Marie Sophie Frederikke of Hesse-Kassel (28 October 1767 – 21/22 March 1852) was Queen of Denmark and Norway by marriage to Frederick VI.

Little is known of Marie's childhood, but the life of the little German court at Louisenlund, headed by Fraulein von Berlichingen, are described by her mother's lady-in-waiting Julie Stolberg as very simple, without great ceremony, and that the royal couple allowed their children to be raised very naturally.

[1] After crown prince Frederick was declared of legal majority and resumed the regency in 1784, the Danish royal court started to make inquiries to arrange a marriage for him.

Marie was among the candidates for the marriage, and described as literary interested, and reported to have composed poetry and have made a declamation of the Messiah.

[1] However, she was not the preferred candidate within the royal court, and it was pointed out both that Frederick did not share Marie's literary interests, and that she was further more given a much too free and unrestricted childhood.

[1] Frederick arranged his marriage against the will of both his court, council and also of his sister and brother-in-law, but he had the support of his future father-in-law, who attempted to gain influence in Danish state affairs through it.

In the summer of 1787, Frederick made a visit to Prince Charles and his aunt Princess Louise at Gottorp Castle and met Marie as well.

[1] Crown Princess Marie was put under immense pressure to produce a male heir to the throne, as the main line of the royal family was in danger of being extinguished.

She gave birth to son who died in 1791, and lost several children in the following years, with only two daughters alive, who were not considered suitable heirs to the throne because of their gender.

[1] As for the relationship with Frederick, Marie described herself privately to the wife of Christian Ditlev Frederik Reventlow as "the happiest of wives".

During the fire of Christiansborg Palace in 1794, Andreas Peter Bernstorff described Marie in a letter: Marie eventually became popular within the small circle of people who came to know her, but her reserved nature did not make her popular among the wider court or public and she was disliked for not being seen very often in public by the side of the crown prince when she might have been expected to be, as she abhorred representational duties.

[1] In 1805, the crown prince couple moved to Kiel to be close to the border during because of the threatening proximity of Napoleon in Germany, and Marie was to remain there until 1809.

On 31 October 1809, she made her second official entry to Copenhagen, this time as queen, an occasion which has been described as a moment when her personal popularity among the public was demonstrated.

She was more often noted to speak of politics with people to acquire knowledge, was courted by the Reventlow-Stolberg Party, and was opposed to Napoleon and the alliance with France.

As a widow, she retired from public life to a peaceful existence divided by Fredericksburg and Amalienborg, respected as a symbol of the former dynasty line.

Anders Sandøe Ørsted wrote: Bishop Martensen noted her sorrow over the war with Schleswig-Holstein and that she did not understand the new ideas of a nation, and that she once said: Marie died at Amalienborg on 21 March 1852.

When her youngest sister, Duchess Louise Caroline of Lyksborg, became a widow when most of her large brood of children were as yet very young, Queen Marie accepted some of the younger ones into her tutelage in the royal household.