During WW1, Aage was temporarily held prisoner by the Germans, accused of being a spy before being released. Later, he was wounded in the leg and received the Croix de Guerre. He would later receive the Legion d'Honneur due to his service in the French Foreign Legion--where he achieved the rank of Lt. Colonel. Aage (1887-1940) renounced his title (noted he, "It wasn't such a sacrifice.") and assumed title of Count of Rosenborg 1914). In 1914 he married Mathilda Calvi dei Conti di Bergolo. They would divorce in 1939. She was the sister of Count Calvi di Bergolo who married Princess Yolande of Italy. The couple spent much of their time in Italy where they had one son, Valdemar, Count of Rosenborg (1915-1995) who died without issue. The same year as his divorce, Aage was rumored to be engaged, and planning a Morroccan ceremony, to Dorothy Gould, daughter of billionaire Jay Gould. In 1927, Aage wrote "A Royal Adventurer in the Foreign Legion". In 1940, with Finland reported to be close to collapse under Russian barrage, a call for volunteers went out. Amongst those who volunteered were Aage, his brother-in-law, Prince Rene of Bourbon-Parma and Prince Ferdinand Andreas of Liechtenstein. Aage died in Morocco after a brief illness and received a burial in Sidi Bel Abbes, 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 and lay in Pyuloubier, France. Aage also visited the US several times.
In 1932, a letter from Aage was published stating his outrage over Trotsky visiting Denmark.
"I could not at first believe reports that Trotsky was going to lecture in Denmark," wrote Aage, "but I now see it is true. . . . Has Denmark forgotten that Trotsky was a member of the [Soviet] Government that killed the two sons and the grandchildren of the Danish Princess who be came Empress [Maria Feodorovna of Russia]? "Now I can understand Shakespeare's writing in Hamlet 'There is something rotten in the state of Denmark!' ... I want to express sorrow and anger at this event."
Aage also wrote in Liberty magazine '"Can legionnaires be reformed? Can better results be achieved by substituting mildness for court-martial and military jails? No, no, and no! "As they say in Morocco: 'the legionnaires will fight like tigers. The legionnaires will die like the early Christians. But at the same time the legionnaires will drink and riot like the lowest blackguards known on any continent. And thus it shall be till hell freezes over.' "
He was quoted as saying that it's a 'dirty job' to be King because a monarch belongs to the nation and not himself.
Aage & Mathilda
