Prince Aage, Count of Rosenborg, (Aage Christian Alexander Robert; 10 June 1887 – 19 February 1940) was a Danish prince and officer of the

French Foreign Legion The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, Armoured Cavalry Arm, cavalry, Military engineering, engineers, Airborne forces, airborne troops. It was created ...

. 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 ...

the eldest child and son of

Prince Valdemar of Denmark Prince Valdemar of Denmark (27 October 1858 – 14 January 1939) was a member of the Danish royal family. He was the third son and youngest child of Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Kassel. He had a lifelong naval career. Early l ...

and Princess Marie d'Orléans.

Early life

Prince Aage was born on 10 June 1887, in the Yellow Palace, an 18th-century town house at 18 Amaliegade, immediately adjacent to the

Amalienborg Palace Amalienborg () is the official residence for the Danish royal family, and is located in Copenhagen, Denmark. Queen Magrethe ll lives here in winter and autumn. It consists of four identical classical palace façades with rococo interiors arou ...

complex in

. He was the first child of

, and his wife Princess Marie of Orléans. His father was a younger son of

King Christian IX of Denmark Christian IX (8 April 181829 January 1906) was King of Denmark from 1863 until his death in 1906. From 1863 to 1864, he was concurrently Duke of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg. A younger son of Frederick William, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein ...

and

Louise of Hesse-Kassel da, Louise Wilhelmine Frederikke Caroline Auguste Julie , succession = Queen consort of Denmark , image = Louise of Hesse-Kassel.jpg , reign = 15 November 1863 – 29 September 1898 , spouse = , issue = , house = ...

, and his mother was the eldest daughter of

Prince Robert, Duke of Chartres Prince Robert, Duke of Chartres (Robert Philippe Louis Eugène Ferdinand; 9 November 1840 – 5 December 1910), was the son of Prince Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans, and thus grandson of King Louis-Philippe of France. He fought for the Unio ...

and Princess Françoise of Orléans. He was baptised with the names ''Aage Christian Alexander Robert'', and was known as Prince Aage. Prince Aage and his

sibling A sibling is a relative that shares at least one parent with the subject. A male sibling is a brother and a female sibling is a sister. A person with no siblings is an only child. While some circumstances can cause siblings to be raised separa ...

s grew up at the Yellow Palace in Copenhagen and at their parent's summer residence

Bernstorff Palace Bernstorff Palace ( da, Bernstorff Slot) in Gentofte, Copenhagen, Denmark, was built in the middle of the 18th century for Foreign Minister Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff. It remained in the possession of the Bernstorff family until 1 ...

Gentofte Gentofte () is a district of Gentofte Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. Major landmarks include Gentofte Town Hall, Gentofte Hospital and Gentofte Church. Gentofte Lake with surrounding parkland and nature reserves form ...

north of

Romance and marriage

Prince Aage carried on a passionate

flirtation Flirting or coquetry is a Social behavior, social and Human sexual activity, sexual behavior involving spoken or written communication, as well as body language. It is either to suggest interest in a deeper relationship with the other person o ...

with

Princess Marie Bonaparte Princess Marie Bonaparte (2 July 1882 – 21 September 1962), known as Princess George of Greece and Denmark upon her marriage, was a French author and psychoanalyst, closely linked with Sigmund Freud. Her wealth contributed to the popularity o ...

, the wife of his cousin

Prince George of Greece and Denmark Prince George of Greece and Denmark ( el, Γεώργιος; 24 June 1869 – 25 November 1957) was the second son and child of George I of Greece and Olga Konstantinovna of Russia, and is remembered chiefly for having once saved the life of hi ...

, who had also enjoyed intimacies with his father. In neither case does it appear that Prince George objected, or felt obliged to give the matter any attention. In 1909 Prince Aage joined the

Danish Army The Royal Danish Army ( da, Hæren, fo, Herurin, kl, Sakkutuut) is the land-based branch of the Danish Defence, together with the Danish Home Guard. For the last decade, the Royal Danish Army has undergone a massive transformation of structur ...

, and by 1913 had risen to the rank of

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he served as an

observer An observer is one who engages in observation or in watching an experiment. Observer may also refer to: Computer science and information theory * In information theory, any system which receives information from an object * State observer in co ...

in Italy for a year. Returning home to Denmark he was promoted to captain. Without the legally required permission of the Danish king, Aage married Matilda Calvi ''dei conti di Bergolo'' (

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, 17 September 1885 –

, 16 October 1949), daughter of Carlo Giorgio Lorenzo Calvi, 5th

Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

di Bergolo by his wife Baroness Anna Guidobono Calvalchini Roero San Severino, in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

on 1 February 1914. A few days later, he renounced his place in the

line of succession to the Danish throne The Danish Act of Succession, adopted on 5 June 1953, restricts the throne to those descended from Christian X and his wife, Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, through approved marriages. Succession is by a change in the law in 2009 governed by ...

, forfeiting the title "Prince of Denmark" and the

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

of ''

Royal Highness Royal Highness is a style used to address or refer to some members of royal families, usually princes or princesses. Monarchs and their consorts are usually styled ''Majesty''. When used as a direct form of address, spoken or written, it t ...

