, the
eponymous
renaissance castle in the centre of
Copenhagen, Denmark. The history of the Count of Rosenborg title is closely tied to the Danish royal family's regulations on
dynastic marriages and succession rights. In the event that a member of the
Danish royal family enters into a marriage without the explicit permission of the sovereign, that person renounces his or her own right of succession and that of his or her descendants. The Danish monarch's right to exercise this authority is established in the
Danish Constitution and the
Act of Succession (). Furthermore, this authority is specifically enshrined in the
King's Law (
Lex Regia), the 1665
absolutist constitution of
Denmark-Norway, which was repealed with the promulgation of the Danish Constitution in 1848, except for two articles, which are still applicable, Article 21 of which reads "‘No
Prince of the Blood (...) shall marry (...) unless he receives Permission from the King". When
Prince Aage, son of
Prince Valdemar (youngest child of
King Christian IX), married Mathilde Calvi in 1914, he did not obtain the necessary permission from the King. He thereby renounced his dynastic right to the
Danish throne, the title
Prince of Denmark and the
qualification Royal Highness. On 5 February 1914, Christian IX granted him the title Count of Rosenborg. The
comital title in the
Danish nobility was made hereditary for all of his legitimate descendants in the
male line with the
rank and precedence (above other counts) of a lensgreve. Subsequently, it became custom in the 20th century to grant this title to male princes, who made unequal marriages. Since its first creation in 1914, the title Count of Rosenborg has been created an additional six times.
Prince Erik and
Prince Viggo of Denmark, the youngest sons of
Prince Valdemar (brother of
Frederick VIII), were both created counts of Rosenborg upon their
morganatic marriages in 1923 and 1924, respectively. All of the three sons of Prince Valdemar, who assumed the Rosenborg title were additionally granted the
style Highness and were allowed to use the non-royal
prefix "Prince", for themselves and their wives exclusively. The second son of Prince Valdemar,
Prince Axel of Denmark married his cousin of the
royal house of Sweden,
Princess Margaretha, and thus retained his place as a
hereditary successor. However, his son
Prince Flemming, married morganatically in 1949, and thus renounced for himself and his descendants the title of Prince of Denmark and the qualification of Highness, and received the title Count of Rosenborg.
Recent history Since the reign of
Queen Margrethe II, the custom of bestowing the title has been discontinued, and the Queen has allowed her two sons,
Frederik and
Joachim, to marry non-princely. == Creations and Rosenborg descendants ==