Genealogy of the Royal Family of Denmark

[Rudolph]

Elimar I (1040-1112) also known as Egilmar I, was the first Count of Oldenburg and reigned from 1101 to 1108.

Present-day patrilineal descendants of Elimar I include Margrethe II of Denmark, Harald V of Norway, Constantine II of Greece, Charles, Prince of Wales, heir to the throne of the United Kingdom, The Duke Of Cambridge and Prince George of Cambridge.

Christopher, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, is Elimar's current senior male line descendant

[Blog Real]

Christian IX married his second cousin, Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel, in 1842. Their six children married into other royal families across Europe, earning him the sobriquet "the father-in-law of Europe". Among his descendants are Margrethe II of Denmark, Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Philippe of Belgium, Harald V of Norway, Felipe VI of Spain, Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, Constantine II of Greece, Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, Queen Sofia of Spain and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

[Somebody]

Originally Posted by Blog Real

Christian IX married his second cousin, Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel, in 1842. Their six children married into other royal families across Europe, earning him the sobriquet "the father-in-law of Europe". Among his descendants are Margrethe II of Denmark, Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Philippe of Belgium, Harald V of Norway, Felipe VI of Spain, Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, Constantine II of Greece, Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, Queen Sofia of Spain and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

I don't know when this overview was made (probably after Philippe ascended the throne and before Felipe did) but as you correctly mention, grand duke Henri is also one of their descendants.

While Christian IX is seen as the 'father-in-law' or royal Europe (except for the Netherlands, Sweden, Liechtenstein and Monaco); 4 out of 5 current monarchs are through his eldest son - so, he should probably get more 'credit':
1. Frederick VIII: Margrethe (Denmark), Philippe (Belgium), Henri (Luxembourg), Harald (Norway)
2. Alexandra: Elizabeth (UK) & Harald (Norway)
3. George: Felipe (Spain), Konstantinos (Greece), Alexander (Serbia), Margaretha (Romania)
4. Marie/Dagmar: (no current monarch or pretender)
5. Thyra: Felipe (Spain), Konstantinos (Greece)
6. Valdemar: Margaretha (Romania)

And of course it does help if your son and grandson are picked to become monarchs of foreign countries (Greece & Norway).

Futhermore, it's interesting that there currently is one reigning male-line descendant and at some point there will be two; but those male-line descendants don't reign over Denmark but over Norway (currently) and the UK (future).

Edited: thanks to comments by Gawin.

[Gawin]

Originally Posted by Somebody

I don't know when this overview was made (probably after Philippe ascended the throne and before Felipe did) but as you correctly mention, grand duke Henri is also one of their descendants.

While Christian IX is seen as the 'father-in-law' or royal Europe (except for the Netherlands, Sweden, Liechtenstein and Monaco); 4 out of 5 current monarchs are through his eldest son - so, he should probably get more 'credit':
1. Frederick VIII: Margrethe (Denmark), Philippe (Belgium), Henri (Luxembourg), Harald (Norway)
2. Alexandra: Elizabeth (UK) & Harald (Norway)
3. George: Konstantinos (Greece) & Margaretha (Romania)
4. Marie/Dagmar: (no current monarch or pretender)
5. Thyra: Felipe (Spain)
6. Valdemar: Margaretha (Romania)

And of course it does help if your son and grandson are picked to become monarchs of foreign countries (Greece & Norway).

Futhermore, it's interesting that there currently is one reigning male-line descendant and at some point there will be two; but those male-line descendants don't reign over Denmark but over Norway (currently) and the UK (future).

Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia is also a descendant of George. So is Amadeo Duke of Aosta who claims to be the head of the House of Savoy, former rulers of the Kingdom of Italy and also Sardinia before that.

Felipe of Spain descends from both George & Thyra.

[Somebody]

Originally Posted by Gawin

Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia is also a descendant of George. So is Amadeo Duke of Aosta who claims to be the head of the House of Savoy, former rulers of the Kingdom of Italy and also Sardinia before that.

Felipe of Spain descends from both George & Thyra.

