Frederik 4. Benôit Le Coffre · 1702 Frederiksborg Castle, Hillerød, Denmark

After the death of Christian 5. in 1699, Frederik inherited the throne as the kingdom's absolute ruler.

In 1695, Frederik, as was his obligation, married Louise of Mecklenburg, and he also let himself get married, to the left hand, to Elisabeth Helene von Vieregg i 1703. Elisabeth died while giving birth the following year.

In 1711 the King and the entire court took up residence at Koldinghus in Jutland in order to escape from the plague in Copenhagen. Here he met the 18 year old Anna Sofie Reventlow, whom he fell in love with. Her mother suspected the mischief and locked up Anna Sofie at the family's estate, Claushom – but a year later, the King had Anna Sofie abducted, and he married her the same day to his vacant left hand. His right hand was still occupied by Queen Louise, and not until the day after her funeral in 1721 did he pronounce Anna Sofie Queen at a public wedding.

Frederik 4. inherited not just the throne, but also his father's foreign policy. Already the year after Frederik had taken over the reign, the Danes launched an attack on Sweden's ally, the Duke of Gottorp. The Swedish king, Karl 12., unexpectedly used the opportunity to land an army at Humlebæk on the isle of Zealand

Once again, the Great powers of Europe intervened, and after a very quick peace accord at Travendal, the Swedes were forced away form Zealand and the Danes were forced out of the Gottorp part of Southern Jutland.

The differences with Sweden persisted, however, and when the Swedes lost a major battle to the Russian army near Poltava (after which Karl 12. escaped to Turkey), the temptation to regain the Scanian provinces proved to be too much. Denmark declared war against Sweden, and a Danish army landed in Scania. The Great Nordic War lasted 11 years, and it became one of the hardest wars Denmark has been through. Scania and Blekinge provinces were quickly reclaimed, using the motto Now or never, but soon the Danish army was beaten, at Helsingborg in 1710 and at Gadebusch in 1712.

Anna Sofie Reventlow Johan Salomon Wahl Frederiksborg Castle, Hillerød, Denmark

At the peace accord in 1721 at Frederiksborg Castle it was decided that the Gottorp part of southern Jutland should once again come under the Danish crown, but other than that, everything stayed the same as before the start of the war. For the first time in centuries, though, Denmark had grown.

Despite his interest in women, Frederik 4. was a pietist and he worked eagerly to spread Christianity and to enlighten the people. He did implement a number of reforms – among them the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar and the abolition of the “vornedskab” which prohibited peasants from leaving their place of birth without permission of the land owner. On the other hand, the King, in 1701 established a “land militia” with compulsory military service for male peasants. He is also credited with the creation of 240 peasant schools, the Royal Vajsenhus in Fredensborg Castle in Copenhagen (a boarding school for orphans), and he supported the pagan mission that under the leadership of Hans Egede resulted in the colonizing of Greenland.

The 22 years younger Queen Anna Sofie was after the King's death banished to Clausholm in Jutland, the same place from where her husband had her abducted years earlier. Furthermore, Frederik 4.s son, Chistian 6. had the will of his father invalidated so that the widowed Queen would not receive a large part of the fortune she was to have inherited, Frederik 4. died on October 12, 1730 at Odense Castle and he is buried in Roskilde.