Lucie Norlem (The Kalmar Union)

Lucie Nørlem
Timeline: The Kalmar Union

Portrait of Lucie Nørlem
Born	20th February, 1795 Malmø, Denmark
Died	7th March, 1840 Sankt Aegyd am Neuwalde, Austria-Bohemia
Profession	Actress, Mistress to Christian II of Denmark

Lucie Ottosdatter Nørlem was an actress, dancer and most famously, one of the mistresses of King Christian II of Denmark. Her stint as Christian II's confidante has been linked to the flow of progressive and liberal policies of his reign.

"Nørlem did more good work in her bedchambers at night than all the men in the Riksdag put together did during the day" - Heitdís Reventlow.

Nørlem was born Antionette Meyer in Malmø in 1795 to Otto Meyer, a captain in the Royal Navy, the seventh of ten children. From an early age she was interested in the theatre and was allowed to join an acting school at the age of 15, joining an ensemble in Lund soon after. A quick study, she apparently fell out with many of her fellow actresses because she was younger, prettier and learnt lines faster than they did, and soon had the pick of the roles. In 1812 she became pregnant with the child of the theatre manager, and she fled to Oslo, joining another acting ensemble. She would have her child Ida there, though the scandal of an unwed mother in conservative Viken was enough to sour audiences against her. Leaving Ida with her sister, she took a new name Lucie Nørlem and joined a small low-rent theatre in Copenhagen. Initially she concentrated on comedic roles, perhaps to avoid some of the jealousy which followed her when she had snapped up the dramatic roles, though her talent soon saw promotion to more respectable theatres and acting troups.

Pretty, witty and sharp she soon found a string of well-to-do gentlemen to charm and seduce. In 1816 she was introduced to Crown Prince Christian, and soon after became one of his mistresses. Their affair would continue when he became king in 1817 and he lavished money and attention on the young actress. She had a large apartment on Købmagergade which he bought for her and her children; indeed, along with Ida she and Christian would have three children, Jørgen, Hanne and Elisabeth. She would receive a yearly stipend from the crown: with the condition she only take 'serious' roles on the stage. She moved in literary circles and her friends would come to include the composer Matthias Rye, painter Thyra de Meza and the Álengsk novellist Heitdís Reventlow (who would immortalise her in the thinly disguised titular role in her novel Frederikke).

Early into Christian's reign Denmark was dealing with the effects of the Hispanic Revolution. The Riksdag had decided the ideas drifting northward were downright dangerous and began to pull an already conservative society further to the right. Christian II however resisted the moves saying that he 'would rather listen to howls of protest than rule through silent tyranny'. His 'Liberty' speech to the Riksdag shares many similarities to the monologue in Ludvig Klim's play, De Usynlige, in which Nørlem had starred in the previous year suggesting she had a heavy hand in formulating his words. Norlem supposedly read poetry, philosophy and political pamphlets of all stripes to the king in her apartment and he began to lean on her as an informal advisor. Although her influence is less overtly obvious following 'liberty' many see her politics in the liberal laws passed in the early 1820s. She is even supposed to have drafted a constitution alongside Chancellor Holberg but events would sour the king's enthusiasm for the project.

In 1825 Queen Charlotte died. Christian sought to legitimise his relationship with Nørlem and asked her to marry him. She declined, telling her friends that society would never accept a common actress as queen no matter how it was presented. Many in the Riksdag were by this point openly criticising the relationship and the thrall Norlem appeared to have over the king. Relations with Christian cooled considerably as coded references to their affair began to appear in the uncensored press. The previously harmonious couple began to quarrel about whether or not Christian should officially recognise their three children, and he would marry Sophie Amalie of Samsø in 1827 instead. The quote attributed to Nørlem at the time; "any girl with an ounce of wit would never stoop so low as to become Queen of Denmark", is apocryphal and was possibly circulated by Sophie Amalie herself to curry sympathies in the close-knit circle of Danish nobles. Even if the quote was fabricated, the insult gained the queen the upper hand and Nørlem found herself ostracised by her old circle of friends and out of work as no theatre manager in Copenhagen would dare employ her.

Placing Jørgen, Hanne and Elisabeth into the care of Chancellor Holberg (his own marriage being childless), Nørlem and Ida would move to Hamburg on the invitation of Hans von der Luhe, a Danish-German nobleman. Holberg then arranged a final sum of money to be paid to her on condition she stay off the stage. For a time being she did, until 1835 when money issues necessated a return, though she had the foresight to do this away from Denmark; firstly in Svealand, then in Vienna.

In 1839 in Vienna Nørlem would finally marry, to a minor Austrian landowner, though would die only a year later. Christian II, now on his third wife, would send flowers to her grave in Sankt Aegyd am Neuwalde every year.