As Fascinate says. “Life’s hard out there for a megalomaniacal, lust-obsessed monarch with some serious “emotional availability” issues.
Though King Christian VII of Denmark technically held absolute power over the Scandinavian nation, by the end of his life his disturbing mental issues—not to mention a particularly awkward cuckold situation—made him ruler only in name.”
As for his Queen? Let’s just say …. in the magnificent 12C Gothic cathedral church of Roskilde on the island of Zealand, 39 Kings and Queens of Denmark are buried.
One Danish queen, however, is missing – Caroline Matilda.
Queen Caroline Matilda (1751-1775) has come to exert a powerful fascination over the Danish imagination, as a figure of legend and romance.
She created her own counter-court modeled on the principles of personal freedom and Enlightenment, then exiled and imprisoned,
She stared out of Hamlet’s ghostly castle of Kronborg, contemplating the Swedish Sound and her own murky future and finally, a banished Queen who lived out her final days in the castle at Celle in Lower Saxony, Germany.
Her husband was Christian VII, King of Denmark, and had already shown peculiar symptoms as a child.
Horace Walpole described Christian as an “insipid boy” who “took notice of nothing”, “took pleasure in nothing” – except perhaps his own importance.
He had feelings of insecurity and inadequacy and although he showed some ability in various directions, at times he became frantic and his education was completely neglected.
His mother, Louisa of Great Britain and Hannover (youngest Aunt to England’s George III ), died before Christian reached the age of 3.
Queen Louise of Denmark and Norway, 1746-1751; King Frederick V of Denmark and Norway 1723-1766,
His father, Frederick V (1723-1766), hated to be bothered and took very little notice of his son.
Shortly after his mother’s death, Christian’s father remarried Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern, whose wealth and status were just about as big as her name.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Christian despised his stepmother, the dominant Juliana of Brunswick-Wolffenbüttel (1729-1796)
His step mother bore Fredrick a physically disabled son with injury to his spine.
He became known as Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Denmark .
As the eldest son, Christian stood in the way of her son’s inheritance and his ambitious stepmother resented him for it.
During this unhappy second marriage Frederick V became an alcoholic and led an increasingly debauched life, while neglecting affairs of state.
Wonder where Christian got it from…
His father, Frederick was a notorious hedonist and alcoholic womanizer, had no qualms about parading around his lovers in public, though married.
However, Frederick paid the penalty for such excess by becoming physically ill and even mentally disturbed before a premature death at the age of 42.
Soon the scepter fell into Christian’s hand, while he was substantially unprepared for the reign.
A partial reason was due to the brutal governance of the Stern Privy Councilor, Detlec Ranvenlow who believed in “using a firm hand”, which he used to terrorize the young Prince with severe beatings. He also caused him to be ignorant of how to manage both private and public affairs.
After one beating, Christian could be found on the floor foaming at the mouth.
Christian was also never allowed to spend even the smallest amount of money, open a letter and even the companions provided to him , helped him achieve his moral ruin along with his mental illness.
Though, he became King shortly before his 17th birthday, the populace expected a great deal from him, not knowing that he had already shown disturbing signs of madness.
Christian lived a double life.
In the mornings he gave audience to ambassadors and engaged them in cultivated conversations in French.
In the evenings, however, he indulged himself by “enjoying freedom” in the streets of Copenhagen in the company of drinking companions and prostitutes and with a gang , Christian used to stalk the streets of Copenhagen, armed with a medieval spiked club, which he used viciously on passers-by.
Less than a year into his disastrous reign, Christian’s councillors were beginning to see that his “rebellious phase” was more like “permanent mental issues.”
In response the forced him into marriage with his 15 yr old cousin, Princess Caroline Matilda , to try and steady his violent tendencies.
Caroline Mathilda was a sister of England’s Mad King George III (1738-1820), who suffered from the disease porphyria.
Caroline Mathilda and George III were known for their “infinite likeness of countenance” and contemporaries remarked on a peculiar quickness of speech, which they both showed when excited.