Thanks, of course he is: and Konstantinos is also a descendant of Thyra. I've made those changes to my previous post.

[Muhler]

This is a little thought exercise and just for fun.

If we start with the premise that Christian X was 100 % ethnic Danish. (See conditions in regards to the Law of Succession.) What nationality does that make Christian - predominantly that is?

QMII is half Swedish.
That means Frederik is half French, a quarter Swedish and a quarter Danish.
So Christian is half Australian, a quarter French, an eight Swedish and an eight Danish, right?

But Frederik IX was half German, and now a headache starts to set in!

Anybody got an answer?

Won't that make Christian the first predominantly ethnic Australian monarch?

- And if he marries an Australian, which may not be unlikely, then his firstborn will be... 100 % Australian...?

[Archduchess Zelia]

Despite Mary being born and raised in Australia, ethnically, her parents were both Scottish though. And QMII is only a quarter Swedish with her grandmother being Princess Margaret of Connaught.

[Nordic]

Originally Posted by Muhler

So Christian is half Australian, a quarter French, an eight Swedish and an eight Danish, right?

Won't that make Christian the first predominantly ethnic Australian monarch?

Half Scottish, you mean?
His mother is born in Australia but her parents, Christian's grandparents, are of 100% Scottish genes.

[Muhler]

Oh, my head!!

[Lady Daly]

Genetics, boggles the mind That was fun! It would be fascinating to see results of Christian's DNA.

[CrownPrincessJava]

Originally Posted by Muhler

This is a little thought exercise and just for fun.

If we start with the premise that Christian X was 100 % ethnic Danish. (See conditions in regards to the Law of Succession.) What nationality does that make Christian - predominantly that is?

QMII is half Swedish.
That means Frederik is half French, a quarter Swedish and a quarter Danish.
So Christian is half Australian, a quarter French, an eight Swedish and an eight Danish, right?

But Frederik IX was half German, and now a headache starts to set in!

Anybody got an answer?

Won't that make Christian the first predominantly ethnic Australian monarch?

- And if he marries an Australian, which may not be unlikely, then his firstborn will be... 100 % Australian...?

For all intents and purposes, he will be the first regent that is half- Australian. Other than the indigenous Australian Aboriginals, most Australians are immigrants, predominantly European.

But, if Prince Christian marries an Australian, their children will be 3/4 Australian. Their ethnicity is different.

If you look at Prince Joachim's children with Princess Marie - they are 3/4 ethnic French, who happen to be Prince and Princess of Denmark! My children are the same, if my boys marry women with 100% Italian ethnicity, my grandchildren will be 3/4 Italian and 1/4 anglo-saxon. The concept of nationality and ethnicity is definitely diverging, which isn't a bad thing at all!

For what it's worth - I consider myself 100% Aussie and I suspect CP Mary considered herself that too. I've been to Italy and I felt more Aussie than ever.

[Muhler]

Okay, but the thought experiment continues.

We have Christian X = 100 % Danish, That's the premise for this discussion.
Queen Alexandrine = 100 % German. (I hope, or my head will burst!)
Queen Ingrid = 50 % Swedish, 50 % English - to keep it simple.
PH = 100 % French.

Mary. 100 % Scottish then? Or can you argue, as CrownPrincessJava has, that she is at least 50 % Australian?

With Frederik IX being?
QMII being?
And Frederik being?

So Christian is...?

[CrownPrincessJava]

Originally Posted by Muhler

Okay, but the thought experiment continues.

We have Christian X = 100 % Danish, That's the premise for this discussion.
Queen Alexandrine = 100 % German. (I hope, or my head will burst!)
Queen Ingrid = 50 % Swedish, 50 % English - to keep it simple.
PH = 100 % French.

Mary. 100 % Scottish then? Or can you argue, as CrownPrincessJava has, that she is at least 50 % Australian?

With Frederik IX being?
QMII being?
And Frederik being?

So Christian is...?

