Else Hansen

Else Hansen (Cathrine Marie Mahs Hansen), known as Madam Hansen, later ennobled as de Hansen (1720 – 4 September 1784), was the royal Danish mistress of king Frederick V of Denmark. She was his only long term relationship and the only one of his lovers to have been ennobled.

Else Hansen was the only lover to have a long term relationship with Frederick V, who usually preferred temporary arrangements with prostitutes. His relationship with Hansen, however, lasted from at least 1746 until 1752. At least her three youngest children were all born at the manor Ulriksholm on Funen, the estate of major Ulrik Frederik von Heinen, who was the brother-in-law of the courtier Adam Gottlob Moltke, and her frequent trips there to give birth when her pregnancies became visible was publicly noted. The children were officially listed as the issue of her claimed non existent spouse, sea captain Frederick Hansen. Hansen was ennobled de Hansen, but the line died with her son. She was the only one of the king's lovers to be ennobled. Neither she nor any one else of the king's lovers, however, ever had any influence over state policy. The relationship with Frederick ended in 1752, after which she was referred to as the widow of sea captain Frederik Hansen, and resided at an estate of Ulrik Frederik von Heinen. After the death of Frederick in 1766, she acquired the estate Klarskov on Funen, where she lived until her death. She sold Klarskov in 1774, but continued to reside there all the same. Her children were not officially recognized, but unofficially they were taken care of by the royal court and the daughters were given a dowry and married to members of the nobility or the highest merchant class: also her grandchildren were given an allowance from the royal house.

At Frederiksborgmuseet, there are three paintings of Hansen by Jens Thrane the younger from 1764. Hansen is known by Dorothea Biehl's depiction of the decadent court life of Frederick V.