A previously confidential document in the Royal House’s private archive says King Frederik VII was born with a malformed penis and small genitalia, and that his own physician judged him unable to father children.
Historian Asser Amdisen has been given access to the 14-page document, held at Rigsarkivet, the Danish National Archives. DR reports that it was written by the king’s personal physician, Johan Jacob Georg Lund. The front page states that it must remain confidential for eternity.
According to DR, the document describes the king’s genitalia as small and records a mild case of hypospadias. The condition, found in 0.5 percent of newborn boys, means the urethra does not open at the tip of the penis. Lund concluded that the king was technically incapable of fathering children.
Frederik VII reigned from 1848 until his death in 1863. The Danish constitution was written during his reign, making him the country’s last absolute monarch. He died childless, ending the Oldenburg line and opening the way for the Glücksburg succession that continues in the Danish monarchy today.
Historians and medical experts interviewed by Politiken say the condition may explain why the king had no children with any of his three wives. Amdisen told the newspaper that reading the document left him with a physical sense of discomfort, because the king’s pain was easy to imagine.
Orders to keep the body covered
DR reports that the king took steps to keep the information private. In a life testament, the court surgeon was forbidden from performing an autopsy. Valets were also barred from undressing or washing the body, which was to go straight into the coffin.
Speaking on DR’s radio program P1 Morgen, Amdisen said sources show that the king’s father, Christian VIII, believed his son was childless because he was too heavy. The physician dismissed that explanation in the same document, according to the historian.
Amdisen began searching for the document after author Lars Oskan-Henriksen described the king’s condition in the 2025 book “Kongeligt Queer”. Both the life testament and the physician’s report were found in a collection of papers in the Royal House’s private archive at Rigsarkivet.
Amdisen said the decision to publish was weighed against the dead king’s wishes. He argues that a monarch’s sex life is a state affair rather than a private one, because the current royal line exists only because Frederik VII had no children.
He is backed by Rasmus Glenthøj, professor of history at the University of Southern Denmark. Glenthøj told Politiken that the king’s private parts were decisive for the survival of the realm, and that the subject is acceptable to examine at more than 150 years’ distance. A statue of Frederik VII has stood in Hillerød outside Frederiksborg Castle since 1880.
