Hans Christian Andersen was born on April 2, 1805, in the city of Odense, Denmark. Andersen grew up poor in Denmark, and his father passed away when Andersen was just 11 years old. Despite his difficult upbringing, Andersen was educated at some of Denmark’s most prestigious institutions early in his life. As a teenager, he was accepted into the Royal Danish Theater as an actor. While this career did not prove fruitful for Andersen, it did lead to his receiving further education and pursuing a literary career. Andersen would eventually go on to study at the University of Copenhagen.

During his time as a student in Copenhagen, Andersen first began publishing his writing. Andersen was already an accomplished writer with many published works before publishing his first collection of fairy tales. Much of Andersen’s early success as a writer stemmed from a collection of travelogues and satirical short stories. However, he achieved his greatest success with his fairy tales, and they remain well-known today.

“The Emperor’s New Clothes” was published in Andersen’s first collection of fairy tales, Fairy Tales Told For Children. This collection contains nine stories and was published in three volumes between 1835 and 1837. These volumes were not initially well-received in Andersen’s native country of Denmark.