Christiane Sehested

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Christiane Christiansdatter Sehested (15 July 1626 – 1670) was the daughter of King Christian IV of Denmark and his morganatic wife, Kirsten Munk. She had a twin sister, Hedevig Ulfeldt, and she and her siblings were Counts/Countesses of Schleswig-Holstein. She was raised by the royal governess Karen Sehested.

In 1636 she was promised to Hannibal Sehested, the Viceroy of Norway. They married in Copenhagen in 1642 and moved to Norway to live at Akershus Fortress in Oslo. Her father died in 1648. In 1651 her husband lost his position, and Christiane signed a document that deprived him of his Norwegian estates, and she lost her title as countess. Their relationship was not close, and from 1651 to 1658 she lived in poverty in Hamburg.

She returned to Denmark in 1658 to side with the Swedes along with her husband, hoping to regain their status as they joined the Swedish camp outside Copenhagen during the war. In 1660 she regained the king’s trust, and in 1662 she was given back her personal status as countess. Her husband died in 1666, and she retired to her estates. Christiane is also known to have written several folk songs.