"Marie was the eldest child of Robert, duke of Chartres, and his wife Princess Françoise d'Orléans. Her father was the second son of Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans, and Duchess Helena of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Françoise was the daughter of François d'Orléans, prince de Joinville, and Princess Francisca of Brazil.
Born during the reign in France of her family's rival, Napoléon III, she grew up in England, where her family had moved in 1848. She moved to France with her family after the fall of Napoleon in 1871. She defined herself as "une bourgeoise".
After obtaining papal consent, Marie married Prince Valdemar of Denmark, the youngest son of King Christian IX of Denmark, on 20 October 1885 in a civil ceremony in Paris and again in a religious ceremony in the Château d'Eu two days later. She remained a Roman Catholic, he a Lutheran. They adhered to the dynastic arrangement usually stipulated in the marriage contract in such circumstances: sons were to be raised in the faith of their father, daughters in that of their mother.
Marie was described as impulsive, witty and energetic, and introduced a more relaxed style to the stiff Danish court. She never fully learned to speak Danish. The marriage was friendly. She gave her children a free upbringing, and her artistic taste and Bohemian habits dominated her household. She was informal, not snobbish, believed in social equality, expressed her own opinions, and performed her ceremonial duties in an unconventional manner. She once wrote: "I believe that a person, regardless of her position, should be herself" (1896). She liked both to ride and to drive and was known for her elegance. She was the official protector of the fire brigade and let herself be photographed in a fire brigade uniform, which was caricatured, and as a support to her spouse's career as a marine, she had an anchor tattooed on her upper arm.[5] She once said regarding complaints about her unconventional manners: "Let them complain, I am just as happy nevertheless".
She had asked the permission of the court to leave the house without a lady-in-waiting, and she had mainly spent her time with artists. She painted and photographed and was a student of Otto Bache and Frants Henningsen. She participated in the exhibitions at Charlottenborg in 1889, 1901 and 1902 and was a member of the Danish Arts Academy.[6]
She refused to obey the expectation on royal women to stay away from politics. In 1886, Valdemar declined the throne of Bulgaria with her consent. She belonged to the political left and participated in convincing the king to agree to the reforms of 1901, which led to an appointment of a Venstre government,[6] and the de facto introduction of parliamentarism. In 1902 she rejected the idea of offering the Danish West Indies to the United States. She also saw to the interests of France: she was credited by the French press with having influenced the Franco-Russian alliance in 1894 and the peace in the French-German Colonial conflict over Morocco in 1905. She assisted her friend H.N. Andersen, the founder of the East Asiatic Company, with contacts in his affairs in Thailand.[6] She was a popular person in Denmark.
Marie's husband and three sons were in India en route to Siam when they received word that she had died at Bernstorff."
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The memorial
The memorial has a stone plinth standing on stone steps. There is a bust of Princess Marie at the top of the plinth, and a nude figure of a woman seated on the steps with a young boy.
On the front of the plinth there is the following inscription with a crown above it.
MARIE
PRINSESSE
AF
DANMARK
There is a second inscription on the left hand side of the plinth.
FODT 13 1 1865
DØD 4 12 1909
HUN TALTE
HED VOR TUNGE
OG FANDT
VORE HUÆRTER
The English translation is
BORN 13 1 1865
DIED 4 12 1909
SHE SPOKE
OUR LANGUAGE
AND FOUND
OUR HEARTS
There is a second inscription on the right hand side of the plinth.
MARIE AMÉLIE
FRANÇOISE HÉLÈNE
FORMÆLET
22 X 1885 MED
PRINS VALDEMAR
The English translation is
MARIE AMÉLIE
FRANÇOISE HÉLÈNE
MARRIED
22 X 1885
PRINCE VALDEMAR
There is also a plaque on the bottom step.
PRINSESSE MARIE
1865 - 1909
CARL MARTIN HANSEN
1877 - 1941
OSTILLET 1912
KØBENHAVNS COMMUNE
English Translation
PRINCESS MARIE
1865 - 1909
CARL MARTIN HANSEN
1877 - 1941
ERECTED 1912
COMMUNITY OF COPENHAGEN