Prince Erik, Count of Rosenborg (Erik Frederik Christian Alexander zu Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg; 8 November 1890 – 10 September 1950) was a Danish royal family member. He was born at Copenhagen, the 3rd son of Prince Valdemar of Denmark and Princess Marie of Orléans.

Early life

Prince Erik was born on 8 November 1890, in the Yellow Palace, an 18th-century town house at 18 Amaliegade, immediately adjacent to the Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen. The third child of Prince Valdemar of Denmark and his wife Princess Marie of Orléans, his father was a younger son of King Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Kassel, and his mother was the eldest daughter of Prince Robert, Duke of Chartres and Princess Françoise of Orléans. His parents' marriage was reputed to be a political match. Prince Erik was christened 10 days after his birth and his godparents were his paternal grandparents, King Christian IX and Queen Louise of Denmark; his paternal uncle and aunt, Tsar Alexander III of Russia and Empress Maria Feodorovna; and his paternal uncle and aunt, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Louise of Denmark. Later created Count of Rosenborg, Erik inherited the family estates.

Marriage and issue

As was then customary with Danish royalty, Erik renounced his rights to the throne when he chose to take a commoner as wife, marrying in Ottawa, Ontario, on 11 February 1924 Lois Frances Booth (Ottawa, Ontario, 2 August 1897 – Copenhagen, 26 February 1941). His wife was the daughter of a kinsman of the Booth baronets, John Frederick Booth (Ontario, 3 June 1865 – Ontario, 5 August 1930), who lived in Canada, and wife Frances Alberta Hunsicker (Montreal, Quebec, 1 November 1866 – Victoria, British Columbia, 12 February 1964, buried in Beechwood Cemetery, Ottawa), and paternal granddaughter of John Rudolphus Booth, the Father of Canada by his wife Rosalinda Cooke (1829 – 1886). Prince Erik and his wife divorced in 1937. Lois Countess of Rosenborg married secondly Gunnar Thorkild Juelsberg (1904 – 1966), by whom she had no issue. Erik and Lois had two children: Count Erik died on 10 September 1950 at Copenhagen, Denmark.

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