I do believe i've read somewhere that Thyra herself informed Ernest August before they got engaged but it was certainly not common knowledge.
King Willem III of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxemburg lost his first wife Sophie of Wurttemberg in 1877 and he as well as their two remaining sons Wiwill, Prince of Orange and Prince Alexander made inquiries at the Danish court for a potential match with Thyra.
Now both Willem III and his oldest son Wiwill were not unfamiliar with the existence of extra-marital offspring they produced but neither of them would have tolerated a woman who had had a child out of wedlock as their wife/(future) queen. Yes double standarts about sex were commonplace in the second half of the 19th century.
Considering Thyra was not blocked by the various European courts means that she managed to keep the story of her firstborn under wraps.
If one thinks about it, Thyra’s match was a boon to both parties. A princess about whom there might have been some sordid gossip is matched with the son of a disenfranchised monarch living in exile. She is thus married quite respectably, though not quite as advantageously as her sisters. And the royal groom, exiled and with few prospects, suddenly finds himself in the inner circle of a close-knit family that includes Danish, Greek, Russian, and British monarchs.
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