Despite the fact that the family had limited resources available and lived a relatively bourgeois life by royal standards, Valdemar's siblings managed to enter into some dynastically important marriages.

In March 1863, the Danish royal family, including four-year-old Valdemar, travelled to London for the wedding of his eldest sister, Princess Alexandra, to the Prince of Wales, the son and heir-apparent of Queen Victoria.

After his confirmation in 1874, as was customary for princes at that time, he started a military education and entered the naval college.

Feeling abandoned by his father on this occasion, George would later describe to his fiancée the profound attachment he developed for his uncle from that day forward.

[4] They had a religious ceremony on 22 October 1885 at the Château d'Eu, the residence of Prince Philippe, Count of Paris.

[5] In 1886, after the abdication of Alexander of Battenberg following a coup, the Bulgarian throne was offered to Prince Valdemar, but he and Marie agreed to refuse.