Frederik IX


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The end of the King's last New Year's Speech.
I'm not directly linking this one because he looks exactly as ill as he was, but he was obviously very determined to do this.

I'm guessing it was the very last official thing he did?
 
The end of the King's last New Year's Speech.
I'm not directly linking this one because he looks exactly as ill as he was, but he was obviously very determined to do this.

I'm guessing it was the very last official thing he did?


Probably considering that he died only two weeks later.
 
Very interesting! And that Benedikte could give the missing link to one of the tattoos. Great
 
Someone has done some seriously impressive research!
 
Someone has done some seriously impressive research!

You should translate the model text, Muhler! (Knowing that "fugl" is a bird and that he liked bodybuilding only get the rest of us so far.)
 
Sure. ?

Things are a little hectic at work these days, so remind me, if I don't get around to do it tomorrow.
 
Summary of the captions to the 3D illustrations of Frederik IX.
https://www.dr.dk/historie/webfeature/frederik-9-tattoo

He was a genuine folksy man, who was at ease with ordinary people, and that you could tell.

Based on photographic evidence he must have got his two first tattoos at age 31, when he in 1930 went on a five months formative journey to East Asia.
Because photos before that period show no sign of tattoos.
But after returning from Asia he suddenly sports a tattoo on each arm.

On his left upper arm he has a 35 cm long dragon. The style in Japanese and probably made during his trip to Japan.
The Japanese associate the dragon with kindness, wisdom and generosity.
In the West a dragon is dangerous and a symbol of strength and wealth.

He also had a dragon on his right lower arm, but in a different style. Presumably made in Thailand.

Frederik IX saw himself as a seaman and among seamen it was uncommon not to have tattoos. Apart from seamen, who traditionally sported tattoos with pride, they were normally only associated with criminals and prostitutes. So Frederik IX's tattoos got a lot of attention abroad. Not least he didn't attempt to hide them. (I can add that Marie of Orleans, who married Prince Aage, I think, also had a tattoo.)

It was assumed that the anchor on his left lower arm was the navy logo, but it's actually Frederik IX personal monogram from when he was crown prince. The addition of rope and anchor distinguish it from other DRF monograms, that usually only depict letters and a crown.
The bird is probably a sparrow. To sailors birds are significant as they often mean that land is nearby.
He had two birds on his right upper arm. Birds are also symbols of freedom, something he may have felt he didn't have that much.
The two paradise birds are very popular tattoos today as well.

It is speculated that some of the tattoos were made in Copenhagen, in Nyhavn 17, which still exist today. (Nyhavn was at the time a very rowdy place, with lots of bars, sailors, prostitutes and other colorful people.)
The shop had a photograph if Frederik IX and his tattoos in the window in the 50's, but that annoyed some people, so the police removed it.

Frederik IX and his friends were fond of a drink or ten, so a lot of information regarding the tattoos were probably lost by the time the hangover set in.
Even today it is not known who among that Danish tattoo-artist did these tattoos.
Two have actually claimed that made them, but there are rumors about two more.

Based of photos most tattoos were wellknown, but the two on inside of his lower arms were difficult to see, so in comes Benedikte.
On the right lower arm is a dragon, And on the left lower arm is a fox. Frederik IX was a passionate hunter.

Frederik IX was also a passionate bodybuilder. He was coached via letters by the London based George Walsh.
In 1951 some of the photos showing the physical progress of Frederik IX to George Walsh were leaked and published in Life Magazine.
And that included another dragon - the one on his chest. This Chinese dragon was made in a less the reputable part of London, by the artist George Burchett. Several sources claim Frederik IX brought a piece of Chinese cloth depicting a dragon with him, and asked the artist to tattoo it on his chest.
That took at least two hours, during which Frederik IX smoke a lot of strong Turkish cigarettes and drank from a flask. That was in 1949, and it was probably the last tattoo he had made.

- What a fascinating man, and what a contrast to the seemingly always correct Queen Ingrid. He must have appealed to her wild side.

https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/kultur/hi...andede-konstant-her-er-12-ting-du-maaske-ikke
This link with twelve facts about Frederik IX are also amusing - he had a keen sense of humor and a progressive mindset.

