Prince Harald of Denmark (''Harald Christian Frederik''; 8 October 1876 – 30 March 1949) was a member of the

Danish Royal Family The Danish royal family is the dynastic family of the monarch. All members of the Danish royal family except Queen Margrethe II hold the title of ''Prince/Princess of Denmark''. Dynastic children of the monarch and of the heir apparent are accor ...

. He was the third son and fourth child of Frederick VIII of Denmark and his wife,

Lovisa of Sweden Louise Josephine Eugenie of Sweden ( sv, Lovisa Josefina Eugenia; 31 October 1851 – 20 March 1926) was Queen of Denmark from 1906 until 1912 as the spouse of King Frederick VIII. Born into the House of Bernadotte, Louise was the only survi ...

, and thus brother to

Christian X of Denmark Christian X ( da, Christian Carl Frederik Albert Alexander Vilhelm; 26 September 1870 – 20 April 1947) was King of Denmark from 1912 to his death in 1947, and the only King of Iceland as Kristján X, in the form of a personal union rathe ...

and Haakon VII of Norway. The prince served in the

Royal 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 structures ...

for most of his life, and reached the rank of

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Early life

Prince Harald was born on 8 October 1876 at his parents' country residence, the

Charlottenlund Palace Charlottenlund Palace ( da, Charlottenlund Slot) is a former royal summer residence in Charlottenlund, some north of central Copenhagen, Denmark. The palace was named after Princess Charlotte Amalie, who was responsible for the construction of th ...

Gentofte Municipality Gentofte Kommune is a municipality ( Danish, '' kommune'') in the Capital Region of Denmark (''Region Hovedstaden'') on the east coast of the island of Zealand (''Sjælland'') in eastern Denmark. It covers an area of , and has a total population ...

north of

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 ...

, during the reign of his paternal grandfather,

King Christian IX 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 ...

. He was the fourth child and third son of Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark and his wife

Louise of Sweden Louise Josephine Eugenie of Sweden ( sv, Lovisa Josefina Eugenia; 31 October 1851 – 20 March 1926) was Queen of Denmark from 1906 until 1912 as the spouse of King Frederick VIII. Born into the House of Bernadotte, Louise was the only surviv ...

. His father was the eldest 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 only daughter of King Charles XV of Sweden and Norway and

Louise of the Netherlands Louise of the Netherlands (Wilhelmina Frederika Alexandrine Anna Louise; 5 August 1828 – 30 March 1871) was Queen of Sweden and Norway from 8 July 1859 until her death in 1871 as the wife of King Charles XV & IV. Youth Princess Louise was bor ...

. He was baptised with the names ''Harald Christian Frederik'', and was known as Prince Harald. Prince Harald was raised with his siblings in the royal household in Copenhagen, and grew up between his parents' city residence, the Frederick VIII's Palace, an 18th-century

palace A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...

which forms part of 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 central

, and their country residence, the

, located by the coastline of the

Øresund Øresund or Öresund (, ; da, Øresund ; sv, Öresund ), commonly known in English as the Sound, is a strait which forms the Danish–Swedish border, separating Zealand (Denmark) from Scania (Sweden). The strait has a length of ; its width ...

strait north of the city. At the age of 17, Prince Harald entered a military career as was customary for princes at the time. He later served with the Guard Hussar Regiment.

Marriage

At the age of 33, on 28 April 1909 at

Glücksburg Castle Glücksburg Castle ( German: Schloss Glücksburg, Danish: ''Lyksborg Slot'') is one of the most significant Renaissance castles in Northern Europe. The castle was the headquarters of the ducal lines of the house of Glücksburg and temporarily serv ...

in Schleswig-Holstein, Prince Harald married his

second cousin Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...

Princess Helena of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subst ...

, daughter of Frederick Ferdinand, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and

Princess Karoline Mathilde of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg , title = Duchess of Schleswig-Holstein , house = Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg , spouse = , issue = Victoria Adelaide, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Alexandra Victoria, Princess August Wilhelm of P ...

. After their marriage, Prince Harald and Princess Helena lived at the Jægersborghus

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

north of

which Prince Harald had purchased in 1907. Here their five children were born between 1910 and 1923.

