Maud, Princess of Wales, Queen of Norway
Maud, Princess of Wales
The youngest child of King Edward VII and his Danish-born wife Alexandra, who were at the time the Prince and Princess of Wales, Princess Maud Charlotte Mary Victoria of Wales was born.
On November 26, 1869, she was born in her parents' vivacious London home, Marlborough House. On Christmas Eve of the same year, she was christened. She had multiple duchesses, princes, tsars, and kings as her godparents, as was traditional. Her maternal grandparents were the king and queen of Denmark, and her paternal grandmother was Queen Victoria.
Albert Victor, George, Louise, and Victoria were Maud's older siblings; the five of them were collectively referred to as the Wales'. In April 1871, their younger brother Alexander John was born and passed away during a two-day period. In 1910, George was crowned King George V.
Prince Carl of Denmark, first cousin
The children from Wales were noted for being loud, active, and unrepentant in their behaviour. To the horror of Queen Victoria, who much favoured the idea of children being seen but not heard, their parents encouraged their enthusiastic play. The family gave Maud, a tomboy who was frequently the loudest member of the group, the moniker Harry in honour of renowned admiral Henry "Harry" Keppel, grandson of the 4th Earl of Albemarle. Alice Keppel, the daughter-in-law of William Keppel, the 7th Earl of Albemarle, and King Edward VII later had a relationship.
A 21-year-old woman named Maud is said to have started a stir in 1891 by smoking in broad daylight. Some of the elder ladies-in-waiting fainted at the apparent etiquette faux pas because she was an unmarried woman. Maud was aware that she would cause a commotion, but she didn't care.
The Wales family visited Denmark frequently, and they were raised knowing their cousins who were Danish. This included Prince Carl of Denmark, the second son of King Frederick VIII, her first cousin. He was three years her senior, and by the 1890s, he was pursuing a career in the navy. Their engagement was declared to be a match for love in late October 1895.
Sandringham's Appleton House
On July 22, 1896, Carl and Maud were married in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace. Maud wore a white satin gown with grey embroidery, and Queen Victoria gave her a lace veil.
Appleton House, a sizable brick building on the Sandringham estate that had previously been occupied by a problematic tenant named Louisa "Louise" Cresswell who called herself "The Lady Farmer," was given to Maud by her father as a wedding present. Despite the fact that her landlord was the future king, Mrs. Cresswell forbade him from hunting on her farm.
The newlyweds spent their honeymoon and the five months after their nuptials at Appleton House. Maud didn't finally sever ties with her family and home in England until around Christmas 1896 because she was so hesitant to move to Denmark for an unproven life.
Denmark and England's Separate Royal Lives
The 18th-century Bernsdorff Palace outside of Copenhagen served as Carl and Maud's residence in Denmark; it is now a hotel. As Maud adapted to her new life, Carl, a First Lieutenant since 1894, began his naval career. She had a passion for both fashion and interior design. Prince Alexander of Denmark, the couple's lone child, was born at Appleton House on July 2, 1903.
She detested the chilly winters in Denmark and quickly established a routine of staying to Appleton House each winter. During the summer months, she also travelled to England frequently. Her heart still belonged to Appleton House and Sandringham.
King Haakon VII and Norwegian Queen Maud
The political union between Sweden and Norway was broken in 1905. While a replacement king or queen for Norway was sought from among the royal families of Europe, the Bernadotte dynasty continued to rule in Sweden.
Because Prince Carl was strongly connected to foreign royal houses, was the son of a king and the son-in-law of King Edward VII (Edward succeeded to the British throne in January 1901), and was of Norwegian descent, he was contacted about becoming king. According to a referendum, he had the support of 79 percent of Norwegians.
Little Alexander became Crown Prince Olav of Norway, while Maud, Carl's queen consort, kept her name and decided to rule as Haakon VII. On June 22, 1906, they were crowned at Trondheim's Nidaros Cathedral. Their ancestry is still present.