I may have to return to that later.
 
Summary of the captions to the 3D illustrations of Frederik IX.
https://www.dr.dk/historie/webfeature/frederik-9-tattoo


- What a fascinating man, and what a contrast to the seemingly always correct Queen Ingrid. He must have appealed to her wild side.

https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/kultur/hi...andede-konstant-her-er-12-ting-du-maaske-ikke
This link with twelve facts about Frederik IX are also amusing - he had a keen sense of humor and a progressive mindset.

I may have to return to that later.

Mange tak, Muhler!

Sailors, criminals, hookers, and royals -- Frederik was not the only one to have tattoos; Edward VII (Maltese crosses from Jerusalem) and George V (same crosses, also a sailor with his own dragon) in the UK are on written record as having them, and even his grandfather's sister Alexandra was rumored to have a small snake around her wrist, but there are no pictures of any of those -- apparently only sailors, criminals, and hookers had ones you could see. ;) I think all of this is pointed out in an article linked at the end of one of the above links. Frederik's were quite visible for such a respectable guy (sailor or not)!

Edit: Marie of Orleans married Prince Valdemar (and George of Greece)!

Nyhavn sounds like it was not only rowdy but apparently scary!

Ink, they say, is as addictive as anything else, so while I CAN definitely see Frederik wanting every tat that he had, I also have to wonder about the chance of him having acquired a couple of them while under the influence. (Oh, dear.) Probably no answer for that one except possibly for whenever Ingrid apparently made him quit drinking.
 
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Nyhavn was indeed a place where all sorts of people on the edge of society went. Be they prostitutes, seeking prostitutes, alcoholics, petty criminals in particular, losers of all sorts - not to mention sailors and people from rest of DK visiting Copenhagen and wishing to experience some "danger" and having been to a place of ill repute.
H. C. Andersen lived there for a number of years and loved the place, it was full of life, which he could watch from his window. The house where he lived is still there.
It was a place with a moral of their own. A lot of things were tolerated that would not be tolerated elsewhere and if you were one of them, you got protection and help and you were not pestered.
But it was also a place where if you were born a girl, you would very likely and up in either prostitution or in an abusive relationship.
If you were born a boy, you would end up going to sea or become a petty criminal.
Both would more than likely become alcoholics. That is if they didn't manage to get away, but surprisingly few did.
It was a place where fistfights were extremely common. But knifing was uncommon, because if you couldn't stand up in a fistfight and also take the odd beating, but had to resort to using a weapon, you lost face.
Mugging was commonplace. If you were an outsider and went to Nyhavn and got drunk, you pretty much deserved to be mugged, was the attitude.

- And that's how it was at least until 1980.

Today Nyhavn is after the Mermaid probably the best known tourist spot in Copenhagen, and certainly the most photographed.
https://streckers.dk/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/nyhavn.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/2018_-_Nyhavn_on_sunset.jpg
https://cdn.getyourguide.com/img/location/5d09ece61672c-wide.jpeg/88.jpg
Back in 1887:
https://d3aa3603f5de3f81cb9fdaa5c59.../2020/11/Koebenhavn-plakat-nyhavn-GB10048.png
The Tattoo parlor is still there, Nyhavn 17. It's claimed to be the oldest existing tattoo parlor in the world.
https://berlingske.bmcdn.dk/media/c...67/676665/10947597-nyhavn-p-en-efterrsdag.jpg

There is no doubt that he got a couple of his tattoos during a wet night with his chums. But after he stopped drinking (that is covered in the documentary about him elsewhere here on TRF) I think the dragon he got on his chest was a last visit, so to speak, to his rowdy days.

Thanks for the info on Marie of Orleans, Valdemar, yes.

