Prince Aage
Count of Rosenborg
Prince Aage photographed in 1912
Born	(1887-06-10)10 June 1887 Copenhagen, Denmark
Died	19 February 1940(1940-02-19) (aged 52) Taza, Morocco
Spouse	Mathilde Calvi dei conti di Bergolo ​ ​ (m. 1914)​
Issue	Count Valdemar
Names Aage Christian Alexander Robert
House	Glücksburg
Father	Prince Valdemar of Denmark
Mother	Princess Marie d'Orléans
Military career
Allegiance	Denmark France
Branch	Royal Danish Army French Foreign Legion
Years of service	1909–1940
Rank	Captain (DNK) Lieutenant colonel (FRA)
Awards	Légion d'honneur

Prince Aage, Count of Rosenborg, (Aage Christian Alexander Robert; 10 June 1887 – 19 February 1940) was a Danish prince and officer of theFrench Foreign Legion. He was born inCopenhagen the eldest child and son ofPrince Valdemar of Denmark andPrincess Marie d'Orléans.

Prince Aage was born on 10 June 1887, in theYellow Palace, an 18th-century town house at 18 Amaliegade, immediately adjacent to theAmalienborg Palace complex inCopenhagen.^[1] He was the first child ofPrince Valdemar of Denmark, and his wifePrincess Marie of Orléans.^[2] His father was a younger son ofKing Christian IX of Denmark andLouise of Hesse-Kassel, and his mother was the eldest daughter ofPrince Robert, Duke of Chartres andPrincess Françoise of Orléans. He was baptised with the namesAage Christian Alexander Robert, and was known as Prince Aage.

Prince Aage and hissiblings grew up at the Yellow Palace in Copenhagen and at their parent's summer residenceBernstorff Palace inGentofte north ofCopenhagen.

Prince Aage carried on a passionateflirtation withPrincess Marie Bonaparte, the wife of his cousinPrince George of Greece and Denmark, who had also enjoyed intimacies with his father. In neither case does it appear that Prince George objected, or felt obliged to give the matter any attention.^[3] In 1909 Prince Aage joined theDanish Army, and by 1913 had risen to the rank oflieutenant. DuringWorld War I he served as anobserver in Italy for a year. Returning home to Denmark he was promoted tocaptain.

Without the legally required permission of the Danish king,^[4] Aage married Matilda Emilia Francesca Maria Calvidei conti di Bergolo (Buenos Aires, 17 September 1885 –Copenhagen, 16 October 1949), daughter of Carlo Giorgio Lorenzo Calvi, 5thCount di Bergolo by his wifeBaroness Anna Guidobono Calvalchini Roero San Severino, inTurin on 1 February 1914. A few days later, he renounced his place in the line ofsuccession to the Danish throne, forfeiting the title "Prince of Denmark" and thestyle ofRoyal Highness (the latter having only been granted to him and his brothers by the king on 5 February 1904).^[5] With the king's authorisation, he assumed the title "Prince Aage,Greve af (Count of)Rosenborg" and the style ofHighness on 5 February 1914.^[5] Although thecomital title in theDanish nobility was made hereditary for all of his legitimate descendants in themale line with the rank and precedence (above other counts) of aLensgreve,^[6] use of the princely prefix was restricted to himself and his wife alone.^[5] Aage and Mathilde had one son:

• Count Valdemar Alexander Georg Luigi Maria of Rosenborg (Villa Severino, Turin, 3 January 1915 –Paris, 1 April 1995),Second Lieutenant (Lifeguard) in theRoyal Danish Army,Businessman in Paris, he married Baroness Marie-Josephe Floria d'Huart Saint-Mauris (Paris, 10 August 1925 - Paris, 20 August 1995) in Villefranche, Nice, on 20 April 1949, no issue.^[7]

Prince Aage was among the people considered for the position ofKing of Finland in 1918. In the early 1920s he mentioned toGustaf Idman, the Finnish ambassador to Denmark, that upon visiting Copenhagen in September 1918, Finnish GeneralCarl Gustav Emil Mannerheim had inquired about his willingness to accept the Finnish crown, should it be offered to him. According to Idman, he was willing to accept the offer.^[8]

In 1922, Aage received permission from the King, as required by Danish law,^[4] to leave the Danish army in order to join theFrench Foreign Legion. After negotiations between the Danish and the French governments Prince Aage entered the Foreign Legion with theOfficer^[9] rank ofcaptain.

He was sent toMorocco as part of the French involvement in theRif War within a year of service. He received theCroix de Guerre after being shot in the left leg. During his seventeen years in the Foreign Legion Prince Aage attained the rank oflieutenant colonel, and also received France's highestorder, theLégion d'honneur.

In 1927 he published the bookA Royal Adventurer in the Foreign Legion in English about his time in the Foreign Legion.

Prince Aage died ofpleurisy inTaza, Morocco, in 1940, and was buried at the French Foreign Legion's headquarters atSidi Bel Abbès, Algeria.^[5]

Before the Foreign Legion left Algeria in 1962, it was decided that the remains of three selected soldiers should be buried near the new headquarters of the Foreign Legion atAubagne in southernFrance. The remains of Prince Aage were selected as the representation of the foreign officers in the Foreign Legion. His remains now lie next to those ofGénéralPaul-Frédéric Rollet (known as the Father of the Legion) andLégionnaire Zimmermann in the town ofPuyloubier, France.

He received the following orders and decorations:^[10]

• 1887 births
• 1940 deaths
• Officers of the French Foreign Legion
• People of the Rif War
• Princes of Denmark
• House of Glücksburg (Denmark)
• Counts of Rosenborg
• Disinherited European royalty
• 20th-century Danish military officers
• Recipients of the Cross of Honour of the Order of the Dannebrog
• Knights of the Legion of Honour
• Recipients of the Croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieures
• Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order

• CS1 Finnish-language sources (fi)
• CS1 Danish-language sources (da)
• CS1 Swedish-language sources (sv)
• Articles with short description
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