Fredrick VI of Denmark and Norway von Oldenburg, King

Links:

• The Peerage
• Geneall
• Johann the Younger #783
• Burial In Danish
• Danmarkshistorien In Danish
• Kings of Denmark
• Wikipedia: English Dansk
• King of Denmark: Reign 1808–1839

Predecessor: Christian VII  Successor: Christian VIII

• King of Norway: Reign 1808–1814

Predecessor: Christian VII Successor: Christian Frederick

• Regent of Denmark
• Frederick's parents were King Christian VII and Caroline Matilda of Wales. 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.

King of Denmark

• Frederic was crowned King of Denmark on 13 March 1808. When the throne of Sweden showed signs of becoming unoccupied in 1809, Frederick was interested in becoming elected there, too. Frederick actually was the first monarch of Denmark and Norway to descend from Gustav I of Sweden, who had secured Sweden's independence in 1520s after a period of union with other Scandinavian countries. However, Frederick's brother-in-law, the Prince Augustus of Augustenborg, was first elected to the throne of Sweden, then the French Marshal Bernadotte.
• After his defeat in the Napoleonic Wars in 1814 and the loss of Norway, Frederick VI carried through an authoritatarian and reactionary course, giving up the liberal ideas of his years as a prince regent. Censorship and suppression of all opposition together with bad economic terms of the country made this period of his reign somewhat gloomy, though the king himself in general maintained his position of a "patriarch" and a well-meaning autocrat. From the 1830s the economic depression was eased a bit and from 1834 the king reluctantly accepted a small democratic innovation by the creation of the Assemblies of the Estate (purely consultative regional assemblies).

Knight of the order of the Golden Fleece

Frederik 6. overtog som kronprins regeringsmagten i 1784, men blev først konge 1808 ved sin fars død. Frederik 6. blev kronet i Frederiksborg Slotskirke den 31.7.1815.
Han døde 3.12.1839 og blev begravet 16.1.1840 i Roskilde Domkirke.

Marian de Pontavice, født Roisin stammede oprindelig fra Frankrig, men flygtede sammen med sin mand fra landet i forbindelse den første franske revolution. På et tidspunkt flytter familien til Hamborg, hvor Marian de Pontavice træffer kronprins Frederik og bliver gravid. Omkring 1811 dukker hun op i København og forsøger forgæves at genoptage kontakten med Frederik 6., da hun befinder sig i en vanskelig økonomisk situation. Der findes en række breve fra hende på Rigsarkivet, som jeg har gennemgået.

  I det følgende år vedkendte Frederik 6. sig ansvaret for den lille Antoinette Frederikke de Pontavice, idet han halvårligt betalte 170 rdl. for hendes kost og undervisning hos Benedicte Abrahamsen, som var enke efter officer og forfatter W.H.F. Abrahamson. Herudover modtog moderen en årlig understøttelse på 400 rdlr. fra kongen.   

  Kronprinsen har sikkert også medvirket til, at sønnen Réne Louis Colin de Pontavice (som Frederik ikke er far til) i 1811 bliver optaget på Landkadetakademiet. Sønnen bliver konfirmeret i Garnisons kirke den 21. april 1816 af Brorson. 

  Ifølge stamlisterne i Landkadetakademiets arkiv havde René de Pontavices far været greve og godsejer i Normandiet og gjort hoftjeneste under Ludvig 16. Forældrene emigrerede under den første franske revolution. Hans mor, Jeanette Roisin blev senere gift med kaptajn og kompagnichef ved Kongens Livkorps, Frederik Ludvig Bernth, født 1776 i Herlufsholm.  Hvor og hvornår de er blevet gift vides ikke. 

  Frederik Bernth døde den 22. maj 1823 og blev begravet den 28. april 1823 fra Vor Frue Kirke  på Assistens kirkegård.       

  Jeanette døde i fattigdom den 17. april 1854 på Frederiks hos­pital, 79 år gammel på grund af alderdomssvækkelse. Ved skiftet, fik svigersønnen Carl Wilhelm Lange, gift med Antoinette Frederikke de Pontavice, det ringe bo udlagt til dækning af begravelsesomkostningerne.  

  Men noget tyder også på, at der eksisterer et 3. barn: Jean de Pontavice, som er født den 20. februar 1811 i Hamborg og først døbt den 13. maj 1813 og som døde som købmand og svensk-norsk vicekonsul i Christianssted på St. Croix den 23. september 1867. Han var gift med Emilie Wallich, født omkring 1818  på St. Croix. Enken dør nogle år senere i København. Ved folketællingerne i 1855 og 1860 på St. Croix oplyses det, at de begge er lutheraner af dansk herkomst.

  Jeg er interesseret i oplysninger om, hvor og hvornår Mariann Roisin er blevet gift med Frederik Ludvig Bernth og om hvem forældrene til Jean de Pontavice er samt, hvor han er døbt i Danmark, hvis nogen skulle ligge inde med disse oplysninger.