Editing Christian IX (section)

===Last years===
In spite of the King's initial unpopularity and the many years of political strife, where the king was in conflict with large parts of the population, his popularity recovered towards the end of his reign, and he became a national icon due to the length of his reign and the high standards of personal morality with which he was identified.{{sfn|Scocozza|1997|p=188}} The celebration of the [[golden wedding anniversary]] of King Christian and Queen Louise in 1892 thus became a great and authentic tribute from the people to the king and queen which contrasted profoundly with the sober marking of their [[silver wedding anniversary]] in 1867.{{sfn|Bramsen|1992|p=166}}

In 1904, the King became aware of the efforts of [[Einar Holbøll]], a postal clerk in Denmark, who conceived the idea of selling [[Christmas seals]] at post offices across Denmark to raise badly needed funding to help those afflicted with [[tuberculosis]], which was occurring in alarming proportions in Denmark. The King approved of Holbøll's idea and subsequently the Danish post office produced the world's first Christmas seal, which generated more than $40,000 in funding. The Christmas seal portrayed an image of his wife, [[Louise of Hesse-Kassel|Queen Louise]].<ref name=ostler35-38>[[#ostler1947|Ostler, 1947]], pp. 35–38</ref>