Kongeegen, or "The King's Oak"

This Old Tree with Doug Still
Kongeegen, or "The King's Oak" - Transcript
Season 3, Episode 7
July 13, 2026

You're listening to This Old Tree, the show about heritage trees and the human stories behind them. We're a sponsored project of the New England Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture, with generous support from the Pobble Stone Foundation.

Doug Still  00:20
If you only had one full day to visit a small country - say, Denmark - what would you do? I think you know what I would do, which is visit a famous tree, of course. And that is exactly what I did last November during my short stay in - ok, Denmark - during a two week stint in Europe. I picked the country’s most famous tree, an estimated 1,500 year old oak that the Danish call “Kongeegen.” It’s one of the oldest living oak trees in Europe, but I knew nothing about it. 

To see it, you need to drive an hour from Copenhagen, then hike almost 2 miles through a forest. Luckily, I had some help. I reached out to  Anders Jensen, the Vice Chairman of the Danish Tree Association, a chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture, just like New England ISA. He picked me up and drove us to Jaegerspris Nordskov, the forest where Kongeegen is to be found. We met Helle Serup, a forest historian and curator of Den Grønne Museum, or the Green Museum, located in Auning. I’m going to share parts of our conversation as we hiked through the forest to find this remarkable tree. They think of forests just a bit differently in the sovereign country of Denmark.

Kongeegen means the “King’s Oak,” and Jaegerspris Nordskov was a royal forest. The unorthodox King Frederik VII bought the property and nearby Castle in the 1850’s with his wife, the Countess Danner. The legend is that they rode horses through the forest and would sometimes shelter under the big oak tree during a rainstorm. 

But I dug WAY deeper. There is a wonderful, fascinating love story that brought them to this place and this tree. A love triangle, actually, involving a wealthy newspaper publisher named Carl Berling. We’re going to tell you that story through Countess Danner’s eyes. It’s all true, including some passages from her love letters held in the Danish Royal Archives.  

This Old Tree theme song

So enjoy the story behind Kongeegen, "The King's Oak." I'm Doug Still, and this is This Old Tree.

Ballet Music - “La Sylphide” 02:37

Doug Still  03:16
Anders and I pulled into the dirt parking area that served as a trailhead for the forest reserve called Jægerspris Nordskov about 10 a.m. Helle was already waiting for us. I introduced myself, and we all posed for a selfie before embarking on our three-hour hike. Anders wore a rugged Carhart hat, winter coat, and boots - the very picture of an arborist that might be working in my home state. Helle wore a full-body winter suit to prepare for inclement weather. I grabbed my pouch with the mic, and we were off. Kongeegen, here we come. 

We hadn't gone but a few 100 feet before we passed a magnificent linden tree abutting a small red house right out of the 19th century. It's not part of the story, but I couldn't help myself from taking pictures. A few steps more, and there was a small sign with an arrow that said “Egene, 3.8 kilometers,” which means “oaks, 2.4 miles.” So I started asking Helle about oak trees. 

(to Helle)
So oaks are some of the oldest trees that you have here in Denmark?

Helle Serup  04:24
They are the oldest ones, yes. We don't have very many old trees simply because they have been cut down and used over time. And these trees that we are going - the King's Oak - that we are going to visit are there because it's standing in such an inaccessible place. It hasn't been easy to get there before.

Doug Still  04:48
Right. So we're in the King's Forest?

Helle Serup  04:51
No, we are in Jægerspris Nordskov. It means the northern forest of Jægerspris, and Jægerspris is an estate close to this place.

Doug Still  05:03
How long has this been an estate?

Helle Serup  05:06
Oh well, I guess it's been an estate at least from the 13th, 14th century.

Doug Still  05:15
Incredible.

Helle Serup  05:15
But not in the same ownership. It has been in royal ownership from I guess it was around 1750, 60, or something, maybe even before that, because this estate has been owned by King Frederick VII, and he ruled here in Denmark from 1848 to 1863, so it would be at least from the 19th century. Sorry, it has been in royal ownership, but before that, it has been noblemen owning the place.

Doug Still  05:56
I see. 

Helle Serup  05:58
So it has been an estate for a very, very long time,

Doug Still  06:02
And it was protected from logging and that sort of thing.

Helle Serup  06:06
No, there's been logging here as well, because the local people have had a need for wood, and they have been logging here in the forests. But this northern part of the forest has been quite inaccessible because there were no roads, and it has been quite wet as well. So when we reach the King's Oak, we will be in the part of the forest that has been the most wet during hundreds of years.

Doug Still  06:37
I see, and we passed a wall, sort of on the outside of the forest. What was the wall for?

Helle Serup  06:43
Well, it was a small wall built up by stone, and it was because if we go back in the 18th, 17th, 16th century, we had all the animals walking freely and grazing in the forest. It was part of their yearly grazing, they went to the forest and grazed there.

Doug Still  07:03
Sure.

Helle Serup  07:04
And of course, the small trees didn't really survive that kind of treatment, so you couldn't grow big trees. And when we reach the 1750s, we don't have much forest left in Denmark because of this practice, and because people needed the wood, obviously.  

Doug Still  07:26
Right. Was the wood used for shipbuilding?

