Marie Grubbe

Fru Marie Grubbe (1643–1718) was a member of the Danish nobility who drew a lot of attention by her many extramarital affairs.

She was married to Ulrik Frederik Gyldenløve, Count of Laurvig (1638–1704), Governor-general of Norway, the son of King Frederick III of Denmark, in 1660–70, the noble Palle Dyre (d. 1707) in 1673–91, and to the coachman Søren Sørensen Møller in 1691.

As the heir of her father, she was arranged to marry Ulrik Frederik Gyldenløve, Count of Laurvig (1638-1704), the illegitimate son of King Frederick III of Denmark by her relative Regitze, widow of the illegitimate son of King Christian IV of Denmark and Karen Andersdatter.

In 1690, when she had an extramarital relationship with the younger coachman Søren Sørensen Møller, her father asked the king for permission to disinherit his daughter and to have her locked up for the rest of her life.

She has inspired the books Kysse-Marie by Juliane Preisler (1994), Brudstykker af en Landsbydegns Dagbog by Steen Steensen Blicher (1824), Fru Marie Grubbe by J. P. Jacobsen, (1876) and Hønse-Grethes Familie by H. C. Andersen (1869), the opera Marie Grubbe by Ebbe Hamerik (1940) and a play by Sven Lange.

Marie Grubbe, shortly after the divorce from Ulrik Frederik Gyldenløve. Full figure standing in profile to left