Forbidden Love (PART 1 OF 3)
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Kato, are you involved in a forbidden love?
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Yes, I am. What would you say?
Are you really, really getting into such an extraordinary affair?
What if I'm really absorbed in the kind of love that is, you belive, absolutely unacceptable socially?
Well ..., we're living in a free society and I'm reasonably open-minded. So I might as well treat you as a friend, as I always did.
I'm glad to hear that, but I'm just joking. he, he, he, he, he... Actually, I borrowed a DVD from Vancouver Public Library and saw a movie about a forbidden love, which is called "A Royal Affair."
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■"Actual Catalogue Page"
I see... So you borrowed the DVD marked as "624" in the above list, huh?
Yes, that's right.
Are you saying, that's the 624th movie you viewed in the library?
Yes, I am. Here are some details about the movie.
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■"Actual Catalogue Page"
So, you jotted down your comment after viewing it on November 18, huh?
Yes, I did.
There're still four people waiting for the DVD, aren't there?
Yes, you're telling me, Diane.
Kato, tell me about the movie.
Well..., it is based on the true story.
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The passionate and forbidden romance between the mad Danish King, the royal physician, and the young but strong-willed Queen leads to a revolution that changes an entire nation.
...sounds quite interesting.
Have you ever heard of Christian VII of Denmark, Diane?
Is he the mad Danish King?
I don't think he was really a mad king, but they say he was.
Christian VII of Denmark
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(29 January 1749 – 13 March 1808)
Christian VII was an Oldenburg monarch who ruled as King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Schleswig and Holstein from 1766 until his death.
He was the son of King Frederick V and his first wife Louise of Great Britain.
Christian VII's reign was marked by mental illness which affected government decisions, and for most of his reign Christian was only nominally king.
His royal advisers differed depending on who won power struggles around the throne.
In the late 1760s, he came under the influence of his personal physician Johann Friedrich Struensee, who rose steadily in power.
From 1770 to 1772 Struensee was "de facto" regent of the country, and introduced progressive reforms signed into law by Christian VII.
Struensee was deposed by a coup in 1772 after which the country was ruled by Christian's stepmother, Juliane Marie of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel,
his half-brother Frederick and the Danish politician Ove Høegh-Guldberg.
From 14 April 1784 until Christian VII's death in 1808, it was Christian's son, later Frederick VI, who unofficially acted as regent.
This regency was marked by liberal and agricultural reforms, but also by the beginning disasters of the Napoleonic Wars.
Early life
Christian was born in the early hours of the morning on 29 January 1749 in the Queen's Bedchamber at Christiansborg Palace, the Royal residence in Copenhagen.
His godparents were King Frederick V (his father), Queen Dowager Sophie Magdalene (his paternal grandmother), Princess Louise (his aunt) and Princess Charlotte Amalie (his grand-aunt).
A former heir to the throne, also named Christian, had died in infancy in 1747; therefore, great expectations were formed amid the birth of the new heir in 1749.
His mother Queen Louise died, just 27 years old, in 1751, two years after his birth.
The following year his father remarried to Juliane Marie of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.
All earlier accounts agree that he had a winning personality and considerable talent, but he was poorly educated, systematically terrorized by a brutal governor, Christian Ditlev Frederik Reventlow, the Count of Reventlow.
He seems to have been intelligent and certainly had periods of clarity, but suffered from severe emotional problems, possibly schizophrenia as argued in doctor Viggo Christiansen's book Christian VII's mental illness (1906).
Reign
After a longer period of infirmity, Frederick V died in the early hours of the morning on 14 January 1766, just 42 years old.
Later the same day, Christian was proclaimed king from the balcony of Christiansborg Palace, just weeks before his 17th birthday.
For his motto he chose: "Gloria ex amore patriae" ("glory through love of the fatherland").
Marriage
The young King was betrothed to his fifteen year old cousin Princess Caroline Matilda.
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She was a sister of Great Britain's King George III, who was anxious about the marriage but not fully aware that the bridegroom was mentally ill.
The dynastic marriage took place at Christiansborg Palace on 8 November 1766, the same year as the groom's coronation.
After his marriage, he abandoned himself to the worst excesses, especially sexual promiscuity.
In 1767, he entered into a relationship with the courtesan Støvlet-Cathrine.
He publicly declared that he could not love Caroline Matilda, because it was "unfashionable to love one's wife".
He ultimately sank into a condition of mental stupor.
Symptoms during this time included paranoia, self-mutilation and hallucinations.
Struensee
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He became submissive to the progressive and radical thinker Johann Friedrich Struensee, his personal physician, who rose steadily in power in the late 1760s, to a "de facto" regent of the country, where he introduced widespread progressive reforms.
Struensee was a protégé of an Enlightenment circle of aristocrats that had been rejected by the court in Copenhagen.
He was a skilled doctor.
Having somewhat restored the king's health while visiting the Schleswig-Holstein area, he gained the king's affection.
He was retained as travelling physician ("Livmedikus hos Kong Christian VII") on 5 April 1768, and accompanied the entourage on the King’s foreign tour to Paris and London via Hannover from 6 May 1768 to 12 January 1769.
He was given the title of State Councilor ("etatsråd") on 12 May 1768, barely a week after leaving Altona.
The neglected and lonely Caroline Matilda drifted into an affair with Struensee.
(To be followed)