Birkeborg (also called Villa Birkeborg) is a former country house and mansion in Skodsborg, Rudersdal Municipality, situated on the Øresund coast north of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Designed by architect Carl Harald Brummer, the mansion was built between 1909 and 1910. Over the next 50 years, Birkeborg served as a country house and summer residence for several wealthy Copenhagen families until it was demolished in the 1960s. The property has since been converted into a recreational beach park, Birkeborg Park, renamed the Struckmann Park [Wikidata], in 1973.

The area on which Birkeborg was eventually constructed was originally parcelled out from the Aggershvile [da] estate, and Birkeborg was built on the Aggershvile hill (Danish: Aggershvilebakken). The grounds of the Birkeborg estate totalled about 3 barrels of land (Danish: tønder), equal to over 16,000 square metres.

The mansion itself with adjoining pergola and pavilion was designed by architect Carl Brummer, for which he was awarded the Eckersberg Medal in 1911. In addition, an adjoining caretaker's residence was also constructed on the grounds. A grand and stately landscape garden was established on the property, designed and maintained by Danish garden architect, Erik Erstad-Jørgensen [da].

Birkeborg was built during World War I for a Swedish war profiteer (Danish: Gullaschbaron), Lorenz Beijers, and was a typical example of the prevailing Swedish-German architectural style, that influenced Swedish architecture after the marriage of Victoria of Baden and Gustaf V in 1881. The building featured four storeys, a roof superstructure with a tower clock and a columned colonnade facing the beach, dominating the more modest villas on Strandvejen.^[1]

In 1916, shipowner and merchant, Andreas Erlandsen (1877-1943) bought Birkeborg. He used it as a summer residence until 1926, where the wealthy Artom Rand [Wikidata] (1880-1956), director of Copenhagen Fruit Auctions [Wikidata] acquired the mansion. Rand was married to Rigmor Rand (née Aller), the daughter of Danish publisher Carl Aller, and they lived at Birkeborg until Rand's death in 1956, whereafter Rigmor alone owned the property.^[2] Rigmor was also the co-owner of the grand manor house Sophienholm on the shore of Lake Bagsværd in Lyngby, from 1926 to 1963.

In 1960, Rigmor Rand sold the propoerty to a local master builder, Arp Hansen. Shoryly afterwars, in 1961, the Danish Ministry of Culture acquired the Birkeborg property from Hansen, after which the demolition of the mansion began and was completed in 1966. In connection with the dismantling, a public recreational beach park was established on the vacated area, initially called the ‘Birkeborg Park’, however in 1973 it was renamed the Struckmann Park (Danish: Struckmannparken), named after the chairman of the Danish Society for Nature Conservation, Erick Struckmann.^[3]

The building was built on an Öland stone plinth, with plastered and slightly yellowwashed facades. The roof surfaces were covered with black glazed tiles and the vertical wall of the mansard roof was covered with copper.^[4]

The hall extended over two storeys and had access to the curved loggia from the living room; from the first floor, a wraparound gallery led to a balcony resting on the pillars of the loggia. The villa was situated on a slope facing the beach, offering excellent views of the Øresund strait and the Swedish coast.^[4]

• 1910-1916: Lorenz Beijer, Swedish merchant.
• 1916-1926: Andreas Erlandsen, merchant and shipowner.
• 1926-1956: Artom Rand [Wikidata], founder, director and owner of Copenhagen Fruit Auctions [Wikidata].
• 1956-1960: Rigmor Rand (née Aller), widow of above.
• 1960-1961: Arp Hansen, a local master builder.
• 1961-1966: Ministry of Culture of Denmark.

• Brøchner, Georg (1912). Nordiscke Villaer og Hjem: Afbildninger af nordiske Arkitekters og andre Kunstneres Arbejder, Eksteriører, Interiører, Grundrids og Planer (in Danish). E. Jespersen.
• Haste, William (1930). Strandvejen: dens huse og mennesker (in Danish). H. Hagerup.
• Sørensen, C. Th. (1939). Written at Copenhagen. Om Haver (1st ed.). Emil Wienes Bogforlag: Egmont H. Petersens Kgl. Hof-Bogtrykkeri.