Helle Serup  07:28
Shipbuilding, house building, building everything. I mean, you needed to heat up your house. You needed to cook. You did everything. You made tools out of wood, so everything was wood.

(narrative)
Doug Still  07:42
If you were listening closely, you may have noticed the sound of gunfire off in the distance. Helle explained the Danish Ministry of Defense has a training ground nearby that the Danish Army uses as a key firing range. You'll continue to hear the rifles throughout the interview. Did I mention that Denmark is a sovereign state, including its territories? But back to the forestry questions. I saw an autonomous group of trees across a field, whose needles were all turning yellow. 

(to Helle)
Could we stop for a second?

Helle Serup  08:14
Sure.

Doug Still  08:16
Larch?

Helle Serup  08:17
Yes. Larch.

Doug Still  08:18
Is it a plantation of larch?

Helle Serup  08:20
Yes. Most of the forest you will see here is plantations. I mean, it has been planted from around 1800 forward. We started to make huge forest management plans, and we started to plant our forests because there were not many trees left. We needed it simply to supply the Danish people.

Doug Still  08:45
And what do we do with the larch today?

Helle Serup  08:48
Well, we use it for many things: construction wood, boards. We make floors of larch. I think we do terrace floors. 

Doug Still  09:04
So this really is a “working forest?”

Helle Serup  09:07
Yes.

Doug Still  09:08
Like it always has been.

Helle Serup  09:09
Yes, it is.

Doug Still  09:11
Just without the animals. 

Helle Serup  09:14
Yeah, exactly. But if you go back in time, it was also extremely important for hunting, especially when the royals owned the place, and the nobles have owned the place. Hunting was also an important part of having an estate.

Doug Still  09:30
I see, and then by clearing patches and having fields and then forests, that would attract wildlife, I imagine.

Helle Serup  09:37
Sure, but from the point when they built the fence around the forest. You wouldn't have fields within the forest. Then it would only be forest.

Doug Still  09:48
Okay, so this is different than the way… what this field we're looking at now… would be different than forest.

Helle Serup  09:54
Just small trees. It's not fields we're growing.

Doug Still  10:03
Right. So why are there so few oaks in this area?

Helle Serup  10:07
Well, there have been more oaks than we can see now, but they have been used by the forest district. But in 1988, all this part of the forest was preserved in cooperation with the Danish Society of Native Conservation, so all these old oak trees are preserved today. You can't cut them down.

Doug Still  10:28
And this is an especially good landscape for oak growth, right?

Helle Serup  10:34
Yeah.  

Doug Still  10:34
Why is that?

Helle Serup  10:35
Well, the oak can grow in many places, but it is here because it was inaccessible.

Doug Still  10:41
It was sort of marshy.

Helle Serup  10:43
A little bit marshy, and all the forest is also part of this place, which is also a sign of marshy land.

Doug Still  10:49
We're close to the water.

Helle Serup  10:51
Yeah, we're pretty close to the water here. Yeah, that's true.

(pointing to a spray-painted marking on a tree)
Doug Still  10:56
And what is this number on this big old oak tree we’re standing in front of?

Helle Serup  11:00
All the oak trees here have been measured, and they are followed now. So they have gotten numbers from the forest district. They know where the trees stand and which condition they have, and so on. They follow the trees now.

Doug Still  11:15
Who's monitoring the oaks? 

Helle Serup  11:17
The district itself, the forest district.

Doug Still  11:19
The forest district. 

Helle Serup  11:20
Yes, they have forest management plans, and they keep on monitoring the trees.

Doug Still  11:26
Are you connected with the forest district at all, or your colleagues?

Helle Serup  11:30
No, not at all, not at all. I'm working at the Green Museum and the National Museum for Forestry, and here they are simply managing the local forest. And so, at the point in time around 1800, we only had 3% forest in Denmark, 3%. Now, at least we have 15%. So, that's also the reason why we don't have many old trees, because we have not got many old forests.

Doug Still  12:01
Right.

Helle Serup  12:01
They are young forests, and the oak, the King's Oak, is an exception from this.

Doug Still  12:07
Yeah, very rare.

Helle Serup  12:08
Very rare. Yeah.

(narrative)
Doug Still  12:10
A bit further on, a light rain started falling on us. 

(to Helle)
Why did the king need a royal forest? We didn't call it a royal forest, did we?

Helle Serup  12:20
Well, today it's the state forest, but the royal forest became state forest in 1849 with our first constitution. So before that, you could call them royal forests.

Doug Still  12:31
Yeah.

Helle Serup  12:31
Of course, they needed it for hunting, mainly. That was a sport, and it was also important to secure food for the court. You needed the game, to eat the game.

Doug Still  12:45
Yes.

Helle Serup  12:45
But it was also a playful thing to do for any king to go hunting.

Doug Still  12:50
And if there was only 3% forests in the entire country, the forest would be very valuable.

Helle Serup  12:57
Yeah, and the forests that were left were mainly situated close to the royal castles.

“Beneath Kongeegen,” Part I (story) 13:12
Louise Rasmussen arrived early for her class at the Royal Danish Ballet School in Copenhagen, as she had every day. The instructors were strict, and they treated her more firmly than other girls. She was a black sheep, a pariah. The whispers and outright taunts from some made that clear. She changed into a ballet dress and took her place among the students along the barre in the big rehearsal hall.

