In 1863, when Thyra was 10 years old, King Frederick VII died, and her father succeeded to the throne of Denmark as King Christian IX. Earlier the same year, her brother Vilhelm had been elected King of Greece, and her sister Alexandra had married Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. In 1866, her other sister Dagmar married the Tsarevich of Russia, Alexander.
Thyra was an attractive and gentle young woman, with dark hair and dark blue eyes, and Queen Louise wanted her youngest daughter to make a good marriage as her elder daughters had. Thyra's first suitor was King Willem III of the Netherlands, but as he was thirty-six years older than she was, she rejected him.
In her youth, Thyra had fallen in love with Vilhelm Frimann Marcher, a lieutenant in the cavalry, which resulted in a pregnancy.[2] Her brother George I of Greece suggested that she have the baby in Athens to avoid scandal; the Danish press was told Thyra had been taken ill with jaundice.[2] She gave birth to a girl, Maria, on 8 November 1871 at Schloss Glücksburg, who was adopted by Rasmus and Anne Marie Jørgensen of Odense shortly after birth and renamed Kate; she married in 1902 Frode Pløyen-Holstein and died in 1964.[citation needed] Marcher killed himself on 4 January 1872 after a confrontation with the King.[3]