Like his wife, Christian could have inherited porphyria.
Porphyria is a rare hereditary disease with symptoms like an acute inflammation of the bowels, difficulty in articulation, a painful weakness of the limbs and over-sensitivity. In more severe attacks porphyria can result in over-activity, agitation, confusion, delirium and progressive senility.
However, his progressive decline, incoherent conversation, impulsive violent acts and his alternation between immobility and wild excitement may be better diagnosed as schizophrenia.
Caroline Mathilda was not allowed to take English ladies-in-waiting with her and left England in tears.
She exchanged a safe nursery for the turmoil of a gay and pleasure-seeking court full of intrigue.
Resentful of the match, Christian took immediate dislike to his grief-stricken young bride and treated Caroline coldly.
He even delayed consummating their union and continued his ardent pursuit of whores and young men.
He made it publicly known that he could not love Caroline Matilda, as it was “unfashionable to love one’s wife”.
Christian’s masterful and stern stepmother also disliked Caroline Matilda, because she might provide Christian with an heir which would push her own son lower on the succession line.
The Dowager Queen had all Caroline Mathilda’s favourite ladies-in-waiting transferred to ‘other duties’ in due time.
Even worse, when Caroline Matilda walked to the altar on November 8, 1766, she had no idea that the young King suffered any mental instability at all. She was going in totally blind.
Early 1768 Caroline Matilda gave birth to a son, Crown Prince Frederick (1768-1839).
Queen Caroline was generous and open by nature, but her new bridegroom’s scorn for her was both hurtful and alarming.
In an effort to fully ensnare the king, she took the advice of a friend and once withheld physical intimacy in the hopes that it would make him want her more.
It backfired horrifically. Enraged, Christian only further withdrew his affections.
During the first 4 years of his reign, 2 of Christian’s delusions which most effected the history of the Denmark formed.
Because Christian was physically frail, short and slender, his insecurity developed an abnormal concern with physical toughness – a pre Napolean complex, if you will.
He believed his own power and genius were incomparable but to obtain their perfection he must harden himself by physical excess.
Grave defects began to appear sharply, he “lacked industry and tenacity”, delighted in the misfortunes of others, proved himself to be a traitor to his friends and servants.
His mind had given his wild imagination over to many new forms of debauchery.
His mistress, known as ‘Katrine with the boots, and his male favorite, Conrad Holcke, along with Christian used to rampage through the streets of Copenhagen, smashing up shops and ravaging brothels.
He frequently returned with black eyes, bruises and cuts.
Christian enjoyed public executions, staged mock executions of his courtiers.
The King built his own rack and ordered Holcke to stretch him on it or flog him until his back was bleeding.
To demonstrate his ‘manliness’, Christian would burn his flesh and rub salt into his own wounds.
Besides earning himself premium membership to Copenhagen’s red light district, Christian also took up with Anne Benthagen, AKA Støvlet-Cathrine, one of Denmark’s most famed courtesans.
She was the good-time gal of his dreams. Witty and worldly, she would often accompany the king and his friends during their brothel bacchanals.
In return, Christian scandalously took her to court functions and other public events, lauding her as the “Mistress of the Universe” and showered gifts upon her until public opinion induced him to send her away.
On a long journey in Europe in 1769 Christian made himself known to the world as an interested and cultured monarch, he undertook a tour to England, France and Germany with Holcke, and left his wife behind.
To everybody’s surprise, he acquitted himself quite well.
His memory and facility of speech roused admiration, his talents gained unfeigned respect and his form was agile and graceful. He possessed considerable power to impress those he met for the first time.
In Denmark Caroline Mathilda was growing fat and took to wearing a male horse riding costume which led to a cruel insult which circulated through the court – that she was “the better man of the two”.
After Christian’s return his condition and conduct took a sharp turn for the worse and he was never again to play an active role as king.
He liked to play leapfrog over the backs of visiting dignitaries when they bowed to him.
