the girl, gives her a kiss. To the king it's more than just symbolic that he is improvising on the spot. It actually becomes something very big to him emotionally. She (the girl Johanne Brarens whom remains in contact with) becomes a very important part of his life".
That also changes the Danes view of the king from the perception of him being a stiff and strickt man to being human and even kind and nice. (***)
Being a very conservative man, the women being given the right to vote in DK in 1915 was not something Christian X was that pleased with. In fact when a wellknown women, Emma Gad, thanked the king, he suggested she go home and pour up some coffee for her husband.
(*) The Easter Crisis is the closest thing DK has ever been to becoming a republic. Christian X was very close to being "abdicated".
(**) There were angry crowds at Amalienborg Square and some historians suggest the whole thing could have escalated out of control and led to a civil war.
(***) The Danes may have respected Christian X, but he wasn't exactly loved. The superstars within the DRF back then were crown prince frederik and crown princess Ingrid. Until the Occupation, where the Christian X became an almost worshipped national symbol.
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ADDED.
The DRF calendar seem pretty empty these days. My guess is that a member of the DRF will be visiting Danish troops stationed abroad.
Right now that could be Balticum, Mali, Afghanistan, Kuwait or Iraq.
"
I didn't know that (generally the information on royals and their godchildren is painfully limited, haha). I'll go add it to my Wikipedia article on godchildren of DRF members straight away.
