Christian VII

Christian VII was the King of Denmark-Norway from 1766, son of Frederik V and Louise of Great Britain. Married in 1766 to Caroline Mathilde of Great Britain and father of Frederik VI.

Christian VII was completely unsuitable as an absolute monarch. He probably suffered from schizophrenia and had intense mood-swings. In the first years of his reign he participated in nightly boozes at the brothels of Copenhagen in the company of a prostitute named Bootee-Katrine. The King’s physician, the reformatory J.F. Struensee, succeeded in getting real power, but he was overthrown and executed in 1772. Struensee had a love affair with the Queen, and after his fall, Christian VII’s marriage was dissolved.

After Struensee, it was first and foremost Ove Høegh-Guldberg who had real power but in a coup, in 1784, Crown Prince Frederik (VI) took control of the government. Christian VII died of a heart attack in Rendsborg after witnessing the arrival of Spanish auxiliaries, which he mistook for enemy forces.

 

 

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