It wasn't anything Louise had done, it was who she was. Her mother was an unmarried maid who became pregnant out-of-wedlock, a big social taboo in 18th century Denmark.  However, a stroke of good fortune came when her mother became a seamstress for the Royal Ballet in 1823. When Louise turned eleven they received a second stroke of good fortune. A kind administrator allowed her to enroll in the Ballet School, housed at the Royal Danish Theater. 

It was now three years later, and Louise had learned quickly. Ballet taught her to bear pain with her head held high and arms extended gracefully. Within these walls it was possible to thrive, even if you were different. The theater was a refuge for people like her, and for the artistic. But she never pressed her luck.  

Lost in a world of freedom and movement, Louise danced across the floor. She was striking, with fair, curly hair. She didn’t notice that a finely dressed young man, barely 20, had stepped into the room with a small entourage to watch from the wings. She concentrated on her quick footwork and form, not her direction. In a moment of surprise, she realized she had stepped on someone’s foot. 

Focusing, Louise looked up into the face of the handsome man, who locked eyes with her. He was not angry, but had a bemused look on his face. After a moment, she looked down to see the badges on his coat and his gold collar. To her mortification, it was the Crown Prince of Denmark, Frederick Carl Christian. 

Twenty years later, King Frederick VII would often recount this first, fleeting meeting with his wife to be - the Countess Danner - at the Royal Danish Theater.

This Old Tree theme song

Doug Still  16:09
After a short break, Helle, Anders, and I reach the famous oak tree. We'll also continue Louise Rasmussen's story. You're listening to This Old Tree. 

Ballet Music - “La Sylphide”

Doug Still
I think I see it.

Helle Serup  16:48
It is there.

(narrative)
Doug Still  16:50
Somewhat exhausted, we finally walked down the side path to Kongeegen. We had been walking through a section of forest that was dark and beautiful, heavily shaded by mature beech trees. In America, we usually see this tree as a single specimen in a large yard or in a park. We call it European Beech, but here it is just “beech,” b-e-e-c-h. This area is allowed to grow wild, with no cutting. It was stunning. We passed an open-sided wooden structure with a thatched roof called Frederik VII’s Hunting Pavilion, built in 1857. It sits at the highest point in the forest, 20 meters above sea level. 

But we pushed on to see what we had come for, the King’s Oak.

(to Helle and Anders)
Wow, that's beautiful! Look at that big fence.

Helle Serup  17:41
Yeah, otherwise people tend to climb the tree.

Doug Still  17:45
Right, or they want to sign their name.

Helle Serup  17:48
Maybe, maybe. So it's difficult to sign the name on an oak tree, right? 

Doug Still  17:54
Yeah, we've got all this other writing material around us. (referring to beech trees)

Helle Serup  17:56
So why write on an oak? (laughter)

Doug Still  18:00
Wow. It has its own space, and it has a cane.

Helle Serup  18:09
It has a number of canes. 

Doug Still  18:10
Oh yes.

Helle Serup  18:11
Both a wood one and a steel, iron one. 

Doug Still  18:15
That’s right.

(narrative)
The old oak was now more of a shell of a tree, but still very much alive. A large trunk had collapsed, revealing the swirling patterns of decaying heartwood in the center. It had a massive girth with low, sprawling branches. Other branches stuck up into the air proudly and forked, resembling the regal horns of a mighty buck lifting its head. 

(to Helle)
How old is this tree?

Helle Serup  18:42
That's a very good question. It's a very good question. I mean, people have tried to figure out how old is this tree, and they have been comparing the size of the tree. When it was in its glory, it was around 14 meters in girth, in breast height, which is 1.3 meters. Danish foresters have a breast height of 1.3 meters by definition. So it was around 14 meters in girth, and then you compare this size to, of course, quite younger oak trees where you know the age, and then you extrapolate from the known size to the king's oak size…you think well, around 1,500 years. But it could be 1,000, it could be 2,000 years. We don't really know.

Doug Still  19:40
That makes sense because you can't count the rings. You can't core the tree. 

Helle Serup
No.

Doug Still
There's too many gaps. 

Helle Serup  19:47
There's no core. It's completely hollow, and it's actually only the bark part, and it's not all round. If we walk around the tree, we can see that. Look straight into it. When it was first described in 1813, it was described as a huge tree, but with openings so great that you could walk directly through it, or you could ride through it, and you could sit three people on horseback inside the tree.

Doug Still  20:21
Interesting. I can't imagine that, looking at it now.

Helle Serup  20:24
But if you go walk around it, you will get a little bit of that feeling.

Doug Still  20:28
Well, let's take a walk around. 

Helle Serup  20:30
Yeah, sure. 

(sound of footsteps)

It needs crutches. But it still has branches that sprout each year.

Doug Still  20:42
Yes, I can see live buds in the canopy. 

Helle Serup  20:46
Yeah, so it's still alive, and we think that it has been around 18 meters high at some point, but now it's just the remnants.

Doug Still  20:56
It's like an elderly person. It's like, slow metabolism, but still working.

