Fredrik Kaarle I

From Kaiserreich

Fredrik Kaarle I (born Friedrich Karl Ludwig Konstantin on May the 1st 1868 in Holstein) is the current King of Finland. He was born in Holstein, Germany and is the brother-in-law of Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany

Early life

Friedrich was born at his family's manor, Gut Panker, in Plön, Holstein. He was the third son of the then Prince Friedrich of Hesse, and his wife Princess Anna of Prussia, daughter of Prince Charles of Prussia and Princess Marie Louise of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. The elder Friedrich, a Danish military officer, had been one (and perhaps the foremost) of the candidates of Christian VIII of Denmark in the 1840s to succeed on the Danish throne if the latter's male line died out, but renounced his rights to the throne in 1851 in favor of his sister, Louise. The elder Friedrich was of practically Danish upbringing, having lived all his life in Denmark, but in 1875, when the senior branch of Hesse-Kassel became extinct, he settled in Northern Germany, where the House had substantial landholdings.

Eighteen days after his own birth, the baby Frederick's first cousin, the then Tsesarevna Maria Fyodorovna of Russia, daughter of his aunt Queen Louise of Denmark, gave birth in Saint Petersburg to Nicholas II of Russia, who would become Friedrich Karl's predecessor as the monarch of Finland (1894–1917).

On January 25, 1893, Friedrich married Princess Margaret of Prussia, the youngest daughter of the late Friedrich III, German Emperor and Victoria, Princess Royal, eldest daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her consort Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. They have six children, including two sets of twins:

Friedrich Wilhelm Sigismund (1893-1916), died in the Weltkrieg

Maximilian Friedrich Wilhelm Georg (1894-1914, died in the Weltkrieg

Philipp (1896) married to Princess Mafalda of Savoy (1902, Buchenwald), has issue.

Wolfgang Moritz (1896)

Prince Christoph Ernst August of Hesse (1901) married Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark, has issue.

Richard Wilhelm Leopold (1901), unmarried