Frederick VI of Denmark

Born at Christiansborg Palace on 28 January 1768, Frederick was the only son of Christian VII and Caroline Mathilde. When his father's mental illness made rule impossible, Frederick became Crown Prince Regent in 1784 at sixteen. During those regent years he ended stavnsbånd (the binding of peasants to land), withdrew Denmark-Norway from the transatlantic slave trade, and survived two British bombardments of Copenhagen in 1801 and 1807. He took the throne formally on 13 March 1808, choosing the Danish motto "God and the just cause" instead of customary Latin. The Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna stripped him of Norway on 7 February 1814, ending the centuries-old union. He spent his remaining reign funding astronomy, introducing primary schools, establishing Assemblies of Estate, and granting full civil rights to Jews, while Denmark struggled through economic depression. Married to Marie Sophie - with whom he had eight children, only two daughters surviving - he was also the last Danish king to keep an official mistress, Frederikke Dannemand, with whom he had five more. He died 3 December 1839, succeeded by his half-cousin Christian.