Louise of Hesse-Kassel

Louise of Hesse-Kassel (Kassel, 7 September 1817 - Bernstorff, 29 September 1898) was Queen consort of Denmark from 15 November 1863, as the wife of Christian IX. She is remembered above all for her role in the dynastic politics of late nineteenth-century Europe, but painting and music were among her interests. She produced paintings of her own, some of which were exhibited and given as gifts to members of other royal houses, and she acted as a patron of artists such as Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann. The available sources offer few details about her painted work.

She grew up in Copenhagen, where her family, of German origin, had a residence, and received the princely education typical of her station alongside her three sisters and a brother. Her education included a broad Danish training for girls. Her record lists Wilhelm Marstrand, Martinus Rørbye, Niels Simonsen, Johan Laurentz Jensen and Heinrich Christian August Buntzen as her teachers, all of them figures in the Danish art world of their time. The sources do not specify the nature or length of these contacts, so they should be read as associations rather than a documented, step-by-step training.

Her marriage in 1842 to her second cousin, Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, tied her to the Danish succession dispute. After renunciations by her family and international confirmations in 1852 and 1853, the couple were recognised as heirs to the Danish crown, and the accession of 1863 made her queen. As sovereign she lived a secluded life, took no part in affairs of state and focused her efforts on arranging marriages for her children. These alliances connected the Danish dynasty with Britain, Russia, Sweden and Greece, and earned her the nickname "Mother-in-law of Europe". Her annual family gatherings at Bernstorff and Fredensborg made her a popular symbol of family life.

In charitable work she founded institutions such as the Louisestiftelsen in 1857, an orphanage for girls preparing them for a future as domestic servants, and the Diakonissestiftelsen in 1863, which introduced the deaconess profession to Denmark. She came to support 26 charitable organisations. Her outlook was deeply conservative, and her social work has been interpreted as a response to fear of socialism and the growing labour movement. In her last years she became deaf and was cared for by two deaconesses from the institution she had founded. She reigned for 35 years, died in 1898 and was buried in Roskilde Cathedral.