by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2015
Count Christian of Rosenborg and his wife Countess Anne Dorte; Credit – http://danishroyalmediawatch.blogspot.com
Count Christian of Rosenborg (Christian Frederik Franz Knud Harald Carl Oluf Gustav Georg Erik) was born a Prince of Denmark on October 22, 1942, at Sorgenfri Palace in Lyngby, Denmark, north of Copenhagen. He was the younger son and the youngest of the three children of Prince Knud of Denmark (son of King Christian X) and Princess Caroline-Mathilde of Denmark (daughter of Prince Harald of Denmark who was a son of King Frederik VIII). Christian had an elder sister and an elder brother:
- Princess Elisabeth (1935 – 2018), unmarried
- Prince Ingolf (born 1940), married (1) Inge Terney without consent, lost his royal title, became His Excellency Count Ingolf of Rosenborg, married (2) Sussie Hjorhøy Pedersen
Christian served as an officer in the Royal Danish Navy. Upon his retirement in 2006, after 40 years of service, he was officially adopted as the commander of the Danish Greenland Patrol with the rank of Lieutenant Commander.
The Danish Act of Succession of 1953 allowed a woman to inherit the Danish throne if she had no brothers. Before this Christian was third in the line of succession to the Danish throne after his father Prince Knud and his elder brother Prince Ingolf. Now they were all bumped down three places as the three daughters of King Frederik IX were numbers one through three. In 1972, King Frederik IX’s eldest daughter succeeded him as Queen Margrethe II, and in 2009 the succession law was changed to allow for the succession of the firstborn child regardless of gender.
On February 27, 1971, Christian married Anne Dorte Maltoft-Nielsen (1947 – 2014). Just like his brother Ingolf did three years previously, Christian did not seek the permission of King Frederik IX to marry. Therefore he forfeited his succession rights and lost his royal title. After his wedding, he was styled His Excellency Count Christian of Rosenborg. For a history of the title Count of Rosenborg, see Unofficial Royalty: The Danish Counts of Rosenborg. Count Christian and Countess Anne Dorte lived in a wing of the Sorgenfri Palace in Lyngby near Copenhagen.
The couple had three daughters who are not in the Danish line of succession:
- Josephine Caroline Elisabeth af Rosenborg (born October 29, 1972), married Thomas Christian Schmidt, had issue
- Camilla Alexandrine Cristine af Rosenborg (born October 29, 1972), married Mikael Rosanes, had issue
- Feodora Mathilde Helena af Rosenborg (born February 27, 1975), (1) married and divorced Eric Patte, no issue, (2) married Morten Rønnow, had issue
Count Christian of Rosenborg died at Gentofte Hospital in Gentofte, Denmark on May 21, 2013, at the age of 70. He had been suffering from throat cancer since 2009. His funeral was attended by his first cousin Queen Margrethe II and other members of the Danish Royal Family. Christian was buried at Lyngby Church in Lyngby, Denmark. His wife Countess Anne Dorte survived him for only seven months also dying from throat cancer on January 2, 2014, at the age of 66, and was buried with her husband.
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