Prince Christian Frederick of Denmark and Norway was born late in the morning on 18 September 1786 at Christiansborg Palace, the principal residence of the Danish Monarchy on the island of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen.

[3] His father was a younger son of the deceased King Frederick V of Denmark-Norway and his second wife, Duchess Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, and his mother was a daughter of Duke Louis of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

As the family's summer residence, Hereditary Prince Friedrich in 1789 bought the smaller and elegant country house, Sorgenfri Palace, on the banks of the small river Mølleåen in Kongens Lyngby, north of Copenhagen.

Christian Frederick was raised conservatively according to the guidelines of minister Ove Høegh-Guldberg, who had been ousted from government in 1784 along with the hereditary prince.

[citation needed] He inherited the talents of his highly gifted mother, and his love of science and art was instilled at an early age and would follow him throughout his life.

On a visit to his mother's relatives in Mecklenburg, Prince Christian Frederick stayed at his uncle's court in Schwerin, where he fell in love with his cousin, Duchess Charlotte Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

Charlotte Frederica was described as very beautiful in her youth, but her character was thought to be moody, capricious, frivolous and mythomaniac, qualities that were later said to recur in her son, Frederick VII.

Her alleged affair with her singing teacher, Swiss-born singer and composer Édouard Du Puy, led to her removal from the court.

[9][13] Sweden refused Christian's conditions and a short military campaign ensued in which the Norwegian army was defeated by the forces of the Swedish crown prince Charles John.

By the terms of this treaty, King Christian Frederick transferred executive power to the Storting, then abdicated the throne and returned to Denmark.

The couple was childless and lived in comparative retirement as leaders of the literary and scientific society of Copenhagen until Christian ascended the throne of Denmark.

King Christian died of sepsis in Amalienborg Palace in 1848 and was interred in Roskilde Cathedral on the island of Zealand, the traditional burial site for Danish monarchs since the 15th century.

Some historians and biographers believe that King Christian would have given Denmark a free constitution had he lived long enough; his last words are sometimes recorded as "I didn't make it" (Jeg nåede det ikke).