Frederick VI of Denmark place of birth Christiansborg Palace
Early life
Birth and family
The future King Frederick VI was born between 10 and 11 p.m. on 28 January 1768 in the Queen's Bedchamber at Christiansborg Palace, the royal residence in central Copenhagen. Born into the House of Oldenburg, the royal house which had ruled Denmark since its foundation there in the 15th century, he was the first child born to King Christian VII and Queen Caroline Mathilde of Denmark and Norway. He was born 15 months after his parents' wedding, the day before his father's 19th birthday, and while his mother was just 16 years old. The king had shown little interest in the queen after the marriage and only reluctantly visited her in her chambers. The king's advisors had to step in, among other things with love letters written in the king's name, in an attempt to make the marriage lead to a pregnancy and thus an heir to the throne.Frederick's father had been king for two years at the time of the birth, and as the reigning king's eldest son, Frederick automatically became crown prince at birth, and thus replaced his father's half-brother, Hereditary Prince Frederick (Arveprins Frederik), as the heir to the throne. The young prince was baptised already two days after the birth on 30 January at Christiansborg Palace by Ludvig Harboe, Bishop of Zealand, and was named after his late grandfather, King Frederick V. His godparents were King Christian VII (his father), the dowager queen Juliana Maria (his step-grandmother) and his half-uncle, Hereditary Prince Frederick.
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