Dronning Anna Sophies personlighed og politiske indflydelse 1721-30

Resumé

The personality and Political Influence of Queen Anna Sophie, 1721-30
On 4 April 1721, the day after the interment of his Queen Louise, Frederick IV of Denmark and Norway lawfully married the Danish noblewoman Anna Sophie Reventlow. Actually, she had been the King's morganatic wife and elevated to the rank of duchess of Schleswig since 1712; he had thus been a bigamist for nine years. Two months later, he crowned her, making her his Queen. Subsequently, the extended family of Queen Anna Sophie became the King's key advisors, but scholars have generally agreed that her political influence was negligible. Based on a hitherto unknown but well-informed contemporary account of the events surrounding her elevation, penned by the royal historiographer Andreas Hojer, it is argued that the Queen's political influence on domestic policy was in fact considerable, and that clientelism played a more prominent role in the political culture of Danish Absolutism than traditionally assumed.