Count Aage of Rosenborg

Prince Aage
Count of Rosenborg
Prince Aage photographed in 1912.
Born	(1887-06-10)June 10, 1887 Copenhagen, Denmark
Died	Taza, Morocco
Spouse	Mathilde Calvi dei conti di Bergolo
Issue	Count Valdemar
Full name Aage Christian Alexander Robert
House	Glücksburg
Father	Prince Valdemar of Denmark
Mother	Princess Marie d'Orléans

Aage, Count of Rosenborg (Aage Christian Alexander Robert; June 10, 1887 – February 19, 1940), was a Danish prince and officer of the French Foreign Legion. He was born in Copenhagen the eldest child and son of Prince Valdemar of Denmark and Princess Marie d'Orléans.

Romance and marriage

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 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 his title of Prince of Denmark, and his style of Royal Highness. 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. Although the comital title in the Danish nobility was made hereditary for all of his legitimate descendants in the male line, use of the princely prefix was restricted to himself and his wife alone. Aage and Mathilde had one son before their divorce in 1939:

• Valdemar Alexander Georg Luigi Maria, Count of Rosenborg (Turin, 3 January 1915 – Paris, 1 April 1995), married at Villefranche-sur-Mer, Nice, on 20 April 1949 Floria, Baronne d'Huart-Saint-Mauris (Paris, 10 August 1925 – Paris, 20 August 1995), (divorced from Charles Emmanuel, 3rd Prince and Count de La Rochefoucauld-Montbel, died 30 January 2000), without issue.

Foreign Legion

In 1922, Aage received permission from the King, as required by Danish law, to leave the Danish army in order to join the French Foreign Legion. After negotiations between the Danish and the French governments Prince Aage entered the Foreign Legion with the rank of captain.

He was sent to Morocco as part of the French involvement in the Rif War within a year of service. He received the Croix de Guerre after being shot in the left leg. During his seventeen years in the Foreign Legion Prince Aage attained the rank of lieutenant colonel, and also received France's highest medal, the Légion d'honneur.

In 1927 he published the book "A royal adventurer" in English about his time in the Foreign Legion.

Death

Prince Aage died of pleurisy in Taza, Morocco, in 1940, and was buried in Sidi Bel Abbès, Algeria. Before the Foreign Legion left Algeria in 1962, it was decided that the remains of three selected soldiers should be brought to the new headquarters in France. The remains of Prince Aage were selected as the representation of the foreign officers in the Foreign Legion. His remains now lie next to those of Général Rollet and légionnaire Zimmermann in the town of Puyloubier, France.

Ancestors

Family of Count Aage of Rosenborg

16. Friedrich Karl Ludwig, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck               8. Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg                       17. Countess Friederike of Schlieben               4. Christian IX of Denmark                             18. Landgrave Charles of Hesse-Kassel               9. Princess Louise Caroline of Hesse-Cassel                       19. Princess Louise of Denmark               2. Prince Valdemar of Denmark                                   20. Landgrave Frederick of Hesse-Cassel               10. Landgrave William of Hesse-Kassel                       21. Princess Caroline of Nassau-Usingen               5. Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel                             22. Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Denmark and Norway               11. Princess Louise Charlotte of Denmark                       23. Duchess Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin               1. Aage, Count of Rosenborg                                         24. Louis Philippe, King of the French               12. Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans                       25. Princess Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies               6. Robert d'Orléans, duc de Chartres                             26. Frederick Louis, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin               13. Duchess Helen of Mecklenburg-Schwerin                       27. Princess Karoline Luise of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach               3. Princess Marie d'Orléans                                   28. Louis Philippe, King of the French (= 24)               14. François d'Orléans, prince de Joinville                       29. Princess Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies (= 25)               7. Princess Françoise d'Orléans                             30. Pedro I of Brazil               15. Infanta Francisca of Brazil                       31. Archduchess Maria Leopoldina of Austria