Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
| House of Glücksburg | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Country |
 Kingdom of Denmark Kingdom of Greece Kingdom of Iceland Kingdom of Norway Schleswig-Holstein (claimed)
|
| Parent house | House of Oldenburg |
| Titles | |
| Founded | 6 July 1825 |
| Founder | Friedrich Wilhelm |
| Current head | Christoph |
The House of Glücksburg (also spelled Glücksborg), shortened from House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, is a Dano-German branch of the House of Oldenburg, members of which have reigned at various times in Denmark, Norway, Greece and several northern German states.
Margrethe II of Denmark, Harald V of Norway, Constantine II of Greece, Queen Sofía of Spain and Charles, Prince of Wales are patrilineal members of cadet branches of the Glücksburg dynasty.
The family takes its ducal name from Glücksburg, a small coastal town in Schleswig, on the southern, German side of the fjord of Flensburg that divides Germany from Denmark. In 1460, Glücksburg came, as part of the conjoined Dano-German duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, to Count Christian VII of Oldenburg whom, in 1448, the Danes had elected their king as Christian I, the Norwegians likewise taking him as their hereditary king in 1450.
In 1564, Christian I's great-grandson, King Frederick II, in re-distributing Schleswig and Holstein's fiefs, retained some lands for his own senior royal line while allocating Glücksburg to his brother Duke John the Younger (1545-1622), along with Sonderburg, in appanage. John's heirs further sub-divided their share and created, among other branches, a line of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg dukes at Beck (an estate near Minden bought by the family in 1605), who remained vassals of Denmark's kings.
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