Jens Gunni Busck

Part of a series on Danish history, picked out of the remainder bin. I know next to nothing about Danish history, so now I know slightly more; however with this one I started in the middle. Still, Frederik VII was an interesting guy, the First Schleswig War occurred during his reign, and Denmark became a constitutional monarchy.

Frederik seems to have been a drunk, a womanizer, and an inveterate liar (for example, he claimed a hand injury was a war wound; it was actually acquired by a fishing accident). However, he also mingled freely with commoners and was very popular with the public; his acceptance of the Constitution without any fuss contributed to this. (He did insist on retaining the right to grant titles of nobility, and promptly made his long-term mistress, Louise Rasmussen, a countess. This went over very poorly with the Danish upper class and nobility, since Countess Danner was a former ballet dancer and the illegitimate daughter of a servant girl; she was studiously ignored whenever appearing in public. She and Frederick didn’t seem to mind).

The slim volume is copiously illustrated with contemporary paintings and photographs. The translation to English seems pretty smooth. I’m hoping more books in the series turn up on reaminder.… (mer)