'' (the latter having only been granted to him and his brothers by the king on 5 February 1904).''Almanach de Gotha'' (Gotha:

Justus Perthes Johann Georg Justus Perthes (11 September 1749, Rudolstadt, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt – 2 May 1816, Gotha, Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg) was a German publisher and founder of the publishing house that bears his name. Life He was born in the Thuringian t ...

, 1944), pages 43, 529 With the king's authorisation, he assumed the title "Prince Aage, ''Greve af'' (Count of) ''Rosenborg''" and the style of ''Highness'' on 5 February 1914. Although the

comital Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

title in the

Danish nobility Danish nobility is a social class and a former estate in the Kingdom of Denmark. The nobility has official recognition in Denmark, a monarchy. Its legal privileges were abolished with the constitution of 1849. Some of the families still own and ...

was made hereditary for all of his legitimate descendants in the

male line Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritan ...

with the rank and precedence (above other counts) of a ''

Lensgreve Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

'', use of the princely prefix was restricted to himself and his wife alone. Aage and Mathilde had one son: *Valdemar Alexander Georg Luigi Maria, Count of Rosenborg (Turin, 3 January 1915 –

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, 1 April 1995) he married Baroness Marie-Josephe Floria d'Huart Saint-Mauris on 20 April 1949. Prince Aage was among the people considered for the position of

King of Finland This is a list of monarchs and heads of state of Finland; that is, the kings of Sweden with regents and viceroys of the Kalmar Union, the grand dukes of Finland, a title used by most Swedish monarchs, up to the two-year regency following the inde ...

in 1918. In the early 1920s he mentioned to

Gustaf Idman Karl Gustaf Idman (1 December 1885 in Tampere – 13 April 1961 in Helsinki) was a Finnish diplomat and a non-partisan Minister of Foreign Affairs in Antti Tulenheimo's cabinet in 1925. Idman completed a law doctorate in 1914 and worked in He ...

, the Finnish ambassador to Denmark, that upon visiting Copenhagen in September 1918, Finnish General

Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (, ; 4 June 1867 – 27 January 1951) was a Finnish military leader and statesman. He served as the military leader of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War of 1918, as Regent of Finland (1918–1919), as comma ...

had inquired about his willingness to accept the Finnish crown, should it be offered to him. According to Idman, he was willing to accept the offer.

Foreign Legion

In 1922, Aage received permission from the King, as required by Danish law, to leave the Danish army in order to join the

. After negotiations between the Danish and the French governments Prince Aage entered the Foreign Legion with the rank of captain. He was sent to

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

as part of the French involvement in the

Rif War The Rif War () was an armed conflict fought from 1921 to 1926 between Spain (joined by France in 1924) and the Berber tribes of the mountainous Rif region of northern Morocco. Led by Abd el-Krim, the Riffians at first inflicted several de ...

within a year of service. He received the '' Croix de Guerre'' after being shot in the left leg. During his seventeen years in the Foreign Legion Prince Aage attained the rank of lieutenant colonel, and also received France's highest order, the ''

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

''. In 1927 he published the book ''A Royal Adventurer in the Foreign Legion'' in English about his time in the Foreign Legion.

Death

Prince Aage died of

pleurisy Pleurisy, also known as pleuritis, is inflammation of the membranes that surround the lungs and line the chest cavity ( pleurae). This can result in a sharp chest pain while breathing. Occasionally the pain may be a constant dull ache. Other sy ...

in Taza, Morocco, in 1940, and was buried at the French Foreign Legion's headquarters at

Sidi Bel Abbès Sidi Bel Abbès ( ar, سيدي بلعباس), also called Bel Abbès, is the capital (2005 pop. 200,000)''Sidi Bel Abbes'', lexicorient.com (Encyclopaedia of the Orient), internet article. of the Sidi Bel Abbès wilaya (2005 pop. 590,000), Alger ...

, Algeria. Before the Foreign Legion left Algeria in 1962, it was decided that the remains of three selected soldiers should be buried near the new headquarters of the Foreign Legion at

Aubagne Aubagne (, ''Aubanha'' in Occitan according to the classic norm or ''Aubagno'' according to the Mistralian norm) is a commune in the southern French department of Bouches-du-Rhône. In 2018, it had a population of 47,208. Its inhabitants are k ...

in southern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. The remains of Prince Aage were selected as the representation of the foreign officers in the Foreign Legion. His remains now lie next to those of ''Général'' Paul-Frédéric Rollet (known as the Father of the Legion) and ''Légionnaire'' Zimmermann in the town of Puyloubier, France.

Honours

He received the following orders and decorations:

Ancestors

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aage Of Denmark, Prince 1887 births 1940 deaths Officers of the French Foreign Legion People of the Rif War Danish princes House of Glücksburg (Denmark) Counts of Rosenborg Disinherited European royalty Danish military officers Recipients of the Cross of Honour of the Order of the Dannebrog Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Recipients of the Croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieures Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order