On 8 May 1852, after the First War of Schleswig, an agreement called the London Protocol was signed. This international treaty was the revision of an earlier protocol, which had been ratified on 2 August 1850, by the major German powers of Austria and Prussia. The second London Protocol was recognised by the five major European powers—

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

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, and the

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—as well as by the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

powers of Denmark and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. The Protocol affirmed the integrity of the Danish federation as a "European necessity and standing principle". Accordingly, the duchies of Schleswig (a Danish fief) and of Holstein and Lauenburg (German fiefs) were joined by

personal union A personal union is a combination of two or more monarchical states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, involves the constituent states being to some extent in ...

with the Kingdom of Denmark. However, Frederick VII of Denmark was childless, so a change in dynasty was imminent and the lines of succession for the duchies and Denmark diverged. That meant that, contrary to the Protocol, the new

king of Denmark The monarchy of Denmark is a constitutional political system, institution and a historic office of the Kingdom of Denmark. The Kingdom includes Denmark proper and the autonomous administrative division, autonomous territories of the Faroe Is ...

would not also be the new duke of Holstein and Lauenburg. So for this purpose, the line of succession to the duchies was modified. Further, it was affirmed that the duchies were to remain as independent entities, and that Schleswig would have no greater constitutional affinity to Denmark than Holstein did. In 1851, the Russian emperor Nicholas I had recommended that Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (born 1818) should be advanced in the Danish succession, and this proposal was confirmed by the London Protocol on 8 May 1852, when Prince Christian was chosen to follow Frederick VII's aging uncle

Ferdinand Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "courage" or "ready, prepared" related to Old High German "to risk, ventu ...

in the line of succession. A justification for this choice was Christian's marriage in 1842 to Louise of Hesse-Kassel, who was a daughter of the closest female relative of Frederick VII. Louise's mother and elder siblings renounced their rights in favor of Louise and her husband. The decision of the London Protocol was implemented by the Danish Law of Succession of 31 July 1853 entitled ''Royal Ordinance settling the Succession to the Crown on Prince Christian of Glücksburg''. This designated him as second-in-line to the Danish throne, following the elderly Prince Ferdinand. Consequently, Prince Christian and his family were granted the

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify their generation, official position, military rank, professional or academic qualification, or nobility. In some languages, titles may be ins ...

s of Prince and Princess of Denmark and the style of '' Highness''. The major powers primarily wanted to ensure, by guaranteeing Denmark's territorial integrity, that the strategically significant port of

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

would not fall into Prussian hands. Eleven years later, this treaty became the trigger for the German–Danish war of 1864. Prussia and Austria declared that Denmark had violated the Protocol by introducing the November Constitution, which Christian IX of Denmark signed on 18 November 1863.. After an initial period of joint Austro–Prussian administration, Kiel was ultimately delivered to Prussia in 1867.

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Works cited

* {{Authority control 19th century in Denmark 19th century in Germany 1852 in Denmark Schleswig Wars