Diplomats also complained when he was discussing affairs of state with them, without warning he would slap them violently round the face.
Although he was King of Denmark, Christian was still childish and mean.
Once he threw a bowl of sugar over his grandmother’s head .
Another time he stuck pins in the seat of her throne in order to see her jump.
Often he kept dinner waiting for hours or rose abruptly before it had ended.
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It is now asserted confidently he was in the throws of inexorable mental disease, but in those days his illness was not so understood.
His disposition was chalked up to premature assumption of the thrown, the freedom of privilege, youth, and even evil counsel.
It began to seem as though Denmark was being rendered to the scribbled mandates of a madman.
Christian’s only remaining task was to provide the numerous documents with his signature making him a useful instrument in the hands of individuals hungry for power.
The first person to find himself in a position to take advantage as Christian’s mental and physical state became worse was his physician, Johan Freiderich Struensee.
Even though his financial situation did not let him expect a carefree living, his behavior soon caused him to socialize with the high society.
He met the Danish minister of Foreign Affairs and soon began writing first essays on Enlightenment treatises , published in journals.
Getting in contact more and more with Denmark’s Royalty, as Struensee had already been in contact with the royal Danish court, he was picked as the personal physician for King Christian VII while the latter traveled through Europe during which Struensee received the honorary degree of Doctor in Medicine from Cambridge.
When the tour was over, Struensee had already been in contact with the royal Danish court, he was picked as the personal physician for King Christian VII while the latter traveled through Europe.
Throughout their journey, the two men became close friends.
Struensee was known to be a progressive man with ideals from the Age of Enlightenment, which was not welcomed in every part of society.
Struensee managed to rekindle the King’s interest in politics for a while and started influencing him with his enlightened views.
Right from the start of his involvement with the King’s affairs, so many members of the royal council looked upon Johann Friedrich Struensee with suspicion.
During his stay he won more and more confidence. Struensee always intended to play a bigger role in politics and worked on his idea to make the king his tool while he had to befriend the queen.
Carolina Matilda was back then only 18 years old and dis-trusted the physician. Soon however, she started admiring his abilities and his charm.
In October 1769 Caroline Matilda had an attack of colic and was so depressed that she “turned her face to the wall and prayed for death”.
She was lonely, young and inexperienced and when she sought solace in the medical and other services of Struensée, she fell hopelessly in love with him.
Pretending to get Christian more interested in her for the sake of his mental health, Struensee encouraged the king to plan a lavish 3-day birthday party for his Queen and to start treating her more kindly.
Caroline saw these efforts and became, well, very grateful to the Royal Physician—not her husband.
Thus a passionate love affair developed between them.
In 1770, Struensee became her lover and his influence increased.
She was lonely, young and inexperienced and when she sought solace in the medical and other services of Struensée, she fell hopelessly in love with him.
The naïve and warm-blooded Caroline Mathilda behaved with incredible foolishness.
She boasted openly of her affair to her chambermaids, demonstrating time and again her ruffled clothing after each visit Struensée paid to her rooms and dancing with him for whole evenings at the Court balls.
Caroline Mathilda’s second child, Louise Augusta (1771-1843), was said to have had an unmistakable likeness to Struensée.
Christian was as indifferent to the government of Denmark as he was to his Queen, so the ambitious Struensée “reigned supreme in the councils of state and in the heart of the Queen”.
Christian VII aloof and disinterested.
Once, Christian, who admired the King of Prussia, was heard to have murmured: “Does the king of Prussia sleep with Mathilda? Or is it Struensée?”
Christian’s mood could change quickly from a state of wild excitement to one of deep depression.
As Christian’s mental state steadily deteriorated, he was often found in the morning sitting in the corner of his room with a distressed expression on his face.
From time to time, he would beat his head against the wall, sometimes until blood flowed.
Sometimes he would run from room to room through the palace, destroying furniture or throwing it through the windows.
Occasionally, he attacked his entourage violently or laughed inappropriately and wildly.
