Olaf V was the King of Denmark from 1588 until 1589. He acted as de facto King and served as joint regent with his mother from about the year 1570 until his accession to the throne. He was the secondborn son and child of George I of Denmark and Queen Josephine de la Marck of Denmark. When a teenager, his elder brother was kidnapped by pirates and sold to the Swedish government. As such, his mother became regent, and as the oldest brother still in the Kingdom of Denmark, Olaf grew into the role of monarch despite never actually being able to be crowned due to his brother, Henry II of Denmark still being alive and well (but captive) in the Swedish court. In 1588, he and his mother negotiated with the Swedish government: they refused to release the King, but agreed to allow him to sign a document signifying his renunciation and abdication of the Danish throne. Olaf was finally and at long last crowned King of Denmark as Olaf V. However, tensions between him and his domineering mother grew and their relationship grew strained. Olaf would attempt to assert his authority as the newly crowned King several times. Following a particularly strenuous argument with his mother over the location of a city they were planning to build, he suddenly and abruptly died of a heart attack, leaving his younger brother George to become King George II of Denmark.
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