Mary is considered 100% Scottish ethnicity. But immigrating to Australia, she is considered Australian. If we go solely based on ethnicity:

Frederik IX is 50% Danish; 50% German
QMII is 25% Danish, 25% German, 25% Swedish, 25% English
Prince Frederik is 50% French; 12.5% each Danish, Swedish, German, English
Prince Christian is 50% Scottish, 25% French, 6.25% each Danish, Swedish, English and German

If we say, like Christian X, CP Mary is 100% Australian for simplicity, then
Prince Christian is 50% Australian, 25% French, 6.25% each Danish, Swedish, English and German

[Archduchess Zelia]

Originally Posted by Muhler

Okay, but the thought experiment continues.

We have Christian X = 100 % Danish, That's the premise for this discussion.
Queen Alexandrine = 100 % German. (I hope, or my head will burst!)
Queen Ingrid = 50 % Swedish, 50 % English - to keep it simple.
PH = 100 % French.

Mary. 100 % Scottish then? Or can you argue, as CrownPrincessJava has, that she is at least 50 % Australian?

With Frederik IX being?
QMII being?
And Frederik being?

So Christian is...?

If Mary is 100% Australian in this experiment, then it's fairly simple that that would make Christian 50% Danish and 50% Australian because in that case, it would be based nationality.

If you base it on ethnicity (Mary being the child of two Scots born and raised), Christian would be 56,25% British (for simplicity – otherwise 50% Scottish and 6,25% English), 25% French, 6,25% Danish, 6,25% German and 6,25% Swedish

(And actually, Queen Alexandrine's mother was a Russian Grand Duchess, making Alexandrine 50% German and 50% Russian (ETA: or 75% German and 25% Russian, I think, IIRC her maternal grandmother was German) but for simplicity we could let that slide )

[suztav]

Mary is 100% Scottish-English (I don’t know the specific breakdowns). If you are counting blood lines —- much like Americans, unless you are an indigenous people, you are just a citizens of Australia.

Psychologically we are certainly Americans or Australians.

[Muhler]

Fascinating!

Joachim's children are interesting as well. Henrik and Athena became more French, but Nikolai and Felix? - Chinese grandfather and Austrian grandmother...

And it's the same with the other royal families.
What ethnicity is Estelle?
Leonor?
Amalia?
Elisabeth?
George?
Ingrid? (Probably the easiest to work out.)
If we for simplicity go back to great-great-grandparents.

Denmark really hasn't had a truly ethnic Danish royal family for some 800 years at least.

- Would there be any interest in such a thread?

[valeas]

Originally Posted by Muhler

Fascinating!

Also on a personal level, because I'm married to a kind of Mary. Mrs. Muhler is adopted, so while she in every way is 110 % Danish, genetically she isn't.

Joachim's children are interesting as well. Henrik and Athena became more French, but Nikolai and Felix? - Chinese grandfather and Austrian grandmother...

And it's the same with the other royal families.
What ethnicity is Estelle?
Leonor?
Amalia?
Elisabeth?
George?
Ingrid? (Probably the easiest to work out.)
If we for simplicity go back to great-great-grandparents.

Denmark really hasn't had a truly ethnic Danish royal family for some 800 years at least.

- Would there be any interest in such a thread?

ethnicity discussion in 2021, seriously? No, please don't.
For royals themselves the house they come from is important nothing else.

[victor1319]

Originally Posted by valeas

ethnicity discussion in 2021, seriously? No, please don't.
For royals themselves the house they come from is important nothing else.

And it always were! Long ago, long before any bourgeoise national states, nobles were already mixing all across Europe, culturally and genetically!

[amaryllus]

If one of the Royal houses decided for kicks to do a 23 and me or ancestry. Com kit and tell the the results it would be interesting if only on the “commoner” parents side.

[Prinsara]

There's something ironic that the saying of George I of Greece to his children applies again: "Never forget that you are foreigners here — never let them remember it". But while some people in Greece still grumble about "that Danish family, who weren't Greek at all", I don't think Christian will ever be seen as anything other than a Dane.