Discussions about the Imperial Family and European Royalty > The Danish Royal Family
Prince Aage
Princess Jil:
I would like some information on Prince Aage. All I know is that he was the Count of Rosenburg and married to Matilda Calvi di Bergola. He lived from 1887 to 1940. I have one postcard of him in a uniform. He looked quite dashing in the photo. He seemed to be quite handsome (at least in the postcard I have of him). Does anyone have photos of him that they could post here?
Princess Jil:
Here is a photo of Prince Aage from a postcard that I have in my postcard collection. I had buy this postcard when I knew nothing about Prince Aage. I just thought he was so handsome that I had to own this postcard! He looks like what I would image a "Prince Charming" to look like. Did he always look so handsome? Did the Tsar of Russia or his wife ever consider Prince Aage as a possible spose for one of their daughters?
http://s269.photobucket.com/albums/jj41/jil14/?action+view¤t=PrinceAage.jpg
Princess Jil:
I am having trouble at times getting to the exact link of my scanned photo. It seems that the above link did take us to photobucket but did not take us to the exact link of Prince Aage. So please just scroll down and you will see the photo of him. Perhaps if you click on it then it will bring up just that photo. Sorry! I am still in the learning stages of posting links to my photos.
gogm:
I read about him in The Damned Die Hard by Hugh McLeave(?) about the French Foreign Legion. I recall he died in 1940, just as the Legion was setting off for Norway to fight the Nazis. His death was a shock to his comrades who passed the word "Le Prince Aage est mort" on the platform as they awaited the train that would take them to their ship. He was the star Legionnaire of the storied "Beau Geste" era.
grandduchessella:
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
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