Helle Serup  21:02
Look at the skin, or the bark. You could say it was the skin of an old person. You have all these furrows and things. It's really quite fascinating.

Doug Still  21:13
There are mushrooms on the outside of the bark. Anders, what do you think the crutches are for?

Anders Jensen  21:22
The crutches are for holding it up, because we want to preserve it as much as possible. When it's in this condition as it is, it's probably in this final phase, a very late final phase. So there's still branches that can do photosynthesis, and so we try to keep it up as long as possible, and give us some extra years to keep it as the monument that it is.

Doug Still  21:58
Right, so we can appreciate it. 

Anders Jensen
So we can appreciate it. 

Doug Still
How would you describe the tree?

Anders Jensen  22:05
Look at it; it looks like maybe a ruin. And it looks, for me, it looks like a beautiful old ecological capital of everything. It's, I think, very beautiful. It's very beautiful in its own right. It stands out from everything else in Denmark. 

“Beneath Kongeegen,” Part II (story)  22:40
The summer of 1834 was a hot one, and after a long day of rehearsal Louise waited in front of the theater for her lover, Carl Berling. He planned to pick her up in his carriage for a weekend at his cottage in the country. He also told her he had a surprise. She couldn’t imagine what it might be. She’d rather just have a quick exit in the carriage to avoid the disapproving stares from her supervisors.

She tried to remember the exact day she met Carl, but their budding romance was a blur. She was now a contracted dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet, and Carl often frequented the theater where they met. The attraction was immediate.

Carl Berling was from a prominent family that owned and published Denmark’s primary newspaper, the Berlingske Tidende. He was young, wealthy, and aristocratic, and Louise thought very handsome. She could tell he looked at her differently from the other young women. She remembered how the sparks ignited that day. So, she decided not to be shy. She engaged him directly and disarmed him with a teasing joke. It was surprising how easily it came to her despite how she felt inside, heart pounding. And then there was the cavernous gap in social status. 

When Carl’s carriage pulled up he was not alone. After Carl, out stepped the one-and-only Crown Prince of Denmark, Frederik. Louise’ eyes widened, but this time she didn’t step on his foot. Carl called him Fritz, and introduced him to Louise. The Prince insisted she call him Fritz too, despite her protestations. 

The two men were friends from childhood. Later, Louise heard swirling rumours that Carl and Fritz were lovers, a scandal. You won’t find that in any history book or private correspondence, but could it be true? The notion wasn’t foreign to her. At the ballet, Louise knew several male dancers who were “Greek,” and a few were her close friends. Louise came to know the real truth about the two friends, but she never spoke it aloud. It didn’t matter, both men excited her tremendously. They were aristocratic and refined, naughty and fun. The three of them quickly formed a tight trio.

Fritz was already married to a princess. He was also a womanizer and a lush. Carl was more fitting for a romance with her. It was her first love affair, and it was intense. He was teaching her many things about the world of the elite; about food and politics and manners. 

After meeting, Fritz stayed at the theater and the carriage brought Carl and Louise to his house in the woods. She loved being there, where they could escape the judging eyes of those who questioned their relationship. And to her surprise, she absolutely adored walking in the forest. Denmark didn’t have many forests, and there weren’t many woodlands in or near urban Copenhagen. It was a magical place for her and Carl - quiet and soothing. It smelled like earth. She felt sheltered under the green canopy.

In a love letter to Carl a decade later, Louise wrote from Paris after visiting a beautiful garden:

“The leaves were already beginning to fall off heavily here, but there was a rustling in the trees,  something very rare here. Everything reminded me so vividly of my home. Oh, I long as I have never longed before! But before, you have also been with me, or I have waited for you. Oh I wished I were with you in one of our forests. I felt how wonderful it is, how fresh it is, how natural it is!”

There was no place that made Louise feel more whole, more herself, than within a dark forest beneath ancient trees.

Doug Still  27:44
I think it's almost like a bonsai. It looks like a bonsai. 

Anders Jensen
Yes, exactly. 

Helle Serup  27:51
Yeah, very much. Because the trunk is so low. I mean, the branches start very close to the ground.

Doug Still  27:56
Yes, it's sort of low and spreading. So, does that mean it was open grown at one point? 

Helle Serup  28:04
Yeah, it definitely was. Here would have been open space at some point, and if we go some 100 years back in time, we would have been standing in a very wet area with older forest around it. But we also have photographs from recent times where we can see that they have planted conifer trees around it. But they have been cut down later simply because it's too important to preserve this tree.

Doug Still  28:29
So there used to be conifers around here, which… there aren't any in my vision right now.

Helle Serup  28:34
They've been cut back all of them. I have a picture where we can see they're growing like very small conifers.

Doug Still  28:40
So this tree has seen a lot of different forest types around it, hasn't it? Openness, and now a closed forest.

Helle Serup  28:47
Yeah, now it's the beech forest.

Doug Still  28:51
What does “Kongeegen” mean?

Anders Jensen  28:54
What it means? Kongeegen is the “King's Oak.”

Doug Still  28:57
The King's Oak.

Anders Jensen  28:58
The King's Oak. Yeah, got its name because Kong Frederik VII and his wife, they seek shelter in the oak.

Doug Still  29:10
They used to shelter in it. 

Anders Jensen
Yeah. 

Doug Still
Where they - did they get off their horses?

Anders Jensen  29:13
They used to shelter and I think they got off the horse. 

Doug Still  29:18
Now I learned that they can ride their horses into it.

Anders Jensen  29:20
Yeah, I think they sheltered because of the big thunderstorm going on, and even though you shouldn't take shelter in an oak in a thunderstorm, they did. And because of that, it got the name, the “King's Oak.” 

Doug Still  29:36
Is this a famous landmark in Denmark, or do you have to be a tree lover to know about it?

Anders Jensen  29:41
I think it's somewhat more for trees in general. It is kind of a famous landmark. People have heard of it, but I think it's more for tree lovers to admire and seek out than it is for common folk.

Doug Still  29:58
As an arborist, do you know if this tree has received any special care?

Anders Jensen  30:04
Well, it has as they have the crutches, as you mentioned earlier. So, yeah, it has been treated with that. I don't think it has been cut back or anything. 

Doug Still  30:19
It hasn’t been pruned.

Anders Jensen  30:20
It hasn't been pruned too much, because everything has just fallen off naturally and died. Of the main branch, that as I said in 1973 fell off by its own, and I think just to preserve it, the rest of it has crashed and has been put up.

Doug Still  30:41
Yeah, it looks pretty hands off, letting it sort of decay naturally. There's a lot of old twisting branches that are dead, with live wood towards the middle, I would say.

Anders Jensen  30:53
Yeah.

Helle Serup  30:53
But we actually know that when Frederik VII was alive, he tried to, or there was put iron bars in it to keep the different parts together, because we are missing parts. You can see we are only looking into one small part of it. There were other parts, and they were placing iron bars to keep it together, and that was already…  

Anders Jensen  31:18
In the Frederik VII period.

Helle Serup  31:19
Yes.

(crosstalk)

Helle Serup  31:27
So they tried to keep it together by iron bars.

Doug Still  31:30
It's sort of a method of cabling. I'm seeing now that this is just one piece of the tree and that the larger another part was over here, and it just fell, and it's lying on the ground. Am I correct?

Helle Serup  31:45
Yeah, that's true. If we walk around, we can look into the trees. 

(sound of walking)

This is where it gets the most beautiful, I think. Oh, look at that!

Doug Still  32:02
Fantastic.

Helle Serup  32:03
I always think of an altarpiece.

Doug Still  32:07
Interesting. I can see that. It's sort of a plane of wood from this angle because most of it's fallen away.

Anders Jensen  32:17
Yeah. It looks like a place where you could do dark rituals at night. 

Doug Still  32:24
It really does. Or sort of like sinews of muscle in a way. The heartwood that's exposed and twisting like an arm.

Helle Serup  32:36
Somehow it looks out of this world.

Anders Jensen  32:38
Yeah.

Doug Still  32:39
What's the Danish perspective on caring for very very old trees? How hands-on should we be? You don't have too many of them, do you?

Anders Jensen  32:50
We don't have too many of them, and I think when we have so little nature in Denmark, what we have is worth protecting. And I think, as I said, when you domesticate something, you have the responsibility to take care of it.

Doug Still  33:06
Obviously, this tree has been here for many centuries. What comes to mind when you think about the tree's story, and how would you tell it?

Anders Jensen  33:16
What comes to mind when I think about it?  It's about luck and the placement of the tree. But when I think of an old tree like this, I think in my mind, and it's very kind of like a shepherd of the forest. How many acorns have been spread out. How many trees, other trees, it's been birthed to. And kind of see them as if like in the Lord of the Rings. Yes, they maintain it. They have a very unique space and spot, and also look like an Ent. 

Doug Still  33:58
Sort of like a matriarch or a patriarch, something like that. And obviously, when we look at this tree, we've already been talking about the kings and nobility that used to live here, and the history of the site. It's a connection.

Anders Jensen  34:14
It's a connection. Yes.

“Beneath Kongeegen,” Part III (story)  34:21
Louise Rasmussen bore a child. Indeed the boy was Carl’s, but as fate would have it, they were unwed despite their long affair. Louise desperately wanted to get married - they both did. But she knew deep down inside that wouldn’t happen. She was a commoner, and a dancer to boot. Now she had a child out of wedlock. The odds were against her.

Carl’s mother was adamantly against a marriage, and Carl painfully acquiesced to the Berling family matriarch. The affair ended, freeing him to pursue a more dignified relationship. The boy was put in Carl’s care. It seemed Louise would remain just outside the oppressive structure of Copenhagen society. She left the ballet. It was 1842. 

Meanwhile, Fritz hadn’t changed. He divorced his first wife and then married a Duchess from Germany. His drinking and carousing brought this marriage to ruin too, and his second wife left him by 1844. Louise moved to Paris to learn the fashion trade, but was often home in Denmark. 

