The death of King Harald V of Norway at the age of 89 on Friday has put the spotlight on one of Europe’s oldest royal dynasties: the House of Glücksburg.
The name may not be widely known outside of royal circles, but its family tree reaches into the royal houses of Greece, Russia and Spain - and the dynasty still reigns today in Denmark and Norway.
The dynasty takes its name from the town of Glücksburg in northern Germany, where the family’s castle still stands today. It emerged as a branch of the House of Oldenburg, one of Europe’s historic ruling dynasties, which ruled Denmark from 1448 to 1863.
For much of the 19th century, the Glücksburg branch was a relatively obscure German-Danish ducal family, based at Glücksburg Castle on the Flensburg Fjord.
However, when Denmark’s King Frederik VII died childless in 1863, the centuries-old Oldenburg line came to an end. The succession had already been settled in the years before his death, with Prince Christian of Glücksburg designated as his successor.
A relatively obscure prince was suddenly set to become King Christian IX of Denmark - the beginning of a royal dynasty whose descendants would eventually sit on thrones across Europe.
As a minor branch of the House of Oldenberg, the throne passed to the House of Glücksburg and Christian of Glücksburg became King Christian IX of Denmark.
It’s through Christian IX that the family established itself in royal families across the continent.
Christian IX fathered six children and four of his offspring sat on the throne, either as monarchs or consorts, due to marriages with other royal families.
However, the mastermind of the family’s dynastic success, is widely attributed not to Christian IX, but to his ambitious wife Louise of Hesse-Kassel.
Christian's grandsons included Nicholas II of Russia, Constantine I of Greece, George V of the United Kingdom, Christian X of Denmark, and Haakon VII of Norway.
Today the House of Glücksburg still finds its lineage in two thrones: Norway and Denmark. King Haakon succeeded his father as King of Norway upon his death on Friday, while King Frederik X sits on the throne in Denmark.
The house’s ties to the Greek monarchy ended in the early 1970s when the country abolished the monarchy. Russia’s Glücksburg-descended branch finished earlier with the 1918 execution of Tsar Nicholas II and the fall of the Romanovs.
The United Kingdom’s King Charles III is linked genetically to the lineage through his father Prince Philip. However, his mother Queen Elizabeth II legally severed any dynastic link in the 1960s by declaring that her children would belong to the House of Windsor.
The current head of the House of Glücksburg is not a monarch at all. Ferdinand, Prince of Schleswig-Holstein, 41, is a successful businessman in Germany.
Mail sorting centres used by Nova Poshta, Ukraine's largest private postal company, were destroyed&nbs...
Iran is setting conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, including an end to the war, the lifting of the U.S. blockade and sanctions. At the ...
The death of King Harald V of Norway at the age of 89 on Friday has put the spotlight on one of Europe’s oldest...
Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has dismissed media reports that CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Moscow earlier this week to warn Russia against attacking NATO, dismissing them as "scare stories," which had nothing to do with reality.
Rescuers in Nepal used helicopters on Thursday to scour for hundreds still missing after a wall of mud and rock collapsed into a river on the Himalayan border with China's Tibet, sending catastrophic floods through towns and valleys, killing 162 people.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told allied foreign ministers Washington will focus on sanctions and other pressure on Iran “for the time being”, Axios reports. Meanwhile, Iran and Oman have resumed talks on a temporary shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has called for greater economic cooperation among Muslim countries, saying their combined economic weight remains disproportionately small compared with their population, strategic location and resources.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged 10 prisoners of war each in Belarus, Moscow's Human Rights Commissioner, Yana Lantratova, has said.
Mail sorting centres used by Nova Poshta, Ukraine's largest private postal company, were destroyed in Russian strikes overnight, the firm said. Elsewhere, four people were injured after drones struck an apartment building in Sevastopol, Crimea, according to the Moscow-installed governor.
Iran is setting conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, including an end to the war, the lifting of the U.S. blockade and sanctions. At the same time, Washington is stepping up economic pressure on Tehran through what the White House calls “Operation Economic Outcast.”
Pakistan is treading carefully as Washington tightens the economic squeeze on Iran, caught between a neighbour with which it is expanding trade and a country whose financial system remains vital to its economy.
Norway’s King Harald V has died at the age of 89, bringing to an end a 35-year reign during which he became one of the country’s most popular and enduring public figures.
South Korea, Japan and the U.S. are set to hold joint military drills from 9-11 September, to test their readiness against North Korea's missile and nuclear threats, Seoul announced on Friday.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment