Hans Christian Andersen’s Lost Love Offered No ‘Happily Ever After’
Hans Christian Andersen authored many “happily ever after” moments in his timeless classics such as The Ugly Duckling, The Little Mermaid, and the tale upon which the recent hit Disney film, Frozen, is based: The Snow Queen.
But a letter recently unearthed, penned by Hans Christian Andersen to the woman that had stolen his heart, reveals that the beloved Danish author did not get to enjoy a “happily ever after” for himself.
The letter was written by Hans Christian Andersen to the brother of the woman he loved, Riborg Voigt, who, though married, remained Hans Christen Andersen’s first, and last, Love, reports Denmark’s The Local.
Though Hans Christian Andersen and Riborg Voigt’s feelings are believed to have been somewhat mutual, Riborg’s marriage to another man was a hurdle she and Andersen’s love could not clear.
The letter reportedly reveals a heartbroken Hans Christian Andersen, crippled by a love he could never embrace as evidenced by the shaky, “emotional” writing. According to The Local, a reporter named Fyns Stifsidende revealed the finding of the Hans Christian Andersen letter on Tuesday, a testament to the fact that Andersen’s love for Voigt remained strong long after she married another man.
Ejnar Stig Askgaard, an employee of Odense City Museums, believes the letter was written during the Christmas Season of 1832. Hans Christian Andersen would have been 27 at the time and it’s Askgaard that points to the “shaky penmanship” as evidence that Andersen was extremely emotional when he wrote the letter. According to Askgaard, uncharacteristically emotional.
“(Hans Christian) Andersen normally held his feeling very close. He also wrote in the letter that it should be burnt after reading,” Askgaard told Fyens Stiftstidende.
But in an amazing historical twist that would perhaps please Hans Christian Andersen, or maybe double his heartbreak, Askgaard says there’s evidence Voigt loved the celebrated Danish son too:
“If only he could have known that he was not alone in his infatuation. When Riborg Voigt died, the poems he had written for her were found along with a bouquet and a photograph of Andersen in a hidden compartment in her drawer.”
Hans Christian Andersen wrote the letter to Riborg Voigt’s brother, Christian Voigt, who was also a longtime friend of Andersen’s. For Hans Christian Andersen fans and, perhaps, English majors, the letter confirms that many of the poems Hans Christian Andersen wrote following Voigt’s marriage to the other man, stemmed from his endless love for her.
Says the Huffington Post, Hans Christian Andersen once wrote:
“If you looked down to the bottom of my soul, you would understand fully the source of my longing and – pity me. Even the open, transparent lake has its unknown depths, which no divers know.”
When Hans Christian Andersen left this world at the age of 70 on August 4th, 1875, he still carried a letter from Riborg Voigt that he obviously deeply treasured as it was inside a pouch he wore around his neck for all of his lovelorn days.
How was the letter found? Riborg Voigt’s great-grandson died without an heir and a friend of his found the Hans Christian Andersen letter while looking through his belongings. The thoughtful friend then dropped the letter off to the museum, essentially making a donation since similar letters by Hans Christian Andersen that were “discovered” garnered 60,000 kroner – Which sounds like a lot!
The Hans Christian Andersen Center is in possession of six other letters from Andersen to Riborg Voigt. They also have two that she sent to him!
Photos: Sean Mahoney
