Karen Andersdatter was a Danish county administrator, a lover of King Christian IV of Denmark

Christian IV of Denmark

Christian IV was the king of Denmark-Norway from 1588 until his death. With a reign of more than 59 years, he is the longest-reigning monarch of Denmark, and he is frequently remembered as one of the most popular, ambitious and proactive Danish kings, having initiated many reforms and projects...

 from 1613 until 1615/16, and the mother of one of his three acknowledged, illegitimate sons, Hans Ulrik Gyldenløve

Hans Ulrik Gyldenløve

Hans Ulrik Gyldenløve was a Danish diplomat. He was one of three acknowledged, illegitimate sons of King Christian IV of Denmark— the only one by Karen Andersdatter.He married Regitze Grubbe on October 10, 1641 and died January 1645.-See also:...

.

Biography

Karen Andersdatter was born to Anders Hansen, a secretary at Bremerholm in Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

, and Bodil Knudsdatter. Her relationship to the king started in 1613, and lasted about three years. She had been engaged to a clergyman, but the king had fallen in love with her at a wedding reception and taken her with him to the royal palace.

She left the royal court in 1616, presumably on account of the King's marriage to Kirsten Munk

Kirsten Munk

Kirsten Munk was a Danish noble, the second spouse of King Christian IV of Denmark, and mother to twelve of his children.- Early life and Morganatic marriage:...

 the year before. In 1616 she received Hven

Hven

Ven is a small Swedish island in the Öresund strait, between Scania and Zealand . It is situated in Landskrona Municipality, Skåne County. The island has 371 inhabitants and an area of . During the 1930s, the population was at its peak, with approximately 1,300 inhabitants...

 (then Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

, now Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

) as an entailed estate

Fee tail

At common law, fee tail or entail is an estate of inheritance in real property which cannot be sold, devised by will, or otherwise alienated by the owner, but which passes by operation of law to the owner's heirs upon his death...

, and where she served as county administrator. She also received a lifelong pension, and later on a number of estates in Copenhagen. In 1640, it became known that she intended to marry the student Niels Nelausen; the king reacted with anger and canceled all her privileges and confiscated her property, but restored it when she gave the student up, and even enlarged her allowance. The rich allowance was, however, irregular, and periodically she suffered from great economical difficulties.

Caretaking of Hven transferred to her son, Hans Ulrik, in 1642.