Artom Georg Niels Rand (29 November 1880 – 15 December 1956) was a Danish major merchant, auctioneer and fruit importer who founded and was the director of Copenhagen Fruit Auctions [Wikidata].

Lars Bay Larsen (8 June 1953) is a Danish jurist and judge, who has served as the Vice President of the Court of Justice of the European Union, since 2021. He has been a Judge of the court since 2006.

Vibeke Pasternak Jørgensen (born 13 October 1967) is a Danish diplomat, laywer and Ambassador-at-large, who serves as the current Under-Secretary of State for Legal Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In her current position, she serves as the General counsel and chief legal officer (CLO) of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She officially represented Denmark in the genocide case Ukraine v. Russian Federation, brought before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in 2022.

Henriette Ellermann-Kingombe (born 21 March 1970) is a Danish civil servant and courtier, who is the current Private Secretary and lady-in-waiting to Queen Mary of Denmark, since 2021.

^[1]

Carsten Grønbech-Jensen (born 3 November 1971) is a Danish diplomat and civil servant. He is the current Permanent Representative of Denmark to the European Union, having previously served as Director of European and Arctic Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Lisbet Zilmer-Johns (born 14 August 1965) is a Danish diplomat and civil servant. She is the current Secretary of State for Foreign Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, having previously served as Director-General of the Danish Critical Supply Agency [da] (2020-2023) and as Permanent Representative to the Political and Security Committee of the European Union (2013-2017).

Married in 1996 to senior diplomat and ambassador Michael Zilmer-Johns.

Jonas Bering Liisberg (born) is a Danish jurist, diplomat and civil servant. He is the current Secretary of State for European and the Arctic Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, having previously served as Permanent Representative of Dennmark to the European Union (2019-2022) and Secretary of State for Foreign Policy (2017-2019).

Anniken Ramberg Krutnes (born 15 September 1968) is a Norwegian diplomat and civil servant. Since 2020, she has been the current Ambassador of Norway to the United States, the first woman to hold that position. She has previously served as Norway's Ambassador for Arctic and Antarctic Affairs (2016–2018) as well as Ambassador of Norway to the Netherlands and Luxembourg (2011–2016)

Krutnes'

Deputy Director General of the Department of Security Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway.

concurrently side-accredited to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

Birgitte Nygaard Markussen (born 30 March 1963) is a Danish diplomat and civil servant. She is the current Director for Humanitarian Affairs, Civil Society and Engagement at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, having previously served as the Ambassador of the European Union to the African Union from 2020 to 2023.

Markussen has held several diplomatic positions during her career, with a particular emphasis on foreign relations with Africa. She started her career in the Danish Foreign Service, where she served as Ambassador of Denmark to Burkina Faso (2010–2012), and as the Director for Africa at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (2012–2016), before joining the European External Action Service, becomming firstly the Deputy Managing Director for Africa (2016–2020), and then Foreign Policy Expoert to the European Investment Bank (2018–2020), and then EU ambassador to the African Union and the UN Economic Commission for Africa.

Martin Bille Hermann (born 21 December 1968) is a Danish diplomat and civil servant. He is the current Permanent Representative of Dennmark to OECD, having previously served as the Permanent Representative of Denmark to the United Nations (UN) in New York, from 2019 to 2023.

Forthcomming Ambassador of Denmark to Belgium.

Forthcomming Permanent Representative of Denmark to the Political and Security Committee of the European Union (EU).

The Central Administration of Denmark (Danish: centraladministrationen or statsadministrationen; also known as the State Administration of Denmark) is the nationwide public administration of the Kingdom of Denmark, and is conventionally comprised of the ministerial departments and subdivisional directorates, agencies, councils and boards, under the jurisdiction of the Cabinet of Denmark, the central executive power.

The central administration is staffed by the Civil Service of Denmark (Danish: embedsværket), a permanent bureaucracy or secretariat of public officials, which supports the functions and decisions of the government through the administration of legislation, management of public appropriations, information and counselling.

The Permanent Secretary of State to the Prime Minister's Office (Danish: Statsministeriets departementschef) is the highest official in the Prime Minister's Office of Denmark, and as such the most senior civil servant in the central administration of Denmark and the symbolic head of the entire civil service.

