Frederick VI of Denmark - Regent of Denmark

Regent of Denmark

Frederick's parents were King Christian VII and Caroline Matilda of Wales. He was born after 15 months of marriage, just a day before his father's 19th birthday, when his mother Caroline Mathilde was 16. His father suffered from serious psychological problems, including suspected schizophrenia expressed by catatonic periods that resulted in his standing down from power for most of his reign. On 8 January 1772, his 18-year-old half-uncle Hereditary Prince Frederick (father of Christian VIII of Denmark) was made regent, although the real power was held by the Regent's mother and Frederick's step-grandmother, the Queen dowager Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, who was aided by Ove Høegh-Guldberg. Finally, on 14 April 1784, the crown prince was declared of legal majority, and in a coup, took the Regency from his half-uncle. He continued as Regent of Denmark under his father's name until the latter's death in 1808.

During the regency, Frederick instituted widespread liberal reforms with the assistance of Chief Minister Andreas Peter Bernstorff, including the abolition of serfdom in 1788. Crises encountered during his reign include disagreement with the British over neutral shipping. This resulted in two British attacks on Copenhagen, the Battle of Copenhagen and the Battle of Copenhagen (1807), The second gave rise to the Gunboat War between Denmark-Norway and the United Kingdom, which lasted until the Treaty of Kiel in 1814.

Frederick's wife was his first cousin Marie Sophie of Hesse-Kassel, a member of a German family with close marriage links with the Royal families of both Denmark and Great Britain. They married in Gottorp on 31 July 1790 and had eight children. The youngest of them, Princess Wilhelmine, became the wife of the future Frederick VII of Denmark. None of Frederick VI's sons survived infancy, however, and when he died, he was succeeded by his cousin Christian.