Later life

Like other members of the Danish royal family, his economic situation was influenced by the failure of

Den Danske Landmandsbank Danske Bank A/S is a Danish multinational banking and financial services corporation. Headquartered in Copenhagen, it is the largest bank in Denmark and a major retail bank in the northern European region with over 5 million retail customers. ...

in 1923. Until 1935, however, he and his family were able to stay at Jægersborghus but then moved to a villa in the northern part of Copenhagen. At the age of 50, Prince Harald retired from active service with the rank of

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

. In 1933, however, his brother

King Christian X Christian X ( da, Christian Carl Frederik Albert Alexander Vilhelm; 26 September 1870 – 20 April 1947) was King of Denmark from 1912 to his death in 1947, and the only King of Iceland as Kristján X, in the form of a personal union rath ...

appointed him

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Princess Helena became very unpopular because of her sympathy for the

German occupation of Denmark At the outset of World War II in September 1939, Denmark declared itself neutral. For most of the war, the country was a protectorate and then an occupied territory of Germany. The decision to occupy Denmark was taken in Berlin on 17 December ...

and the

Nazi party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

. Because of this, she was reportedly not on speaking terms with her sons. After the war, Princess Helena was not brought to trial, being a member of the royal family who did not wish any publicity on the matter, but was exiled from Denmark 30 May 1945 and placed under house arrest at the

in Germany. She was allowed to return to Denmark in 1947, when Prince Harald fell gravely ill. She stayed with her spouse until his death two years later. Prince Harald died on 30 March 1949 in

. He was buried at

Roskilde Cathedral Roskilde Cathedral ( da, Roskilde Domkirke), in the city of Roskilde on the island of Zealand (Denmark), Zealand (''Sjælland'') in eastern Denmark, is a cathedral of the Lutheranism, Lutheran Church of Denmark. The cathedral is the most importan ...

. Princess Helena survived her husband by 13 years and died on 30 June 1962.

Honours

National decorations * RE –

Knight of the Elephant The Order of the Elephant ( da, Elefantordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry and is Denmark's highest-ranked honour. It has origins in the 15th century, but has officially existed since 1693, and since the establishment of constitutional ...

, ''28 July 1894'' * DM –

Cross of Honour of the Order of the Dannebrog A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...

, ''28 July 1894'' * SK – Grand Cross of the Dannebrog, ''8 October 1917'' * GbET – Commemorative Medal for the Golden Wedding of King Christian IX and Queen Louise * MM 8 April 1918 – King Christian IX Centenary Medal Foreign decorations * : Grand Cordon of the Royal Order of Leopold * : Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour * German Imperial and Royal Family: ** Knight of the Black Eagle ** Grand Cross of the Red Eagle **

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label= Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schweri ...

: Grand Cross of the Wendish Crown, with Crown in Ore ** : Grand Cross of the Order of Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig, with Golden Crown *

Greek Royal Family The Greek royal family (Greek: Ελληνική Βασιλική Οικογένεια) is a branch of the Danish royal family, itself a branch of the House of Glücksburg, that reigned in Greece from 1863 to 1924 and again from 1935 to 1973. It ...

: Grand Cross of the Redeemer * : ** Grand Cross of St. Olav, with Collar, ''22 June 1906'' ** Commemorative Medal for the Coronation of King Haakon VII and Queen Maud * : ** Knight of the Seraphim, ''27 August 1897'' ** Knight of the

Order of Charles XIII The Royal Order of Charles XIII ( sv, Kungliga Carl XIII:s orden) is a Swedish order of merit, founded by King Charles XIII in 1811. Membership The Lord and Master of the Order is the King of Sweden, currently King Carl XVI Gustaf. Membership o ...

, ''1927'' * : Grand Cordon of the Order of Chula Chom Klao * : GCVO – Honorary Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, ''11 October 1901''

Issue

Harald and Helena had five children:

Ancestry

References

Citations

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harald of Denmark, Prince 1876 births 1949 deaths Burials at Roskilde Cathedral House of Glücksburg (Denmark) Danish princes Sons of kings Danish Freemasons Grand Crosses of the Order of the Dannebrog Recipients of the Cross of Honour of the Order of the Dannebrog Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur Knights of the Order of Charles XIII Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order