Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg (9 July 1511 – 7 October 1571) was queen consort of Denmark and Norway by marriage to King Christian III of Denmark. She was known to having wielded influence upon the affairs of state in Denmark.
Life
She was the daughter of Magnus I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg and Catherine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, and sister of Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg, the first queen of King Gustav I of Sweden.
Dorothea was raised in one of the first states in Germany where the reformation was proclaimed, and was affected from Lutheranism early in life. She was married to Christian on 29 October 1525 at Lauenburg Castle. They lived at their own courts in Haderslev and Törning.
Queen
She formally became queen of Denmark in 1533, but due to the Civil War (Count's Feud) that immediately followed her husband's accession to the throne, her coronation did not take place until 1537. On 6 August 1536, queen Dorothea finally made her official entry to the capital of Copenhagen with the king, and on 12 August 1537, she rode on a snow white horse by the side of her husband to their coronation, and made a favorable impression with her beauty and dignified appearance. In 1537 she also became queen of Norway, after her husband did a Coup d'état, and became king of Norway. Her daughters were raised in household chores and to marry, while her sons were given a strict schooling and not allowed to stray from their studies much prior to their adulthood.