Since 1914, the Permanent Secretary has served concurrently as the Secretary of the Council of State, the privy council of Denmark.

The position was established in 1913 at the instigation of Carl Theodor Zahle, as the Permanent Secretary to the Council Presidium, the then cabinet ministry of Denmark. The inaugural holder was Erik Arup.

Sørine Godfredsen (born 7 July 1967) is a Danish pastor, journalist, author, and conservative political and cultural debater and commentator, who writes for Kristeligt Dagblad and Berlingske.

Sørine Godfredsen was born on 7 July 1967 in Hadsten, Central Jutland Region, the daughter of * and *.

She grew up in a family of four children and graduated with an examen artium in modern languages from the County Gymnasium of Hadsten [da] in 1986.

In 1993, Godfredsen earned her journalism degree from the Danish School of Media and Journalism in Aarhus. Following a brief stint as a TV journalist at TV2 Midt/Vest in Holstebro, she moved to Brighton, completing a master's degree in media studies at the University of Sussex in 1994.

Godfredsen worked as a journalist at Det Fri Aktuelt from 1994 to 2001, covering sports, culture, and commentary. Concurrently, she pursued theology studies at the University of Copenhagen, earning a Master of Theology (cand.theol.) degree in 2004.

She considers herself conservative, and supports christian and traditional values.

She married Henrik Flødstrup, a journalist at Ekstra Bladet, on 21 May 2023.

Majorie of Scotland, Countess of Pembroke (also Margery, actually Margaret; 1200 – 17 November 1244) was a Scottish princess, the third daughter of William the Lion, King of Scotland and his wife Ermengarde de Beaumont. She was a member of the House of Dunkeld by birth, and by marriage a member of the Marshal family.

She married Gilbert Marshal, 4th Earl of Pembroke, son of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke and Isabel de Clare, 4th Countess of Pembroke, on 1 August 1235 in Berwick-upon-Tweed. He recieved with her a large dowry in Scotland, with 10000 marks and more.

Her father William the Lion, granted Marjorie the lands of Strathord and Strathearn, in free marriage. Later her cousin, Malcolm II of Scotland, granted her the lands of Pitgorno and Drumdreel in Strathmiglo, Fife, in exchange for those she had recivered from her father. King Alexander II later decreed, that these lands are to pass to the Balmerino Abbey after Marjerie’s death.

Magdalene Charlotte Hedevig Løvenskiold (27 February 1731 – 6 May 1796) was a Danish noblewoman and estate owner.

Born into a newly ennobled family, Magdalene married Severin Løvenskiold, a lieutenant from the wealthy Norwegian Løvenskiold family, in 1749. A woman of influence, she played a key role in political circles, notably in the 1784 government change. Widowed in 1776, she took charge of the Løvenborg estate, implementing tough financial measures and advocating for practical farming methods. After 13 years of administration, she handed over the estate to her son, Michael Herman Løvenskiold, in 1789. Magdalene lived at Løvenborg until her death in 1796.

Sophie Axelsdatter Brahe (11 May 1578 – 21 December 1646) was a Danish noblewoman and estate owner.

Lady of Rosenholm Castle

René Rosager Dinesen (born 13 April 1971) is a Danish diplomat and civil servant. He is the current Ambassador of Denmark to the United Kingdom, having also served as Ambassador of Denmark to South Africa (2012–2015) and Ambassador of Denmark to Afghanistan (2011–2012).

Dinesen has held several diplomatic positions during his career, including as Ambassador of Denmark to Austria (2018-2022), concurrently serving as non-resident Ambassador to North Macedonia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Albania. During his time as Danish ambassador to Austria, Dinesen also served as Resident Representative of Denmark to the International Atomic Energy Agency, as well as Permanent Representative of Denmark to OSCE, CTBTO and other UN organizations in Vienna. He was previously Deputy Permanent representative of Denmark to the United Nations (New York) and Under-Secretary of State for Consular Affairs and Public Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

René Rosager Dinesen was born 13 April 1971 in Svendborg on the Island of Funen, Denmark.

In 1996, he obtained a Master of Arts in political sciences and international relations (Cand.scient.pol.) from the University of Copenhagen.

In 2017, he guest lectured the academic programmes Executive Education and Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism of the University of Southern California (USC).

