Christian Conrad Sophus, Count Danneskiold-Samsøe (29 August 1836 - 1 November 1908), normally referred to as Christian Danneskiold-Samsøe, was member of the Danish comital family

Danneskiold-Samsøe The House of Danneskiold-Samsøe is a Danish family of high nobility associated with the Danish Royal Family, and who formerly held the island of Samsø as a fief. By royal statutory regulation, the Counts Danneskiold-Samsøe and their male-lin ...

, landowner and administrative leader of the Royal Danish Theatre.

Early life and education

He was born in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

as the son of Postmaster-General Sophus Danneskiold-Samsøe and Frederikke Marie Danneskiold-Samsøe née Levetzow. He completed secondary school in 1855 and became cand. polit. from the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...

in 1861.

Career

He headed the court of crown prince Frederik (Frederik VIII) in 1869-76. He was largely unknown by the general public when he succeeded Edvard Fallesen as head of the Royal Danish Theatre in August 1904. His appointment was met with skepticism but he soon gained recognition for his work with restoring the economy of the theatre.

Property

His wife brought Annerup and

Christiansholm Christiansholm is a municipality in the district of Rendsburg-Eckernförde, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous countr ...

into the marriage, transferring ownership of both properties ton him in collection with the marriage. The two properties were sold in 1874 and 1900. In 1894, he succeeded his father as the owner of Nordfeld, Ålebækgård and Klosterskov on

Møn Møn () is an island in south-eastern Denmark. Until 1 January 2007, it was a municipality in its own right but it is now part of the municipality of Vordingborg, after merging with the former municipalities of Langebæk, Præstø, and Vordingbo ...

Personal life

He married Wanda Sophie Elisabeth Candia Zahrtmann (12 August 1842 - 27 April 1916) on 22 January 1863. She was a daughter of captain and later vice admiral and naval minister C. C. Zahrtmann and a cousin of the painter

Kristian Zahrtmann Peder Henrik Kristian Zahrtmann, known as Kristian Zahrtmann, (31 March 1843 – 22 June 1917) was a Denmark, Danish Painting, painter. He was a part of the Danish artistic generation in the late 19th century, along with Peder Severin Krøyer and ...

. They had six children: * Christian Valdemar Danneskiold-Samsøe (16 February 1864 - 14 March 1931) * Frederikke Sophie Elisabeth Danneskiold-Samsøe (26 June 1865 - 8 July 1949) * Elisabeth Danneskiold-Samsøe (28 October 1866 - 1950) * Ove Danneskiold-Samsøe (22 December 1867 - 8 April 1947) * Viggo Danneskiold-Samsøe (29 May 1874 - 24 January 1936) * Knud Danneskiold-Samsøe (26 June 1876 - 22 July 1957)

Honours

References

Danish counts 19th-century Danish landowners 20th-century Danish landowners Danish arts administrators University of Copenhagen alumni 1836 births 1908 deaths Danish Freemasons Danneskiold-Samsøe family Danish nobility Recipients of the Cross of Honour of the Order of the Dannebrog Grand Crosses of the Order of the Dannebrog Grand Crosses of the Order of Christ (Portugal) Commanders Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star Knights of the Order of Charles XIII Honorary Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order {{Denmark-bio-stub