Princess Friederike of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg

Princess Friederike

Duchess of Anhalt-Bernburg

Born

Died

10 July 1902 (aged 90)
Ballenstedt, Anhalt, Germany

Spouse

Full name
Frederica Caroline Juliana German: Friederike Karoline Juliane

Father

Mother

Full name
Frederica Caroline Juliana German: Friederike Karoline Juliane

Princess Friederike of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (9 October 1811 – 10 July 1902) was a daughter of Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and Princess Louise Caroline of Hesse-Kassel and an elder sister of Christian IX of Denmark. Friederike became the Duchess of Anhalt-Bernburg upon her marriage to Alexander Karl, Duke of Anhalt-Bernburg, the last Duke of Anhalt-Bernburg. She served as Regent of the Duchy from 1855 to 1863.

Friederike's father was the head of the ducal house of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck, a junior male branch of the House of Oldenburg which had occupied the throne of Denmark since 1448. Through her father, Friederike was thus a direct male-line descendant of King Christian III of Denmark.

Friederike's mother was a daughter of Landgrave Charles of Hesse, a Danish Field Marshal and Royal Governor of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, and his wife Princess Louise of Denmark, a daughter of Frederick V of Denmark. On 6 June 1825, Duke Friedrich Wilhelm was appointed Duke of Glücksburg by his brother-in-law Frederick VI of Denmark, as the elder Glücksburg line had become extinct in 1779. He subsequently changed his title to Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and founded the younger Glücksburg line.