In the 2022 ambassadorial reshuffle,

He presented the Letters of Recall of his predecessor and his own letters of Credence during an audience with King Charles III at Buckingham Palace, London, on 30 November 2022.^[1]

Johan Garmann, called "the Elder", (9 June 1583 – 7 February 1651) was a Danish-Norwegian councillor, land commissioner, mayor of Haderslev, factor at the Kongsberg Silver Mines, and later merchant in Bragernes, Norway.

Susanne Christina Hyldelund (born 30 July 1968) is a Danish diplomat and civil servant, who has served as the Ambassador of Denmark to Germany since 2020. She is concurrently serving as ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein. From 2009 to 2012, she held the position of Consul General of Denmark in Shanghai.

Hyldelund has held several positions within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark during her career, including serving as served as State Secretary for Trade and Global Sustainability, from 2017 to 2020 and as Under-Secretary for the Trade Council, from 2014 to 2017.

Susanne Christina Hyldelund was born on 30 July 1968 in Koldning, Jutland, Denmark.

and from 2012 to 2014 the Head of Invest & Innovation, an arm of the Danish Foreign Ministry.

^[2]

In 2020, Hyldelund assumed her first ambassadorial appointment, becoming Ambassador of Denmark to Germany. She presented her credentials to President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at Bellevue Palace in Berlin on 4 November 2020. She is concurrently serving as non-resident side-accredited Ambassador of Denmark to the Swiss Confederation and the Principality of Liechtenstein.^[3]

She is fluent in Danish, English, German and French.

Kirsten Malling Biering (born 19 December 1951) is a retired Danish senior diplomat and political advisor. She is currently senior advisor at the Danish Institute for International Studies and the think tank EUROPA, having previously served as Ambassador of Denmark to France (2015-2019), Sweden (2010-2015), the Netherlands (2005-2010) and Latvia (1991-1995). She has also served as Permanent Representative of Denmark to OSCE.

Changes to the article.

In her widowhood, she became the richest woman in Europe, extensively supporting the Danish-Norwegian realm under her spendthrift son (financing government affairs and the construction of architectural projects as the Rundetårn, Børsen and Rosenborg), as well as conducting more strategic ventures, leveraging her immense wealth to exert considerable influence on political affairs throughout Northern Europe.

When she died in 1631, contemporaries described her as "a lady of great thrift and enterprise", and the secretary to the English Ambassador, James Howell, remarked that she was the "richest Queen in Christendom".^[1][2]

Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (Sophia; 4 September 1557 – 14 October 1631) was Queen of Denmark and Norway by marriage to Frederick II of Denmark. She was the mother of King Christian IV of Denmark and Anne of Denmark. She was Regent of Schleswig-Holstein from 1590 to 1594.^[3]

In 1572, she married her cousin, Frederick II of Denmark, and their marriage was remarkably happy.^[4][5] She had little political influence during their marriage, although she maintained her own court and exercised a degree of autonomy over patronages.^[6] Sophie developed an interest in astrology, chemistry, alchemy and iatrochemistry,^[7] supporting and visiting Tycho Brahe on Ven in 1586 and later.^[6] She has later been described as a woman "of great intellectual capacity, noted especially as a patroness of scientists".^[8] She became widowed at the age of 31.

Through the skilful management of her vast widowed estate, she amassed an enormous fortune, becoming the richest woman in Northern Europe^[9] and the second wealthiest individual in Europe after Maximillian I of Bavaria.^[10] Through her "inexhaustible coffers", she financially supported her son, and thereby effectively the entire Danish-Norwegian state.^[11][12][13] She maintained a large lending business, earning interest, and extending loans to, among others: her son Christian IV, the Danish Council of the Realm, her son-in-law King James VI & I, her grandson Duke Frederick Ulrich of Brunswick-Lüneburg and other German princes.^[14] When she died in 1631, James Howell, a 17th-century Anglo-Welsh historian and writer, remarked that she was the "richest Queen in Christendom".^[1]

Queen Sophie exerted significant political influence both domestically and internationally during her widowhood.^[15] Through extensive correspondence with Protestant princes and her strategic financial dealings, she played a crucial role in shaping Danish and Northern European politics, notably during the Thirty Years' War, influencing danish peace negotiations and ultimately contributing to the Treaty of Lübeck in 1629.^[16][17]

Born in Wismar, she was the daughter of Duke Ulrich III of Mecklenburg-Güstrow and Princess Elizabeth of Denmark (a daughter of Frederick I and Sophie of Pomerania). Through her father, a grandson of Elizabeth of Denmark, she descended from King John of Denmark, the brother of Frederick I. Like Ulrich, she had a great love of knowledge. Later, she would be known as one of the most learned Queens of the time.

