He was born at Copenhagen, the 3rd son of Prince Valdemar of Denmark and Princess Marie of Orléans.

[1] The third child of Prince Valdemar of Denmark and his wife Princess Marie of Orléans,[2] his father was a younger son of King Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Kassel, and his mother was the eldest daughter of Prince Robert, Duke of Chartres and Princess Françoise of Orléans.

[3] Prince Erik was christened 10 days after his birth and his godparents were his paternal grandparents, King Christian IX and Queen Louise of Denmark; his paternal uncle and aunt, Tsar Alexander III of Russia and Empress Maria Feodorovna; and his paternal uncle and aunt, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Louise of Denmark.

[4] As was then customary with Danish royalty, Erik renounced his rights to the throne when he chose to take a commoner as wife, marrying in Ottawa, Ontario, on 11 February 1924 Lois Frances Booth (Ottawa, Ontario, 2 August 1897 – Copenhagen, 26 February 1941).

[5] His wife was the daughter of a kinsman of the Booth baronets, John Frederick Booth (Ontario, 3 June 1865 – Ontario, 5 August 1930), who lived in Canada, and wife Frances Alberta Hunsicker (Montreal, Quebec, 1 November 1866 – Victoria, British Columbia, 12 February 1964, buried in Beechwood Cemetery, Ottawa),[6] and paternal granddaughter of John Rudolphus Booth, the Father of Canada by his wife Rosalinda Cooke (1829 – 1886).