Frederick VII of Denmark
On July 31, 1853, Frederick VII of Denmark gave his assent to a law settling the crown on Prince Christian, prince of Denmark, and his male heirs. The protocol of London, while consecrating the principle of the integrity of Denmark, stipulated that the rights of the German Confederation in Holstein and Lauenburg should remain unaffected. It was, in fact, a compromise, and left the fundamental issues unsettled. The German Federal Assembly had not been represented in London, and the terms of the protocol were regarded in German states as a humiliation. As for the Danes, they were far from being satisfied with the settlement, which they approved only insofar as it gave them a basis for a more vigorous prosecution of their unionist schemes.