Marie Sophie Frederikke of Hesse-Kassel (28 October 1767 – 21/22 March 1852) was Queen of Denmark and Norway by marriage to Frederick VI. She served as regent of Denmark during the absence of her spouse in 1814–1815.
Biography
Early life
Marie was the eldest child of Landgrave Charles of Hesse-Kassel and Princess Louise of Denmark. Her father was the second son of the ruler of Hesse-Kassel, and as such, had no principality of his own. Thus he acted in such positions as were offered to cadet members of royal houses by their reigning relatives. Denmark-Norway offered more and better positions than the small Hesse-Kassel.
Her mother was the third and youngest daughter of King Frederick V of Denmark-Norway and his consort, Louise of Great Britain. As such, she was the niece of King Christian VII and the Prince Regent Frederick, as well as their first cousin.
She was born in Hanau, but was raised in Slesvig in Denmark-Norway from 1769, when her father was appointed governor of the Danish duchies. Marie spent her early life in Gottorp Castle and at her mother's Danish country estate Louisenlund. Little is known of Marie's childhood, but the life of the little German court at Louisenlund, headed by Fraulein von Berlichingen, are described by her mother's lady-in-waiting Julie Stolberg as very simple, without great ceremony, and that the royal couple allowed their children to be raised very naturally. She was given a German education, and German was her first language. She was affected by her father's interest in mysticism, and was also fascinated by dreams.
Marie was later to describe her childhood as happy, and often expressed that she missed the idyll of her childhood home and longed to visit it.