Frederik lived in a pretty eccentric family!
Marie of Orleans who had a tattoo and who ran after fire-engines and loudly encouraged the firefighters. The Copenhageners loved her for it and she was made an honorary fireman.
Prince Valdemar was by all accounts not a boring man either.
Prince Aage went to join the Foreign Legion. Fought and was wounded in Morocco and is now lying in one of the most prominent graves at the Legion cemetery. (He was among three who were disinterred when the Legion left Algeria.)
An aunt who was an open Nazi-sympathizer. (She was expelled from DK after WWII.)
 
It was a place where fistfights were extremely common. But knifing was uncommon, because if you couldn't stand up in a fistfight and also take the odd beating, but had to resort to using a weapon, you lost face.
Mugging was commonplace. If you were an outsider and went to Nyhavn and got drunk, you pretty much deserved to be mugged, was the attitude.

Then why was the saying "you'll know you get there when you get a knife in the back"?

And how come nobody ever managed to mug Frederik or his crew?

An aunt who was an open Nazi-sympathizer. (She was expelled from DK after WWII.)

That wouldn't be Prince Harald's wife and Caroline-Mathilde's mother, would it?
 
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Then why was the saying "you'll know you get there when you get a knife in the back"?

And how come nobody ever managed to mug Frederik or his crew?



That wouldn't be Prince Harald's wife and Caroline-Mathilde's mother, would it?

I don't know. I'm not familiar with people saying that about Nyhavn. - Anyway, that was before my time. ;)
Perhaps it's a reference to naive visitors being heckled, cheated and "loosing" their valets?

Presumably he was left alone because they knew him. And they may have felt a little proud that he felt at ease there and came regularly.
Apart from that mugging a royal, let alone the crown prince and the police would come down on everybody and everything. Hard! And the judges would be even more unlikely to look closely at any evidence than they usually would. So no one would be interested in mugging or bothering Frederik IX and his friends.

I believe you are right. Her name was Helene IIRC. I've written about her several times.
 
It's from the owner of the tattoo shop, who is/was concerned about being gentrified out. - https://www.thelocal.dk/20170904/worlds-oldest-tattoo-shop-copenhagen-nyhavn/
"Danes used to say that you’d know you reached Nyhavn when you got a knife stuck in your back."

While that's a very logical argument for not mugging Frederik and his pals, it seems providential that they still never ran into someone stupid or desperate enough not to recognize him or mix him up with some other rich sucker. But I guess not being afraid goes a long way.
 
Not really, I think.

Nyhavn is small and everybody knew everybody. Frederik IX would have been well known at least from papers and magazines. And typically for the time, inn keepers kept a tight shift and would have no qualms about kicking out potential troublemakers before anything happened - with the help of locals, be they criminal or not.
It was also a place frequented by criminals. So just as pickpockets and troublemakers knew it was wise not to try and steal from or pick a fight with The Spider (there actually was such a criminal) lest you wanted to end up in an alley beaten to a pulp, they knew that this party was not to be bothered.

Criminals then and now don't like attention. The authorities were happy to leave them in Nyhavn, provided they stayed there. Keeps them in one place. No need to disturb that arrangement.

It's another matter with say Hansen who visited Copenhagen, got drunk, picked up a prostitute and found himself in a backyard the next day, robbed clean. He might very well not even report it. That would be major news back in his hometown, not to mention what his wife would say... - Such a man was fair game.

But for all we know perhaps some of his friends were relieved of a watch or a wallet from time to time.
But as I've said before, that's part of the excitement. After all, why go and get drunk in a place where you risk being mugged or end up in a fight, if it isn't for the excitement? Especially as you can get drunk, pretty safe, in so many other places.
I think that's the case now as it is was back then.
 
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At that point he was still just Prince/lilleprins Frederik.
 
King Frederik IX of Denmark on State visit to Norway:

 
New Year's speech by King Frederik IX in 1971. The speech was recorded at Amalienborg Palace. This was King Frederik IX's last speech.

 
Funeral of King Frederik IX (24/01/1972)
 
King Frederick IX and Queen Ingrid of Denmark, at the Danish Embassy in London with Sir Winston Churchill and his wife to celebrate Sir Winston's 75th birthday!
 
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