FREDERICK VIII. (1843- ), king of Denmark, eldest son of King Christian IX., was born at Copenhagen on the 3rd of June 1843. As crown prince of Denmark he took part in the war of 1864 against Austria and Prussia, and subsequently assisted his father in the duties of government, becoming king on Christian's death in January 1906. In 1869 Frederick married Louise (b. 1851), daughter of Charles XV., king of Sweden, by whom he had a family of four sons and four daughters. His eldest son Christian, crown prince of Denmark (b. 1870), was married in 1898 to Alexandrina (b. 1879), daughter of Frederick Francis III., grand-duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin; and his second son, Charles (b. 1872), who married his cousin Maud, daughter of Edward VII. of Great Britain, became king of Norway as Haakon VII. in 1905. FREDERICK I. (1657-1713), king of Prussia, and (as Frederick III.) elector of Brandenburg, was the second son of the great elector, Frederick William, by his first marriage with Louise Henriette, daughter of Frederick Henry of Orange. Born at Koenigsberg on the 11th of July 1657, he was educated and greatly influenced by Eberhard Danckelmann, and became heir to the throne of Brandenburg through the death of his elder brother, Charles Emil, in 1674. He appears to have taken some part in public business before the death of his father; and the court at Berlin was soon disturbed by quarrels between the young prince and his stepmother, Dorothea of Holstein-Gluecksburg. In 1686 Dorothea persuaded her husband to bequeath outlying portions of his lands to her four sons; and Frederick, fearing he would be poisoned, left Brandenburg determined to prevent any diminution of his inheritance. By promising to restore Schwiebus to Silesia after his accession he won the support of the emperor Leopold I.; but eventually he gained his end in a peaceable fashion. Having become elector of Brandenburg in May 1688, he came to terms with his half-brothers and their mother. In return for a sum of money these princes renounced their rights under their father's will, and the new elector thus secured the whole of Frederick William's territories. After much delay and grumbling he fulfilled his bargain with Leopold and gave up Schwiebus in 1695. At home and abroad Frederick continued the policy of the great elector. He helped William of Orange to make his descent on England; added various places, including the principality of Neuchatel, to his lands; and exercised some influence on the course of European politics by placing his large and efficient army at the disposal of the emperor and his allies (see BRANDENBURG). He was present in person at the siege of Bonn in 1689, but was not often in command of his troops. The elector was very fond of pomp, and, striving to model his court upon that of Louis XIV., he directed his main energies towards obtaining for himself the title of king. In spite of the assistance he had given to the emperor his efforts met with no