Political influence
Queen Sophie Amalie was described as ambitious and was well known to participate in state affairs, with the blessing of her husband, and influence policy as his adviser. Her great influence upon her husband was widely known already before he became king: before Frederick had succeeded to the throne, a satire circulated in which this was caricatured in the form of a mock question: "Can a husband make any decisions whatever without the consent of his wife? Signed Duke Frederick."
Her influence is contributed to the fact that she attracted her husband as well as was in possession of a willpower and energy exceeding his, as well as to the fact that they had the same political goals: "With her vivacious nature she understood how to attract her husband, with her greater decisiveness and more fiery temperament she energized his more careful nature to action, and above all she was given power, because she wanted it with all her flaming soul."
The three main political goals of Sophia Amalie and Frederick III were to defeat the power of the nobility, symbolized by the Svogerpartiet (Son-in-law's Party); to defeat the Swedes; and to expand royal power into absolutism, to which the queen gathered followers through her court festivities and by creating a net of contacts by handing out favors.
Queen Sophie Amalie was from the start of her husband's reign famously involved in the power struggle between the crown and the high nobility, symbolized by the so-called Svogerpartiet ('Son's-in-law Party'), composed by six noblemen married to daughters of her father-in-law from his second morganatic marriage with Kirsten Munk, among which Corfitz Ulfeldt, married to Leonora Christina Ulfeldt, was the leading member. Upon her husband's accession she became the first queen in over 30 years, and she could never stand the half-sisters of her spouse, who had fulfilled the position of first lady during their father's reign. This conflict had begun already during the celebration dinner of the king's accession to the throne in Copenhagen Castle 6 July 1648 with an incident Sophie Amalie and Leonora Christine: the queen being unusually quiet, Leonora Christine criticized her for her silence, after which the queen participated in conversation, but notably fell silent every time Leonora Christine joined in. By 1651, the Svogerpartiet, was crushed, its members disperse, the Ulfeldt couple left for Sweden and their property was confiscated.
Sophie Amalie is thought to have initiated the war against Sweden in 1657. After the peace with Sweden in 1658, she presided over the celebration of the Peace of Roskilde when the Swedish king Charles X Gustav was received at Frederiksborg Palace, during which she entertained with avec beaucoup d'éclat and conversed about the crossing of the Bält by the Swedish army. When the Swedish king pointed at Erik Dahlberg and stated that he had been the commander, Frederick III greeted Dahlberg by allowing him to kiss his hand, while the queen for a moment, according to Dahlberg, had an expression which stated her feelings toward him as "not all which was good".
The act for which queen Sophie Amalie is most famous was her behavior during the Siege of Copenhagen in 1658, during which "Sophie Amalie was given the opportunity to show all the strength and decisiveness of her nature, now unleashed for a more noble purpose than a hunt or the most exiting adventure trip".
She is believed to have exerted great influence upon the king, normally often passive and uncertain, in their mutual steadfastness never to surrender, and their act reportedly strengthened civilian morale considerably and earned them widespread popularity. During the Siege, the king showed himself on horse in the weak spots of the city both in night and day, accompanied by the queen, also on horseback, to strengthen public morale. The position of the queen was illustrated by the fact that military commands were known to give their messages to her when they could not find the king, and at one such incident, it was mentioned that she was positioned in the highest tower of Copenhagen Castle, looking toward the Swedish troops. During the war with Sweden in 1658, she sent her own agent Lorents Tuxen to commit sabotage behind the Swedish lines.
Sophie Amalie probably took part in the decision to introduce the absolute monarchy by the 1660 state of emergency in Denmark. This happened while the popularity of the royal couple was at its highest after the Swedish siege of Copenhagen in 1658–60. She was very popular at that point for her moral support during the siege.
During the Assembly of the Estates and the 1660 state of emergency in Denmark, which eventually resulted in the introduction of absolute monarchy in Denmark, the queen was likely one of the most important participants as the adviser of the king, but it is difficult to determine her concrete actions.
It was reportedly Sophie Amalie, who on 10 October 1660 convinced Frederick III to go through with the plans to introduce absolutism by force in a difficult moment when the estates had refused to agree to introduce it.
The queen was however not involved in the creation of the Kongeloven (Lex Regia), the “constitution” of Danish absolute monarchy, and Christoffer Gabel had difficulty to persuade the king to introduce it because the king feared that she would be displeased with the regulations concerning queen dowagers, and stalled introducing it by saying: "Let me be able to keep the peace with the queen."
After the introduction of the Kongeloven in 1665, the queen's position was undermined by Christoffer Gabel, who replaced her as the king's chief adviser.
She was notably not included as regent in the event of her son succeeding to the throne while still a minor. The reason why her spouse no longer relied so much upon her advice in the latter part of his reign, was likely the instability in foreign policy caused by her indecisiveness as to whether her goals to reconquer the Southern Provinces from Sweden would benefit most from an alliance with France or with the Holy Roman Empire. Another cause was her favoritism of her younger son, and her ambition to secure marriages of the highest status possible for her daughters regardless of political benefit for Denmark; one example of such was arranging for Ulrika Eleonora to marry Charles XI and become Queen of Sweden despite the fact that Sweden was Denmark's enemy.
After the introduction of absolutism, the queen increasingly attracted attention for her protection of favorites and her persecution of those she disliked. It was said that "The queen is not always good toward those, who devote themselves to the king, without being dependent upon others"; that she wished to be "sought and honored", and by handing out favors she gathered followers to a queen's party who owed their loyalty to her personally, and who eventually also gained influence over her. One of her protegees was Jacob Petersen, officially only a chamber servant of the king, who was given much favor by the queen and described as her "most confidant tool" until he was suddenly exiled by the king in 1664 for the unspecific accusation of being involved in "many intrigues"; after the king's death, Sophie Amalie had all accusations against Petersen dropped. Her most favored lady-in-waiting was Abel Cathrine. Of the persecutions, the most known victims are Kai Lykke and Leonora Christine. In 1662, the nobleman Kai Lykke was forced to flee and had his property in Denmark confiscated after he was discovered to have written in a private letter to his mistress that the queen had sex with her lackeys; he was not allowed back to Denmark until after Sophie Amalie's death. In 1663, she famously had Leonora Christina Ulfeldt imprisoned in the Blåtårn, and refused to release her as long as she herself was still alive.
While her artistic taste was French, her political views were German-oriented and her influence was feared, especially among the nobility. A characteristic remark was made by nobleman Henrik Bjelke from the first Swedish war: "The king is good, but God save us with honor from here! The queen is not good by any Dane, and she has the king in her power." Also the foreign ambassadors noted the queen's influence over the king and government. Baron Ludvig Holberg said about her that she had "the capacity of a statesman" and "the heart of a soldier" but also that she was "more admired than loved" and that she went too far in her hatred toward Leonora Christina.
