Prince Aage carried on a passionate
flirtation with
Princess Marie Bonaparte, the wife of his cousin
Prince George of Greece and Denmark, who had also enjoyed intimacies with his father. In neither case does it appear that Prince George objected, or felt obliged to give the matter any attention. In 1909 Prince Aage joined the
Danish Army, and by 1913 had risen to the rank of
lieutenant. During
World War I he served as an
observer in Italy for a year. Returning home to Denmark he was promoted to
captain. Without the legally required permission of the Danish king, Aage married Matilda Emilia Francesca Maria Calvi
dei conti di Bergolo (
Buenos Aires, 17 September 1885 –
Copenhagen, 16 October 1949), daughter of Carlo Giorgio Lorenzo Calvi, 5th
Count di Bergolo by his wife
Baroness Anna Guidobono Calvalchini Roero San Severino, in
Turin on 1 February 1914. A few days later, he renounced his place in the line of
succession to the Danish throne, forfeiting the title "Prince of Denmark" and the
style of
Royal Highness (the latter having only been granted to him and his brothers by the king on 5 February 1904). With the king's authorisation, he assumed the title "Prince Aage,
Greve af (Count of)
Rosenborg" and the style of
Highness on 5 February 1914. use of the princely prefix was restricted to himself and his wife alone. Prince Aage was among the people considered for the position of
King of Finland in 1918. In the early 1920s he mentioned to
Gustaf Idman, the Finnish ambassador to Denmark, that upon visiting Copenhagen in September 1918, Finnish General
Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim had inquired about his willingness to accept the Finnish crown, should it be offered to him. According to Idman, he was willing to accept the offer. ==Foreign Legion==