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An uncle, his nephew, and a ménage à trois
Valdemar of Denmark was the youngest son of the “Grandfather of Europe”, King Christian IX of Denmark. Christian IX was an impoverished scion of the ruling family of Denmark and a prince of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. His wife was the first cousin of the Danish king and when the mainline died, Christian was chosen as the new ruler of Denmark based on their combined claims to the throne.
While Christian was relatively impoverished compared to the other rulers of Europe, he secured advantageous marriages for his children that increased his prestige and power. Valdemar’s elder siblings became the King of Denmark, the King of Greece, the Queen of the United Kingdom, the Empress of Russia, and the Queen of Hanover. Unique amongst his siblings, Valdemar had a career as a naval officer, rather than a throne.
Valdemar, who was raised in the Danish Lutheran Church, married Marie d’Orléans, a French, Catholic princess who came from the former French royal house. Historians say this marriage was a love match, which given their divergent religious backgrounds and Marie’s lack of social standing as a member of a nonruling house, may be…
