{"id":2058,"date":"2021-09-30T23:47:14","date_gmt":"2021-09-30T23:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/?p=2058"},"modified":"2021-10-01T13:03:10","modified_gmt":"2021-10-01T13:03:10","slug":"queen-of-scandinavia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/2021\/09\/30\/queen-of-scandinavia\/","title":{"rendered":"Queen of Scandinavia"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Picture by OpenClipart-Vectors<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a>; no copyright. This is just to illustrate the article. \ud83d\ude42 Click here<\/a> for an idea of how Margrete may have looked.)<\/p><\/div>\n

Did you know Danmark<\/strong>, Norge <\/strong>(Norway) and even Sverige<\/strong> (Sweden) were once united \u2013 and ruled by a kvinde<\/strong> (woman)? This month, Margrete den F\u00f8rste<\/strong> (Margrete the First), a film<\/strong> starring the Danish \u201dmovie queen\u201d<\/span><\/a> Trine Dyrholm<\/strong>, is making its rounds in danske biografer<\/strong> (Danish cinemas). Let\u2019s take a look at this important historisk skikkelse<\/strong> (historical figure).1<\/a><\/sup>If someone is a history expert and I somehow made a mistake in the blog post, please feel free to comment! \ud83d\ude42 <\/span> And yes, you guessed it \u2013 she\u2019s the reason the current<\/a> queen is called Margrethe II<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In the year 1397, all of Skandinavien <\/strong>was united in Kalmarunionen<\/strong> (the Kalmar Union, after a Swedish town). As someone with family in all three countries, I always thought this was an excellent idea! \ud83d\ude42 But alas, the union wasn\u2019t born out of some romantic idea of Nordic brotherhood. It was all about family ties and magtspil<\/strong> (power play) \u2013 and Margrete was pulling the strings.<\/p>\n

A daughter of the legendary Danish king Valdemar Atterdag<\/strong> (literally: Vladimir Another-Day), 10-year-old Margrete was strategically married in 1363 to the Norwegian king, who was twelve years her senior. This was a very clever move, as her brand-new husband H\u00e5kon Magnusson also was in the line-up for the Swedish throne \u2013 a claim the Swedes, however, didn\u2019t fully recognize while H\u00e5kon was alive.<\/p>\n

Margrete had to leave her dad and her mother Helvig behind as she went to live in the Norwegian castle of Akershus<\/strong> outside Oslo. Here she gave birth to her only child Oluf in 1370. At a time when women had few options<\/a>, her male child was to play an important role in her karriere<\/strong> (career):<\/p>\n