Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel

Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern (Danish: Juliane Marie; 4 September 1729 – 10 October 1796) was Queen of Denmark and Norway from 1752 to 1766 as the second consort of King Frederick V of Denmark and Norway. She was mother to the prince-regent, Hereditary Prince Frederick of Denmark and Norway, and was herself de facto regent from 1772 to 1784. King Christian VIII of Denmark and every subsequent Danish monarch excluding Christian IX descends from her.

Life Early life Duchess Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was born on 4 September 1729 in the town of Wolfenbüttel, the residence of the Brunswick Princes of Wolfenbüttel. She was the 11th child and 6th daughter of the Austrian field marshal Duke Ferdinand Albert of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and Antoinette Amalie of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. At the time of her birth, her family constituted the princely cadet line of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern, but after the death of his cousin and father-in-law Louis Rudolph in March 1735, Ferdinand Albert inherited the Principality of Wolfenbüttel and resigned as field marshal. However, he died unexpectedly just six months later.

Among her many siblings were Duke Charles I of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Duke Anthony Ulrich, spouse of the Russian regent Anna Leopoldovna, and Duchess Elisabeth Christine, wife of Frederick the Great of Prussia. Like her siblings, Juliana Maria was given the simple but very strict upbringing usual at many of the smaller princely German courts. As a child, she appears to have stuttered, as did several other members of the house of Brunswick.

Marriage

Juliane Marie portrayed in her official role as queen wearing the Ordre de l'Union Parfaite.

In 1752, a dynastic marriage was negotiated between Juliana Maria and King Frederick V of Denmark and Norway who had lost his first wife Louise of Great Britain the previous year. The marriage was arranged by the king's favourite, the powerful lord chamberlain Count Adam Gottlob von Moltke, who thought it best that the king remarried as soon as possible, in an attempt of stabilizing his behavior. The marriage did not come about on the best terms: The king was initially unwilling to remarry a foreign princess, unless it was with a British princess, none of whom were available at the time. Reportedly, in 1751-52 the king had a wish to marry Moltke's own daughter, maid-of-honor Catharine Sophie Wilhelmine von Moltke, a match Adam Gottlob did not wish and prevented by quickly having her married to Count Hannibal von Wedell-Wedelsborg. Moltke then drew the king's attention to Juliane Marie. After having seen a portrait of Juliana Maria, and after having made some additional investigations and met with satisfying answers, the king expressed himself willing to marry her.

The wedding was celebrated on 8 July 1752 at the chapel of Frederiksborg Palace, just a little more than six months after the death of the king's first wife, with Juliana Maria being crowned the same day. She was given a household headed by queen Louise's old chamberlain Carl Juel and head lady-in-waiting Christiane Henriette Louise Juel. The wedding was celebrated by a number of court festivities on the royal palaces around North Zealand during the following summer months, but "among the common men the mood was more still, as this seems to them to be so sudden after the mourning of Queen Louise".

Queen Consort

Portrait of Queen Juliane Marie by Carl Gustaf Pilo, 1750 (Celle Castle).

Queen Juliana Maria was described as shy, reserved and somewhat stuttering when first introduced to the Danish royal court as its new queen; having been given a strict education, she submitted to fulfill her duty as the second queen of Frederick V and the stepmother of his children, but reportedly felt uncomfortable at the situation and the pressure put upon her in her new role. She noted each day of his progressing illness in her diary, and upon his death, she referred to him as "le meilleur des rois".

Juliana Maria was not mentioned much during her years as queen consort, and it was mainly noted that she lived a quiet life devoting herself to domestic duties and family life and considered honorable and virtuous but insignificant.

On 30 June 1780, she gave refuge to her nephews and nieces: the children of her brother Duke Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick and the Russian regent Anna Leopoldovna, siblings of the deposed Czar Ivan VI of Russia, when they were released from Russian captivity. Upon an agreement with Catherine the Great, she received Catherine (1741–1807), Elizabeth (1743–1782), Peter (1745–1798) and Alexei (1746–1787), who were born in captivity, and let them live the rest of their lives in comfortable house arrest in Horsens. The siblings were kept under the responsibility of Juliana, and on the financial support of Catherine.

Juliana Maria was given the responsibility of the upbringing of the crown prince, Frederick VI, and his sister Louise Augusta. The crown prince greatly disliked her, because she attempted to form him to be in favor of her regency, and because she (unsuccessfully) tried to separate him from his sister, who was his closest friend. In 1781, she decided on the advice of Frederick the Great that the crown prince should marry a Prussian princess.

Her ally and brother-in-law Frederick the Great warned her in 1783; "I, the loyal friend of my incomparable queen, ask and implore you to beware and keep an eye upon a party, which I suspect are now in Denmark, and especially upon those surrounding your grandson, so that his innocent heart will not be affected by intriguers. I long for, I admit, for the day of his majority to pass without his mind having been corrupted by ambitious and vicious people. My dear queen may see, how this moment approaches, and I have no doubt that your wisdom and prudence will make you instigate precautions good enough to give you complete satisfaction." During her last years, she seemed to fear the events of the French Revolution, and voiced her fear that the fire of Christiansborg Palace in 1794 was due to revolutionary activities.

Juliana Maria died on 10 October 1796.

Legacy Namesakes Dronning Juliana Maria (1752 DAC ship) Dronning Juliana Maria (1775 DAC ship) Dronning Juliana Maria (1790 DAC ship) Dronning Juliana Maria (1780 DAC ship)

The Greenlandic town of Julianehaab ("Juliane's Hope") was named in her honour in 1775.

In fiction Portrayed in literature: The Lost Queen (1969, historical novel) by Norah Lofts The Visit of the Royal Physician (Livläkarens besök) (1999, novel) by Per Olov Enquist

Portrayed in film: The Dictator, in which she is played by Helen Haye A Royal Affair, in which she is played by Trine Dyrholm

Ancestry