#countess danner

Louise Rasmussen (21 April 1815 - 6 March 1874)

Louise Christine Rasmussen, born April 21st, 1815, was born the daughter of an unmarried maid and a merchant. She began studying ballet at the Opera of Copenhagen in 1826 at the age of 11; when she was 15, she was contracted by the school and became a figurante ballerina at the age of 20. Not much is known about her time as a ballerina, although being a figurante ballerina--or one who does not perform solo--she was unlikely to have had any breakout roles. In 1841 she had a child with Carl Berling, a print maker who was the heir of the Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende; a year later, she retired from ballet and opened up her own shop as a milliner. During her time as a ballerina, she met Crown Prince Frederick through Berling and, presumably after she ended her relationship with Berling, began a relationship with him in the 1840s. Some have speculated that Berling and Frederick had romantic feelings for each other, if not an affair, and that the relationship between Louise and Frederick was more of a "trio" between the two friends and the Crown Prince. Regardless of the truth of these matters, Crown Prince Frederick became King Frederick VII of Denmark in 1848 and desired to marry Louise, but this was forbidden by the Danish government. This was because Rasmussen was a commoner and thus any children the pair had would not have been heirs to the throne--Frederick, though he had been married twice, had yet to have any legitimate children. However, the two were finally given permission to marry in 1849. Louise was given the title of Countess of Danner and became Frederick VII's morgantic wife in 1850. As a morgantic wife--morgantic meaning marriage between people of unequal social rank--Louise was not entitled to be a Queen or Queen consort nor was she entitled to any privileges or titles that would have been passed to a Queen consort of the king. Although Louise was said to be generally loved by the people for her compassion and kindness, she was greatly shunned by the nobility and humiliated on several occasions by the courtiers who, because of the fears of a lack of an heir or because of their snobbery, did not approve of the king marrying a commoner. After Frederick's death in 1863, Louise retired to Jægerspris Castle, where the two had often retired to get away from the scandal and humiliation of their relationship. She eventually opened part of the castle as a historic house museum, allowing visitors to see how she and the king had lived there together. Louise, who had been a great supporter of charity work, founded the Frederick VII's Foundation for Poor Women from the Working Class in 1873 and renamed the house "The Danner House." In her will, she left the house "to the benefit of poor and destitute servant girls".