It was only natural that Louise and Fritz began a love affair in earnest. It built on a deep, decade-long friendship, and both were misfits in a certain way. Both were now free. She saw his flaws, his unseriousness, his vices born from too much privilege; but she also knew his vulnerability and his passions. Fritz did care about many things deeply, and that included her. He treated her differently than other nobles did. He didn’t care what anyone thought, despite the pressure for a proper royal marriage with the right blood lines and possible heirs. He loved her wit, her refusal to flatter him, the way she spoke to him not as a monarch but as a weary man trapped inside ceremony.

Louise never stopped loving Carl, though, and Carl and Fritz remained close.  When they weren’t together, Louise wrote fervent love letters to each of them, with their full knowledge.

“My beloved Fritz, 

Although when you receive these lines you are far from me, I hope that they would nevertheless be welcome to you?

Receive my assurance of my most tender and devoted love. Believe me when I swear to you by God, who I hope will protect you on your way, that you are my first and only love. You will be startled when you read these words, and perhaps doubt them. But think about it, wasn't I almost a child the first time your gaze lit a spark that later turned into a flame that only burst out after 17 years have passed? A lot of time has passed since the year 1829 when I received the love that will never leave me.

Your Vivi, who loves you more than anything on earth.”

And at the same time, she wrote to Carl.

“My dear Carl!

When you receive this, it is a day of joy for you. It has never been so for me, because I have felt much sorrow, at the neglect which is thereby shown me, by not daring to be around you. Many years have thus passed and I have, as you know, lately, made an effort to regard it with indifference. Whether I have succeeded, only you know that! 

This year I have been spared this sorrow. I am absent, but I will long for you unspeakably, I feel that. I believe that I am often very unreasonable towards you, and yet I value your worth, value it very highly. I feel what you are to me, how tender your love is for me, and when you thought the other day of evading it from me, then I seriously felt that I could no longer do without it. 

You will perhaps object that you do share my affection with Fritz. Yes, I dare not deny it to you, but perhaps it lies a lot in our external intercourse, so understand me correctly. When I was quite young I was very indulgent and - frivolous. Your association has had a strong effect on my spirit, and the whole character, the serious more profound direction it has taken I owe to you, and I thank you for it; but, in association with Fritz.

I must be frank with you, I liked it, I felt light and free then, inclined to laugh at the whole world!

I have often thanked God that you became my guide in the past, because without you I would never have reached as far as I am now, I would have been far behind in both knowledge and taste.

Louise”

And another to Carl.

“It is strange, my sweet Carl, it is truly as if fate had wanted to make you and Fritz equal. When all three of us are together it seems as if Fritz loves me most dearly, and when we are apart it always looks as if it were you. It is therefore decided once and for all that everything shall be equally divided between us.”

Louise shared her deepest wishes in a letter to Fritz, a dream that seemed out of reach.

“Oh, our lovely forests at home, I love them above all else! Yes, God has been exceedingly gracious to me, he has let me experience an immense amount, and given me strength and courage to be hardened, yes. 

And pay close attention to my words, for they come from the depths of my heart. I once had a dream, a castle in the air, which I often built because it was dear to me, and I felt that it was only in this way that life could be for me as I wanted it. It is now 4 years ago that I imagined a quiet, cozy life, formed in my imagination how you, Carl and I would live in the summer in the country. I have such a vivid imagination! 

I saw a lovely landscape spread out before me, in the background Ordrupshøi. The sun was just setting behind the treetops. Carl and I went to meet you as you came home from your business. We drank our tea out in the garden,and the evening remained clear and warm. We went down to the lake, the moon was reflected in the sea, the ships were softly and inaudibly sailing across the water, a gentle gust of wind shook the treetops! We then went home, happy and contented, and the silence of the night spread sleep over our eyes.”

Rumors about their strange relationship spread through Copenhagen, only to reach Louise’s ears. Some thought that her relationship with the Crown Prince was an abomination that threatened the very future of the monarchy, as Frederik was about to become King. Other rumors involved Carl, the publisher intimately involved with them somehow, perhaps in unspeakable sin. 

Could their loving relationship survive the hostile assault of Danish society? Or would the trio be torn apart?

This Old Tree theme music

Doug Still  42:39
Time for another break. This is This Old Tree. 

Ballet Music - “La Sylphide”

(narrative)
As we were finishing up our conversation standing next to Kongeegen, Helle told us about a fascinating research project she is involved with. 

(to Helle)
So, you're working on a project to determine the age?

Helle Serup  43:22
Yes, we are a small group of people, mainly geneticists from the University of Copenhagen, working on a project where we try to determine the age more precisely of these old trees, also the King's Oak, but a number of old trees around Denmark. And the thing is genetics. They take samples from the base of the tree, and then they take samples off the top of the tree, and then they map the full genome of the tree.

Doug Still  43:57
Okay. 

Helle Serup  43:57
So the whole DNA is sequenced and worked out, and you should expect that since they are from the same tree, you have the same DNA. 

Doug Still
I would expect that, yes. 

Helle Serup
But the hypothesis is - and we don't know yet if it's possible to do so - the hypothesis is that during this long lifespan of the tree, you have mutations in the DNA, so you will have a whole lot of mutations at the top.

Doug Still  44:27
Interesting.

Helle Serup  44:28
When you compare it to the bottom, if you can figure out how that works with the mutations, you have a kind of molecular clock. You can actually figure out how long a time it is from the start of the tree and up to the top of the trees.