At the age of fourteen Sophie, on 20 July 1572, married Frederick II of Denmark in Copenhagen; he was thirty-eight. She was crowned the following day.^[18] They were first half-cousins, through their grandfather, Frederick I, King of Denmark and Norway. They met at Nykøbing Castle, when it had been arranged for the king to meet with Margaret of Pomerania. She was brought to Denmark by Sophie's parents, who decided to also bring their own daughter.^[19] Sophie found favour with the king, who betrothed himself to her, and married her six months later.^[20] King Frederick had been in love with the noblewoman Anne Corfitzdatter Hardenberg for many years, but was unable to marry her due to her being a noblewoman, not a princess, the opposition of the Danish Privy Council as well as eventually Anne herself.^[19]

Despite the age difference between Sophie and Frederick, the marriage was a happy one. Queen Sophie was a loving mother, nursing her children personally during their illnesses. When Frederick was sick with malaria in 1575, she personally nursed him and wrote many worried letters to her father about his progress.^[21][19] King Frederick was well known for being fond of drinking and hunting,^[19] but he was a loving spouse to Sophie, writing of her with great fondness in his personal diary (where he kept careful track of where she and their children were in the country^[22]) and there is no evidence of extramarital affairs on the part of either spouse.^[3] Their marriage is described as having been harmonious.^[3][19] All of their children were sent to live with her parents in Mecklenburg for the first years of their lives, with the possible exception of the last son, Hans, as it was the belief at the time that the parents would indulge their children too much.^[19][3] She showed a keen interest in science and visited the astronomer Tycho Brahe.^[3] She was also interested in the old songs of folklore.^[3]

In 1588, Daniel Rodgers, a Anglo-Flemish diplomat employed for Lord Burghley as a spy to report the characters of the Danish royal family, wrote of Queen Sophie; "She is a right virtous and godly princess, who with a motherly care and great wisdom, ruleth her children".^[23][24]

Around the time of Frederick's death, Sophie's most important function was as a matchmaker for her children. Her daughter, Anne of Denmark, married James VI of Scotland and became queen consort in 1589. She arranged the marriage against the will of the council. When James VI came to Denmark, she gave him a present of 10,000 dalers.^[25] She was also deeply involved in the negotiations that led to the wedding of Princess Elizabeth to Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. She oversaw the levying of 150,000 dalers for the two weddings and other expenses, and spent herself 50,000 on jewellery.^[26]

In 1596, she arranged the marriage of her daughter Princess Augusta to John Adolf, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, which improved Denmark's connections to the north German Lutheran states. Finally, in 1602, she negotiated the marriage of Hedwig to Christian II, Elector of Saxony. She also played a key role in finding appropriate spouses for her younger sons.^[26] She was the main negotiator in the marriage arrangements between her son Christian, heir to the throne, and Princess Anne Catherine of Brandenburg, whom Sophie called a "pure pearl".^[27]

Queen Sophie had no political power during the lifetime of her spouse.^[3] When her underage son Christian IV became king in 1588, she was given no place in the regency council in Denmark itself.^[3] From 1590, however, she acted as regent for the duchies of Schleswig-Holstein for her son.^[3]

She organized a grand funeral for her spouse, arranged for the dowries for her daughters and for her own allowance, all independently and against the will of the council.^[3] She engaged in a power struggle with the regents of Denmark and with the Council of State, which had Christian declared of age in 1593.^[3] She wished the duchies to be divided between her younger sons, which caused a conflict.^[3] Sophie only gave up her position the following year, 1594. In response, Sophie began securing the resources she would need to remain an influential figure within Denmark.

