King Frederick IV of Denmark allowed his son, Crown Prince Christian, to find a suitable bride.

During a trip through Europe accompanied by Chancellor Ulrik Adolf Holstein the Crown Prince met Sophie Magdalene while she was serving as lady-in-waiting of the Queen of Poland at the Pretzsch Castle.

She came from a small (the Margraviate of Kulmbach was not greater than Lolland-Falster), insignificant, relatively poor and large German princely family (she had 13 siblings); however, the King gave his permission.

In the Crown Prince's letters he wrote that he fell for Sophie Magdalene's intense religiosity, which matched with his own beliefs.

[citation needed] A number of laws and prohibitions inspired by the strong religious feelings of the royal couple were issued, including a ban against theater performances and rides on Sundays, and in 1735 introduced public holiday regulation with obligatory church attendance, where breaches of duty resulted in fines or time in jail.

[citation needed] Despite their Pietism, however, the royal couple loved the splendor and luxury; King Louis XIV of France was their great princely role model.

[5] Following the fashion of queens of her day, she owned a lathe built by Diderich de Thurah, 1735–36, which she used for turning items of ivory or precious woods.

Her younger sister, Sophie Caroline, Dowager Princess of Ostfriesland, was appointed by her as abbess at Vallø stift, with an annual pension of 16,600 thalers,[3] a large sum in those times.

According to a contemporary story, the queen was so jealous that she preferred her appointed ladies-in-waiting to be so unattractive as possible so as not to risk attracting the king; however, her jealousy was regarded as completely unnecessary.

[8] For Sophie Magdalene it was a source of great concern and disappointment that none of her two surviving children inherited the strict religious ideals and lifestyle of their parents.

King Frederick V was known in history as a notorious drunkard with sadistic tendencies, while Princess Louise reportedly became pregnant by a Valet de chambre, a scandal that caused her to be hastily married with the Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen, who received a large dowry in compensation.

[10] Sophie Magdalene was distantly related with King Christian VII's mistress, Anne Cathrine Benthagen, the famous Støvlet-Cathrine, who reportedly was the illegitimate daughter of Prince Georg Ludwig of Brunswick-Bevern, whose sister was married with one of the queen's brothers.