Doug Still  44:48
Fascinating. 

Helle Serup  44:49
We don't know if it works yet! We do hope it works, but we don't know yet. We're working with these genetics and a historian from the University of Copenhagen, and then I'm from the Green Museum, and together we try to figure out the story of some of these very ancient trees and maybe, if it's possible, to actually find out how old the trees are.

Doug Still  45:11
Really interesting. What's your hypothesis about what the environmental or evolutionary advantage would be to have mutations in the same tree over time? Or is it just random?

Helle Serup  45:26
I have no idea. I'm not a forest geneticist, but I guess adaptation to the environment is important if you want to survive for 1000 years, 2000 years. Maybe this was even sprouting when Jesus was a baby. We don't know, but maybe it can adapt to the surroundings by mutations. I don't know. I simply don't have the knowledge about this. But it's fascinating. 

And this tree, this old oak tree, was even old and hollow and not usable for ship construction when the Vikings were walking these shores, and looking for trees for their Viking ships.

Doug Still  46:07
And that's why it may have survived.

Helle Serup  46:10
Yeah.

Doug Still  46:10
It wasn't good for construction.

Helle Serup  46:12
It has a low trunk, and it was even hollow at that time, probably. 

Doug Still  46:19
So its hollowness allowed it to survive.

Helle Serup  46:24
And the inaccessibility.

Doug Still  46:27
Yes. There were two other named trees in this forest that were also very old oak trees. What were their names?

Helle Serup  46:35
It was Snoegen and Storkegen. What is a stork called in English? It's a bird. 

Doug Still
It's the stork. 

Helle Serup
Thank you very much, Doug. You just say stork. 

Doug Still
We owe you. (laughter)

Helle Serup
Oh, it's called the stork oak because when it was first painted, there was a nest from a stork at the top, so that's obviously a stork oak.

Doug Still  47:05
That's a great story. 

Helle Serup  47:07
And Snoegen, “sno” means twist, and when you look at that tree, you can see that the trunk has simply twisted when it was growing. So it was an obvious name as well.

Doug Still  47:19
Are there drawings of those two?

Helle Serup  47:21
Yeah, we have old drawings of them as well.

Doug Still  47:24
And we passed those sites, so we'll go take a look to see what's still left.  

Helle Serup  47:29
What’s still left? They are both dead.

Doug Still  47:32
Yeah, they died. How long ago did they die?

Helle Serup  47:35
Do you know, Anders? 

Anders Jensen
Yeah, I think it was around 1980, I think.

Doug Still  47:44
1980, okay. Snoegen. Any local folklore or old stories about Kongeegen? When did it sort of come into the national consciousness?

Helle Serup  47:57
Well, it was first described in 1813. It has been standing here for hundreds of years unnoticed, but then in 1813 it was described by the first historian and poet who came here, and then the first drawing of it was made around 1840, and that drawing was printed in magazines, and that's sort of the date where people became aware of these huge old trees here in this part of Denmark. Slowly they became tourist objects.

Doug Still  48:31
And that sparked the imagination, I think.

Helle Serup  48:34
I think so. I mean, people would try anything around these trees.

Doug Still  48:39
Then people would try and come to visit them?

Helle Serup  48:41
Yeah, but the good thing is that they are standing so far out in the forest - and we know it because we've just hiked three and a half kilometers to come here. Yes, you can't go by car, it's not allowed.

Doug Still  48:53
Yeah.

Helle Serup  48:54
And so if you want to see these trees, it's because you're an eager tourist. You have to be dedicated. You have to be dedicated to see the trees.

Doug Still  49:02
Like us.

Helle Serup  49:02
Like us, and this means that many people don't visit these trees because it takes too much effort.

Doug Still  49:09
Their loss!

Helle Serup  49:10
Yeah, their loss.

“Beneath Kongeegen,” Part IV (story)  49:17
Royal privilege has its advantages, sometimes. Fritz became King in early 1848 - King Frederik VII of Denmark. Louise thought that Fritz could simply decree that they would be married with his new powers, but that wasn’t so. The government wouldn’t allow the marriage with her. But Fritz gave her an apartment in Frederiksborg Castle so that she would remain close to him, a minor scandal. It was then she received the title that remains eternal in Danish memory. “Countess Danner.” 

To her absolute pleasure, Carl moved into the palace too. Fritz named him Royal Chamberlain, which meant that he was in charge of arranging the King’s domestic affairs. Perfect. They were all together. Sort of. 

A breakthrough came in1849 when King Frederik VII signed a new constitution. It established a Danish parliament and made the country a constitutional monarchy for the first time. Frederik's motto was “Folkets Kærlighed, min Styrke” or “the people's love, my strength.” He became overwhelmingly popular among the people, and strangely, his power grew. Louise was so proud of him. 

And then, it finally happened. Louise was allowed to marry Fritz. She was to be a morganatic wife, which meant she and any children would not inherit any titles or succession rights. But she didn’t need to be Queen. She gladly accepted her role if it meant a life with Fritz.  