As dowager-queen, Sophie was entitled to 'Dowager-pension' (Danish: Livgeding, lit. 'support of life') as well as the castles that comprised her morning gift. These vast estates included Denmark's fourth-largest island Lolland, and the neighbouring island Falster, on which the castle of Nykøbing was situated, which she also received.^[15] She also received Aalholm Castle, Halsted Priory, Vennerslund, Ravnsborg, and the fiefs belonging thereto. She succeeded in obtaining 30,000 rigsdaler from her late husband's liquid assets, as well as an annual income of 8,000 rigsdaler from the Sound Dues.^[28] Over a number of years, her crown property on Lolland and Falster was expanded, with large properties being transferred to the widow's estate, including Corselitze and Skørringe, whose holdings on Falster totalled over 100 farm estates.^[29]

During her long widowhoow, Sophie mainly devoted herself to managing her estates, where she was effectively an independent ruler. She protected the residents of her dowerlands and engaged in large-scale trade and in money-lending.^[3] She took a keen interest in new agricultural technology, converted her land to large-scale farming, sold grain and cattle to northern Germany through her large established network in the principalities, built mills and was especially interested in cattle breeding, which was an important source of income during this period.^[30] The still existing Queen's Warehouse in Nakskov was constructed for her in 1589–1591.^[31]

The Dowager Queen Sophie managed her estates in Lolland-Falster so well, that her son could borrow money from her on several occasions for his wars.^[3] She helped to fund her son Christian IV's military campaign against Sweden in 1611, the Kalmar War, and his entry into the Thirty Years War in 1615. Likewise, she also assisted her son with a loan in 1605 of 140,000 Danish rigsdaler, whereupon Christian launched a series of expeditions to Greenland. In 1614, Christian IV took out another loan of 210,000 rigsdaler from his mother.^[11] In 1621, the Danish Council of the Realm obtained two loans of 100,000 and 280,000 rigsdaler respectively from the Dowager Queen, to cover the state's deficit.^[32][11] The majority of the Dowager Queen's loans to her son were never repaid.^[11]

In 1620–21, Dowager Queen Sophie was the main contributor of a loan of 300,000 rigsdaler from the Danish state under Christian IV, to England under her son-in-law James VI and I.^[11] The interest rate was the "extremely favourable" 6%.^[33] In addition to her liquid assets amounting to millions of guilders, she also had extensive properties in the north of the Holy Roman Empire, pledged by princely creditors. The queen inspected these estates during her numerous journeys.^[34]

Because of her great wealth, Dowager Queen Sophie was able to exercise considerable influence on both Danish domestic affairs and the international politics of Northern Europe during the reign of her son, Christian IV (reigned 1596–1648). During a period from the death of her husband in 1588 until her death forty-three years later, she was active in the political life of Denmark.^[15] The queen dowager maintained a constant awareness of the current political developments in Europe and in the empire, through intensive correspondence with Protestant princes and her Mecklenburg relatives.^[34]

Domestically, Sophie influenced and supported the realm through continuous financial loans. Correspondence also shows that Sophie engaged in financial discussions with her son about the levying of taxes.^[36]

The Dowager Queen also had political influence internationally, as a consequence of her loans to North German principalities. During the Thirty Years' War, she lent money to several German Protestant princes, and among her creditors was her grandson Duke Frederick Ulrich of Brunswick-Lüneburg, who owed her 300,000 Danish rigsdaler,^[36] as well as her son-in-law John Adolf, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, to whom she also lent 300,000 rigsdaler.^[37] She also conducted financial dealings with the leader of the Catholic forces, Count Tilly, with whom she wanted to form a joint creditors' front.^[38]

In 1620, her grandson-in-law, Frederick V of the Palatinate, husband to her granddaughter Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia, was deposed. The couple soon fled Prague and settled in The Hague, and during this period, Elizabeth and Sophie maintained frequent correspondence. In 1621, Queen Dowager Sophie engaged her connections in Hamburg and, with "a mootherlie Caire", as described by Sir Robert Antrusther, she provided £20.000 (equivalent to approximately £4,500,000 today^[39]) to support the couple's immediate needs and "to serve the present want of heere highnes", as Sophie wrote.^[40]

