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Christian VIII (September 18, 1786 – January 20, 1848), king of Denmark and Norway, the eldest son of the crown prince Frederick and Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, was born in 1786 at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen.
He inherited the talents of his highly gifted mother, and his amiability and handsome features made him very popular in Copenhagen. His unfortunate first marriage with his cousin Charlotte Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was dissolved in 1810.
In May 1813 he was sent as stadtholder to Norway to promote the loyalty of the Norwegians to the dynasty, which had been very rudely shaken by the disastrous results of Frederik VI's adhesion to the falling fortunes of Napoleon. He did all he could personally to strengthen the bonds between the Norwegians and the royal house of Denmark. Though his endeavours were opposed by the so-called Swedish party, which desired a dynastic union with Sweden, he placed himself at the head of the Norwegian party of independence after the treaty of Kiel had forced the king to cede Norway to the king of Sweden. He was elected regent of Norway by an assembly of notables on February 16, 1814.
This election was confirmed by a constitutional assembly convoked at Eidsvold on April 10, and on May 17 the constitution was signed and Christian Frederik was unanimously elected king of Norway.
Christian next attempted to interest the great powers in Norway's cause, but without success. On being pressed by the commissioners of the allied powers to bring about a union between Norway and Sweden in accordance with the terms of the treaty of Kiel, and then return to Denmark, he replied that, as a constitutional king, he could do nothing without the consent of the parliament (Storting), which would not be convoked until a suspension of hostilities on the part of Sweden. Sweden refusing Christian's conditions, a short campaign ensued, in which the Norwegian army was easily defeated by the superior skill and forces of the Swedish crown prince Bernadotte. The brief war was finally concluded by the Convention of Moss on August 14, 1814. According to this treaty, king Christian Frederik transferred the executive power to the Storting, and then abdicated and returned to Denmark. The Storting in its turn adopted the constitutional amendments necessary to allow for a personal union with Sweden, and on November 4 elected the king of Sweden as the new king of Norway.
Henceforth Christian's suspected democratic principles made him persona ingratissima at all the reactionary European courts, his own court included. He and his second wife, Caroline Amalia of Augustenburg, whom he married in 1815, lived in comparative retirement as the leaders of the literary and scientific society of Copenhagen.
It was not until 1831 that old King Frederick gave him a seat in the council of state. On December 13, 1839 he ascended the Danish throne as Christian VIII. The Liberal party had high hopes of “the giver of constitutions,” but he disappointed his admirers by steadily rejecting every Liberal project. Administrative reform was the only reform he would promise.
He died of blood-poisoning in 1848.
He continued his predecessor's patronage of astronomy, awarding gold medals for the discovery of comets by telescope, and financially supporting Heinrich Christian Schumacher with his publication of the scientific journal Astronomische Nachrichten.
This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.
Obituary (astronomy)
- MNRAS 8 (1848) 62 (http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/MNRAS/0008//0000062.000.html)
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