p. 11 | THE KING OF DENMARK by W. E. Curtis

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 28, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 22.

THE KING OF DENMARK.

By W. E. Curtis

[W. E. Curtis, in Chicago Record Herald.]

KING CHRISTIAN of Denmark is called “the father-in-law of Europe,” because his children and grandchildren occupy and will inherit so many thrones. He has six sons and daughters. Frederick, his first-born, the crown prince of Denmark, married the daughter of the king of Sweden and Norway; Alexandra, the eldest daughter, is queen of England; George, his second son, is king of Greece and married Olga, the cousin of the czar of Russia; Dagmar, the second daughter, was the wife of Alexander III. of Russia, and is now dowager czarina of that empire; Thyra, the third daughter, is the wife of the Duke of Cumberland and Brunswick, heir to the throne of those kingdoms, which he would already occupy had it not been for the objections of the late Prince Bismarck; Waldemar, the youngest of the Danish princes, married Marie, daughter of the Duke of Orleans, pretender to the throne of France. No such combination of royalties ever centered before in a single family.

Christian, the grandson of the king and heir apparent to the Danish throne, married the Princess Alexandrine of Germany, and they have a son, Frederick, who was born two years ago last March. Charles, another grandson, is the husband of the Princess Maud of Wales, daughter of the King of England. Charlotte, a granddaughter, is the wife of Prince Carl of Sweden, and there are five grandchildren unmarried.

King Christian is also famous for the simplicity of his life, his democratic manner, his physical vigor, and his great age. He is now eighty-four years old. His golden wedding was celebrated in 1892. His wife, the late Queen Louise, died in September, 1898, at the age of eighty-one, and altho her loss affected him deeply, he is perhaps still the most vigorous old man in Europe, without a pain or an ache, and with very few gray hairs. The other day he said to his valet, who offered to assist him in dressing,—

“When I grow old, you may help me; but as yet, thank God, I am able to help myself.”