During the latter stages of the Danish participation in the Thirty Years' War, Dowager Queen Sophie played a diplomatic role by engaging in extensive correspondence with various parties involved. She corresponded with, among others, John George I, Elector of Saxony, Maximilian 1, Elector of Bavaria, Ferdinand of Bavaria, Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, Philipp Christoph von Sötem, Archbishop-Elector of Trier and Georg Friedrich von Greiffenklau, Archbishop-Elector of Mainz, through which she established numerous declarations from German princes for their assistance in the promotion and intervention on behalf of peace, and to send delegates to participate in peace negotiations in Lübeck, which in May 1629 led to the Treaty of Lübeck, ending the Danish intervention in the Thirty Years' War.^[41]

She also corresponded with Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, notably concerning her displeasure at the inadequate protection of her financial interests during the Thirty Years' War, where imperial supreme commander, Albrecht von Wallenstein, had seized the Mecklenburg territories of her debtors, and refused to pay interest or instalments on the debt.^[42]

She often visited Mecklenburg, and attended her daughter's wedding in Dresden in 1602. In 1603 she became involved in an inheritance dispute with her uncle, which remained unsolved at his death in 1610.^[3] In 1608, she managed to soften the punishment of Rigborg Brockenhuus, and in 1628, she was one of the influential people who prevented her son from having her grandson's lover, Anne Lykke, accused of witchcraft.^[3]

When Sophie died in 1631 at Nykøbing Falster, at the age of seventy-four, she was the richest woman in Europe.^[38] She left three children, Christian, Hedwig and Augusta, four had died before her. All three attended the funeral, said to be conducted with great splendour. Her body was brought from Nykøbing via Vordingborg to Copenhagen, and a solemn funeral service took place in the Church of Our Lady on 13 November 1631. The next day the body was taken to Roskilde Cathedral, and laid to rest in the chapel beside her long-deceased husband.^[44]

Sophie left an absolutely enormous inheritance, which was valued at well over 5.5 million Danish rigsdaler,^[45][38] an amount difficult to convert to the present day, but at the time it was equivalent to approximately 10 times the annual government revenue of the Danish state, compared to the period 1620–1622.^[46] In 1775, German-born Danish historian Johann Heinrich Schlegel [de; da] estimated that the liquid assets of her fortune in 1631, was equivalent to 27 tons of gold in 1775.^[47] Corrected for inflation, this would be approximately equivalent to

The Dowager Queen had left no actual testament, but in a letter to her son King Christian, she had declared that her three living children should receive a sizeable pre-legacy, a non-distributable portion (Danish: Forlods), the rest to be divided according to law^[44], with the exception of a few bequests, including to Sorø Academy.^[48] The prelegacy consisted of all silverware in the Queen's chambers at Nykøbing Castle, all royal gold in her possession and her personal jewellery, clothes and linen, which were given to her daughters. The gold was divided equally between the king and his two sisters. This pre-distribution took place on 4 December 1631 at Nykøbing, a month after her funeral.

After the distribution of the prelegacy, the main estate itself was to be divided. The assets consisted of outstanding capital, interest, considerable cash, jewellery, coins and sizeable terretories in Mecklenburg - her dowerlands of Lolland and Falster reverted to the Crown. A considerable part of her assets consisted of Sophie's substantial amount of outstanding capital. The largest borrower was undoubtedly her son, Christian IV, who in 1631 owed his mother more than a million Danish rigsdaler. In addition, other family members such as her grandsons, Frederick III, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp owed almost 600,000 rigsdaler, Frederick Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg over 300,000 rigsdaler, and her cousins, John Albert II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, and Adolphus Frederick I, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, each owed 220,000 rigsdaler and almost 140,000 rigsdaler, respectively. The city of Rostock itself also had an unpaid debt of 20,000 rigsdaler.^[49]

Furthermore, there was considerable interest to be recovered from her European lending business. In total, this amounted to well over 215,000 rigsdaler, including interest from Albrecht von Wallenstein, who owed the Queen 63,000 rigsdaler for his time as mortgage holder of the Duchy of Mecklenburg.^[50]

Upon Sophie's death, a dispute quickly arose over her inheritance.^[51] As news of Sophie's demise spread across Northern Europe, several German principalities began dispatching envoys to Copenhagen to negotiate and settle inheritance claims. By letter of 31 December 1631, Christian IV summoned all heirs for the division of the main estate, and scheduled this for the following April (in 1632) at Nykøbing Castle, Falster. Altogether, the inheritance settlement was completed by June 1632, although not without controversy.^[52]