Despite the marriage, Louise endured never-ending snubs from the men and women she met in noble society. Brutally so. Few would be seen with her, and many refused to dine with the royal couple at Ceremonies of State. The new Countess Danner explained her despair to Carl:

“It has been very dear to me, my precious Carl, to explain to you quite clearly my real deep hatred of Copenhagen. The injustice that I have felt there against me I can never forgive, and God knows I would gladly have risen against. But we do not live in times where such things can be done. But I retain my hatred, and therefore my mind is much calmer when I can keep myself away from there.”

In response, King Frederik and Countess Danner bought a large estate in the small town of Jaegerspris, a day’s carriage ride from the city. Not only was it an escape from Copenhagen, it had one of the things she loved most in the world: a forest.

Most notably, deep within the forest was a magnificent tree. The oak in Jægerspris Nordskov had already lived more than a thousand years before anyone called it Kongeegen, the King’s Oak. 

Long before Danish kings hunted through this forest, before roads divided the land into estates and kingdoms, the tree had stood rooted in silence beside marsh grass and sea wind. Storms had torn away limbs large enough to shelter entire families. Lightning had hollowed portions of its trunk black with fire. Yet every spring a thin living ribbon beneath the bark carried life upward once more. The old oak endured by holding ruin and vitality together, a tribute to Danish character. 

Away from the palace walls, away from judging eyes, the Countess Danner rode her horse with the King, stopping at the King’s hunting pavilion, then the ancient tree. Once it sheltered them from a sudden rainstorm. Carl was often with them, a frequent guest at Jaegerspris Castle. The tree and two other ancient oaks had already become known a decade earlier, subjects of a famous painting and print in the Danish Royal Collection. Kongeegen, as the oak came to be called, was the oldest tree in Denmark, still strong and wise. 

The old oak demanded nothing from the trio except the truth. It was here that the Countess Danner could finally be herself - funny, uninhibited Louise. Next to the tree, she could achieve the dream she once had long ago, a summer evening with her great loves, Fritz and Carl. 

Doug Still  55:02
What lessons can be learned from the management of Nordskoven and the preservation of Kongeegen?

Helle Serup  55:11
I think one lesson is that if we make an effort, we have the ability to maintain some of these old trees for a long time. I think the forecast has been that the King's Oak would die many times. But it's still there. So if we take care, if we make sure that the other trees are not bothering and overshadowing, and if we use crutches and stuff, we can actually maintain these trees for quite a long time.

(narrative)
Doug Still  55:42
On our way back to the trailhead, Anders and Helle introduced me to a word and a concept that summed up our time together, and how everyone seems to feel about Kongeegen after they visit the ancient tree. 

(to Anders)
So the name of it is….?

Anders Jensen  55:57
Hygge. 

Doug Still
Hygge?

Anders Jensen
Hygge, yeah. (pronounced Hūggeh)

Doug Still  55:58
And what is Hygge?

Anders Jensen  56:01
Hygge is a very special feeling that we only have here in Denmark. It's a feeling of coziness and togetherness. And you can describe it the most when you're sitting at a fireplace on a snowy night and a blanket covers you.   

Doug Still  56:22
Yeah, I've known Hygge!

Helle Serup  56:24
Yeah, yeah. 

Doug Still  56:24
With a board game…

Anders Jensen  56:27
…and glass of wine or anything.  

Helle Serup  56:31
Talking to friends and family and enjoying yourself.

Doug Still  56:34
Can you have Hygge with a walk in the forest? 

Anders Jensen  56:36
Yeah, we are “hyggeing” right now! (laughter)

Helle Serup
Yeah, right now, right now, we are “hyggeing.” 

Doug Still
That's fantastic.

Ballet Music - “La Sylphide”

Doug Still  56:52
Thank you, listeners, for joining me to hear the story about Kongeegen, the King’s Oak. A huge thanks to Anders and Helle for being such terrific guests and forest guides. What wonderful people, I’m so glad to have met them. 

A few more bits about Countess Danner. After King Frederik passed away in 1863, she continued to travel and spend time with Carl Berling. In 1873 she founded the King Frederik VII Foundation, which to this day operates out of Jaegerspris Castle. She established it as a charitable organization to benefit young, poor, working class women. In her will she left Jaegerspris to become a home for destitute and abandoned girls. She was hugely popular with the common people of Denmark, and is beloved to this day. Her tomb is on the property. 

The story, “Beneath Kongeegen” was written by yours truly and my friend and storyteller Ida Zecco. It was read by Ida Zecco, and the letters were read by Martha Douglas-Osmundson. Passages from Louise Rasmussen’s letters were translated from a book called Din henvigne Louise published by the King Frederik VII Foundation. The letters are in the Danish Royal Archive. 

The music you are listening to is from the Bournonville ballet “La Sylphide” by Herman Severin Lovenskiold. This performance was by the Royal Danish Orchestra in 1986. The ballet was performed in Copenhagen in the 1830’s at the Royal Danish Theater. It is quite possible that Louise Rasmussen performed in it. 

The show’s theme music is by Dee Lee. Visit the show website at thisoldtree.show. A transcript will become available soon. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to see photos of Kongeegen and what we saw that day. The podcast is a sponsored project of the New England Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture. Visit newenglandisa.org to learn more about this great organization. 

Thanks again for listening. I’m Doug Still, and this is This Old Tree.

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