In the Crown Prince’s hours of recreation he was neglected, and allowed to keep bad company. His chief companions were two youths employed about the court; one was Sperling, a page of the chamber and a nephew of Reventlow; the other was Kirschoff, a servant of the chamber, and a friend of Sperling. Both these youths were vicious and corrupt. They were older than the Crown Prince and acquired great influence over him. They set him a bad example by their evil habits, they poisoned his mind by retailing all the scandals of the court, and they corrupted his heart by mocking at everything good and noble. It has been well said that they occupy the same place in the history of Denmark as Louis XV.’s infamous servants Bachelier and Le Bel do in the history of France.
It stands to Juliana Maria’s credit that she objected to these youths as playmates of the Prince and to Reventlow’s system of education, and remonstrated with the King, but Frederick V. would not listen to her. Later Bernstorff made similar representations and with more success, for when Christian was eleven years of age a change took place for the better. A Swiss named Reverdil[27] was appointed to instruct the Crown Prince in mathematics and French, and he gradually extended his teaching to other branches of learning. Reverdil was an upright man, and did his duty according to his lights. He saw clearly that the boy’s physical and mental health was being ruined by Reventlow’s barbarous methods, and did what he could to improve things. But well meaning though he was he made his pupil’s life unhappier by introducing a new torture in the form of public examinations. The Crown Prince was examined twice yearly in the knight’s hall of the Christiansborg Palace[28] in the presence of the King, the Ministers, and the corps diplomatique, and if we may judge from the courtly reports of the foreign envoys he acquitted himself well. Yet, this testimony notwithstanding, it is certain that he was not well educated, for he was ignorant of solid acquirements. But he could dance a minuet with much grace and could play the flute, sing, ride and fence well. He was a fair linguist and spoke German and French. More important still he was taught the Danish language, which had been neglected at the Danish court, and the household of the Prince, except his French and German tutors, were forbidden to speak to him in other language but Danish.
[27] Reverdil was born in 1732 in the Canton of Vaud, and educated at the University of Geneva. He became professor of mathematics at the University of Copenhagen in 1758, and two years later was appointed assistant tutor to the Crown Prince Christian. He has left a record of his experiences at the Danish court in a book entitled Struensee et la cour de Copenhague 1760-1772, Mémoires de Reverdil. To this work I am indebted for much valuable information.
[28] The Christiansborg Palace, situated on an island in the heart of Copenhagen, was originally erected by Christian VI. in 1733-40. It was a magnificent building both externally and internally, and for five reigns was the principal palace of the Kings of Denmark. It was partially burned down in 1794, but rebuilt. It was again gutted by fire in 1884; but the walls are still standing. The palace could be restored to its pristine splendour, and it is a reproach that this residence, so rich in historic associations, has not been rebuilt. A bill is occasionally introduced for the Danish parliament to grant the necessary funds, but it has hitherto been defeated by the democratic party on the ground that the King is well housed in his palace of the Amalienborg, which, in point of fact, is much too small to be the chief royal palace of the capital.
The Crown Prince was precocious in some things and backward in others. He was naturally quick-witted and had a gift of sarcasm and mimicry in which he freely indulged; he made buffoon parodies of the preachers and their sermons, and he mimicked ministers of state, high court officials and even the august royal family. Some of his boyish sarcasms show that he felt the cruel way in which he was treated and the subordinate position in which he was kept. For instance, Frederick V., in one of his generous moods (probably after a hard spell of drinking), made Moltke a present of the palace of Hirschholm and all its contents. It was a common ground of complaint that Moltke took advantage of his master’s weakness to enrich himself. The Crown Prince, hearing of this princely gift, waylaid Moltke coming from the audience chamber of the King, and thrust into his hand a picture of Hirschholm.[29] “Content yourself with this, your Excellency,” said the Prince, “for, believe me, unless you get the crown as well, Hirschholm will never be yours.” The Prime Minister, taken aback at this display of authority on the part of the heir apparent, wisely forebore to press the matter further, and Hirschholm remained the property of the crown. On another occasion, when the King and his favourite minister were drinking together, the Crown Prince was present. The King commanded Christian to fill glasses for himself and Moltke. Christian hesitated. The King repeated his order, and told him that he could fill his own glass as well. The Prince then filled Moltke’s glass to the brim, the King’s glass half full, and into his own he poured only a few drops. “What do you mean by this?” said the King. “I mean, sire,” replied his son, “to denote our relative importance in the state. His Excellency being all-powerful I have filled his glass to the full. You being only second in authority I half filled yours; as for me, since I am of no consequence, a drop suffices.”
[29] It is possible that his grandmother Sophia Magdalena may have instigated him to do this, as Hirschholm was her favourite palace.
Despite his precocity, Christian had some extraordinary crazes and superstitions. One of them he cherished from the nursery. His Norwegian nurse had told him many legends of Scandinavian Vikings whose physical perfections rivalled the gods, mighty warriors who were invulnerable in battle, like the legendary heroes of ancient wars. At this time there was a very widespread belief in northern Europe in a foolish superstition called the “Art of Passau,” a secret charm which made men hard and invulnerable in battle. The young Crown Prince’s imagination was fired by it, and he determined to acquire the secret of the charm and so attain his ideal of supreme physical perfection. Gradually he came to believe that he had found it, and soon the hallucination extended to his thinking that he was also endowed with superhuman mental attributes, and he saw himself a mightier ruler and warrior than Peter the Great or Frederick the Great, and a greater philosopher than Leibniz or Voltaire. The fulsome despatches of Cosby, the assistant English envoy,[30] would almost seem to warrant this preposterous belief, for he describes the Crown Prince in the most extravagant terms.
[30] In 1763 the envoy, Titley, on the ground of age and infirmity, was granted an assistant, and the British Government sent Cosby to Copenhagen, and he virtually took over the whole business of the legation, Titley only intervening in domestic matters connected with the royal families of England and Denmark. Cosby conducted the diplomatic business until his recall in 1765. He suddenly went insane.
QUEEN LOUISE, CONSORT OF FREDERICK V. OF DENMARK AND DAUGHTER OF GEORGE II. OF ENGLAND.
From a Painting by Pilo in the Frederiksborg Palace.