During the process of recording all the valuables Sophie left behind, it became known that her daughter, Duchess Augusta, retained one of the two original handwritten inventories of the estate. Since amicable means of obtaining the inventory from the Duchess failed, an imperial mandate from Ferdinand II, was issued to her, dated 5 November 1635, in Vienna.^[53]

Inheritance discussions primarily concerned the extent of inheritance rights for the grandchildren of Sophie, more specifically the offspring of Sophie's two predeceased daughters Anne and Elizabeth. Her grandson, Charles I of England, ordered the English court to enter into mourning,^[54] and immediately deployed an ambassador extraordinaire, Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester, to the Danish court to offer condolences, and claim part of the inheritance.^[55] Sophie's granddaughter, Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia, also wanted a part of the inheritance. Unlike her brother Charles, she had not inherited from her mother, Anne of Denmark, and therefore argued that she should receive part of her brother's inheritance from their late grandmother. Initially Charles was accepting of this, but after he found out the vast size of the inheritance, totalling over 430.000 rigsdaler, he changed his mind.^[56] However, Christian IV quickly appropriated most of their inheritance, claiming that what he had seized only served to pay part of the English debt.^[57]

During the spring of 1632, several representatives from Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Prussia, Holstein-Gottorp and Mecklenburg, began to arrive at the Danish Court to lodge inheritance demands on behalf of Elizabeth of Denmark's children. Ultimately, the majority of the principal heirs of Sophie were denied inheritance because they were simulationsly debtors of her estate. This included Charles I, the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, and the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, but with the exception of her daughter, Hedwig of Denmark, Electress of Saxony, who recieved the Mecklenburg outstanding assets, totalling over 360.000 rigsdaler.^[58] Some accepted this settlement, while others disputed it fiercly. In particular, Sophie Hedwig, Countess of Nassau-Dietz and Hedwig, Duchess of Pomerania made persistent demands, and wistfully lamented that they were left empty-handed due to their brother, Frederick Ulrich's debt, from which they themselves had not benefited.

The disputes over inheritance persisted long after Sophie's passing. In 1654, over 20 years after her death, William Frederick, Prince of Nassau-Dietz, the son of the aforementioned Countess of Nassau-Diez and Ernest Casimir I, Count of Nassau-Dietz, launched an appeal to recover his mother’s share of Queen Sophia's inheritance. A Danish envoy was dispatched from the court of Frederick III, and a settlement was negotiated between the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Nassau-Diez.^[59]

Christian IV, the ultimately unsurpassed principal beneficiary of Sophie's disposable fortune, quickly squandered the inheritance on costly wars with Sweden, his eldest son's wedding and additional construction activities.^[60]

Contemporary accounts of her character and nature are divergent, though mostly positive in nature. The majority of the limited contemporary accounts of Sophie paint a positive picture, especially by foreign observers. Domestic political power dynamics, on the other hand, have resulted in a more negative perception of Sophie's character, a characterisation that left its mark on Danish history.^[61]

As a result of her enormous wealth and consequent power, and presumably exacerbated by earlier disputes with the Council of the Realm about the maturity and regency of Christian IV, she was seen by some contemporary Danish nobles as being cynical, greedy and avaricious. Later historians have also assessed her as having an "economic sense that bordered on avarice"^[62] and as rapacious and 'in the grip of her emotions’, with a ‘bitter passion’, a ‘violent combativeness’ and a ‘fierce temperament’.^[61]

However, recent reappraisals acknowledge Sophie as intelligent, industrious and strategic, and determined to consolidate her political influence in the Danish-Norwegian realm after the Council of the Realm rejected her as guardian of her son in 1588 - something she successfully achieved through immense financial leverage.^[61] She is chiefly remebered for her impressive financial acumen and as the eternal source of money for her son's, Christian IV, endevours.^[12] She is credited with financing some of the greatest Renaissance constructions in Denmark at the time, including Rundetårn, Børsen and Rosenborg.^[63][64]

Sophie and Frederick had seven children:

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