was the only daughter of King Charles XV of Sweden and Norway and Louise of the Netherlands. The Danish author Hans Christian Andersen wrote the next day in his diary: "The night before 12 a Prince was born by the Crown Princess, the whole city flagged today in the beautiful weather." He was baptised with the names Christian Carl Frederik Albert Alexander Vilhelm in the chapel of Christiansborg Palace on 31 October 1870 by the Bishop of Zealand, Hans Lassen Martensen. Prince Christian was raised with his siblings in the royal household in Copenhagen, and grew up between his parents' residence in Copenhagen, the Frederick VIII's Palace, an 18th century palace which forms part of the Amalienborg Palace complex in central Copenhagen, and their country residence, the Charlottenlund Palace, located by the coastline of the Øresund strait north of the city. As a grandchild of the reigning Danish monarch in the male line and the eldest son of the Crown Prince, he was second in line to the throne, after his father. In contrast to the usual practise of the period, where royal children were brought up by governesses, the children were raised by Crown Princess Louise herself. Under the supervision of their mother, the children of the Crown Princess received a rather strict Christian-dominated upbringing, which was characterized by severity, the fulfillment of duties, care and order. Prince Christian was less than two years older than his brother Prince Carl, and the two princes had a joint confirmation at the chapel of Christiansborg Palace in 1887. In 1889 he passed the examen artium (the university entrance examination in Denmark) in 1889 as the first member of the Danish royal family. Afterwards he started a military education as was customary for princes at that time. He subsequently served with the 5th Dragoon Regiment and later studied at the Officers Academy in Randers from 1891 to 1892. Marriage As a young man, Prince Christian fell in love with the French Princess Marguerite of Orléans, who was the younger sister of his uncle Prince Valdemar's wife Princess Marie of Orléans. The feelings, however, were not reciprocated, and after a few years of unhappy infatuation, she married in 1896 Marie Armand Patrice de Mac Mahon, 2nd Duke of Magenta, son of the French Marshal and President Patrice de MacMahon. Christian married Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in Cannes on 26 April 1898; she was a