His speech was often incomprehensible and he was disturbed by hallucinations.
Waking in the morning, he would declare that he had killed several people that night.
At times, he questioned his birth, thinking that he was a changeling – or the son of Catherine the Great.
Often Struensée was asked to search the King’s bedroom to ensure that no assassin was hiding there.
To his former tutor, Revendil, Christian confessed “I am confused” and “There is a noise in my head”.
In June 1771, Christian named Johann Friedrich Struensee Secret Cabinet Minister and gave him the general power of attorney, de facto making him the absolute ruler of the Danish Kingdom.
While at first, Struensee’s political influence operated very controlled, keeping a low profile, he later on appointed himself to several offices and enforced several treatises.
It was his duty to present reports from all governmental departments to the king.
King Christian was, according to Struensee, in a pretty bad shape during this period, wherefore Struensee began dictating whatever he favored.
After, Struensee got himself appointed to the post of cabinet secretary to the King he held the capacity for all governmental documents to pass through his hands.
Soon he presented Christian with numerous laws and legislation that changed the face of Denmark. The King willingly signed them.
In the 18 months of his power, Struensee passed over 1000 orders including the abolition of noble privileges, introduction of various taxes, criminal reform, the abolition of torture and many more,which were supposed to better the situation of the peasants.
Denmark became the first country to abolish serfdom, but through this Struensee managed to weaken the royal council’s power.
At first, the Danish people liked his reforms and saw new possibilities.
In fact, the rate at which he issued new laws was so high he even opposed those powers at the court that weren’t actually opposed to many of the changes he made.
Though, to them, the changes came too fast and went too far.
He dismissed many superfluous civil servants – always a most dangerous thing to do – and decreed that henceforth the language of the government should be German.
His conservative opposition to the basically powerless royal council turned to intrigue, as they used the rather new technology of printing to discredit Struensee and Caroline Matilda.
They spread flyers all over Copenhagen, stirring up the people against the opaque German physician and the English Queen.
Struensee didn’t really pay attention to these tactics, he was far too busy, radically changing the country.
After a while, he received lots of distrust, operating every business in German and firing numerous governmental officials without pensions.
Struensee’s enemies increased.
During the summer of 1771, the king and queen as well as Struensee and some members of the Royal Court stayed at Hirschholm Palace, where the queen gave birth to her daughter.
Nevertheless, his foolhardy policy, his arrogance and his violation of the King’s marriage provoked resentment.
When some upstart, progressive commoner usurped her stepson’s kingdom, Juliana took one look and said, not in my absolute monarchy, bud, so in January 1772 a group of conspirators, led by Christian’s stepmother, his half-brother and the conservative Ove Høegh-Guldberg4, decided to interfere.
Christian’s stepmother Juliana was nobody’s fool, even though she felt as if she was surrounded by idiots,
While Caroline Mathilda and Struensée were dancing at a masked ball, they broke into Christian’s bedroom, and scared him practically out of his wits.
By now Christian had got over the antipathy he had felt for his wife, but he was almost an imbecile, so his stepmother managed to bully him into signing the orders for the arrest of both Struensée and Caroline Mathilda.
Optics, as they say, are everything.
When the coup was successfully completed, Juliana and her lackeys paraded Christian around Copenhagen in a golden carriage.
While propped up on plush cushions, Christian greeted his adoring public—who knew little to nothing about his mental troubles—as they rejoiced his “liberation.”
Struensée confessed his love affair with the Queen, and was sentenced to a horrible death.
First his right hand was chopped off.
Then his body was quartered and broken on the wheel and finally he was beheaded.
From her watchtower Juliana observed these medieval barbarities with pleasure.
She is said to have remarked that “the only thing that spoilt her pleasure was the fact that she could not see Caroline Matilda’s corpse thrown into the death-cart as well”.
Caroline Matilda at first denied everything, but later she signed a confession too, in the vain hope of saving her lover’s life. Her sentence included an annulment of her marriage.
