This indignation deepened when it was announced on July 7, 1771, that the Queen was delivered of a daughter. Mounted messengers at once conveyed the tidings from Hirschholm, whither the court had gone three weeks before, to Copenhagen, and the birth of the princess was proclaimed in the usual manner from the balcony of the Christiansborg Palace. Royal salutes were discharged from the cannon on the ramparts and at the arsenal, and heralds in gorgeous tabards blew a blast of trumpets from the town hall and the principal church towers. But so far from the event arousing any public rejoicing, ominous murmurs were heard among the people, and the free press did not hesitate to abuse its freedom by more scurrilous articles and gross caricatures. Though there was no proof, the newborn infant was generally believed to be the child of Struensee, “who,” said his enemies, “had shamelessly dishonoured the King’s bed, and introduced his vile posterity in the place of the pure blood of Oldenburg”. It must be stated here, however, that even if the Queen’s indiscretion with Struensee were admitted, it was not impossible that the Princess should have been the King’s child, and this was the view taken later by the Queen’s most inveterate enemies. Unfortunately, colour was given to this damaging report by Struensee assisting with Berger at the accouchement of the Queen; no other physicians were called in, and all the etiquette usual on these occasions was abolished.
With incredible recklessness Struensee chose this time, when his unpopularity was at its height, and the air full of evil rumours, to put the crown upon his audacity by seizing the kingly power in a way no subject had ever dared to attempt before. Struensee’s nominal office hitherto had been that of Master of Requests; in reality he had been dictator, and governed both the state and the court. But this was not enough for his boundless ambition; he was no longer content to work behind the King and Queen, and through his creatures Rantzau, Gahler and Osten. He therefore induced the King to appoint him (or rather he appointed himself) “Privy Cabinet Minister,” and to invest him with absolute authority.
An extraordinary order, signed by the King, and counter-signed by Struensee, was published from Hirschholm, July 15, 1771, a week after the birth of the Princess, and copies were sent to every department of the Government, and the ministers of foreign courts. Briefly, this document ordained that henceforth all orders or directions issued by Struensee and signed by him would have the same force and validity as if they were given under the royal sign manual; and whether the orders of the Privy Cabinet Minister came addressed to the heads of departments, or to their subordinates in office, they were to be instantly and implicitly obeyed. “The cabinet orders issued in this way,” wrote the King, “shall have the same validity as those drawn up by Our hand. They shall be immediately obeyed.”
This decree, which amounted to a virtual abdication on the part of Christian VII. in favour of Struensee, was received with consternation and indignation from one end of the kingdom to the other. At first it seemed impossible that the King could thus vest any subject with unlimited power, but, since no other meaning could be attached to the document, the people declared that it could only have been wrested from the King by force or undue influence. It was now realised that from the beginning Struensee had aimed at absolute power. He first persuaded the King to abolish the Council of State and proclaim himself an absolute monarch, and then forced him to delegate the whole power to him as Privy Cabinet Minister. The Danish nation were, in fact, no longer ruled by their hereditary monarch but by a foreign adventurer, who had usurped the kingly functions, and, having abolished all ministers and councils, gathered up into himself every branch of power and prerogative. The unscrupulousness of the man was only equalled by his audacity. It was the last straw on the back of the long-suffering Danes. Hitherto, the agitation against Struensee had been confined to certain classes; now it represented the whole nation, and not all the laws he had passed for the benefit of the people, nor all the doles he had meted out to them, could avail to quell the tempest of indignation aroused by the publication of this royal decree. Its promulgation at such a time, within a week of the Queen’s delivery, gave credence to the rumour that the infant Princess was not the King’s child but Struensee’s, and it was said that this insolent tyrant, who stopped at nothing, had already formed a plan of getting the King out of the way, of marrying the Queen, of assassinating the Crown Prince, and establishing himself and his posterity upon the throne of Denmark.
The Princess was christened on the Queen’s birthday, July 22, 1771, under the names of Louise Augusta—the first name having been that of the King’s mother, the second that of the Princess-Dowager of Wales. The King, himself, stood as principal sponsor to the child, the others being his brother Prince Frederick, and the Queen-Dowager, Juliana Maria. Whispers of the current scandal had reached the ears of the Queen and Struensee, and the choice of these sponsors was a way of contradicting them. The Queen-Dowager and Prince Frederick were present at the express command of the King, and dared not disobey. They must have come very unwillingly, for Juliana Maria had already stated in private what she afterwards proclaimed in public—that the legitimacy of the Princess was open to grave suspicion. The child was generally spoken of by the courtiers as “the Ma’amselle”.
The Queen’s birthday and the royal christening formed the occasion of a further elevation of the all-powerful Minister. With reckless effrontery, Struensee chose this day of all others for the King to confer upon him and his colleague, Brandt, the title of Count, the highest title in the kingdom.[165] No estates were granted to the recipients of these honours; it was announced that the King had offered large domains, but Struensee’s modesty would now not allow him to accept this further mark of the royal favour. Both Struensee and Brandt had received large sums from the treasury, and since Struensee could take practically what he liked, he probably thought it would look better to waive any claim to estates for the present. So he made a parade of his disinterestedness, and contented himself with a brand new coat of arms, and other outward signs of his new dignity. The coat of arms must have cost him much thought, for its composition showed remarkable ingenuity. He symbolised in it every department of the state, which he now governed as absolute minister.
[165] Keith’s despatch, Copenhagen, July 23, 1771.
“The escutcheon (symbolical of the state) was divided into five fields, the centre one of which represented a sailing vessel (the symbol of commerce) with a crown over it, typical of the monarch and the persons representing him. The first and fourth quarters displayed four rivers (exports and imports idealised) on a field or, which was the symbol of Denmark, rich in corn, and Norway, abounding in metal, wood and fish. In the third and second quarters was a crown surrounded with palm leaves (the symbol of peace and victory) and two crossed keys (the image of authority and might) on a field azure, which allegorically typified fidelity and constancy. Below the coat of arms was the royal crown with the badge of the Matilda Order, surrounded by a laurel wreath (the symbol of fortune, joy and honour), from which flowed two rivers running round the chief escutcheon (the state), supported by two beavers (the representatives of architecture and industry) guarded by bourgeois helmets (emblems of national armament), counts’ crowns (the symbol of the servant of the state), and an owl holding a key in its mouth (as allegories of thought and wisdom). Above the whole was displayed, between two eagle wings (the symbols of power, strength and victory), a man-of-war in full sail (typical of the navy), and above this, again, a suspended crown, surrounded by palm branches (the type of peace).”[166]
[166] Wraxall’s Life and Times of Caroline Matilda.
Struensee had all his life professed the most radical ideas. He had begun his political career as one who despised rank, titles and display—and yet he crowned it by framing this heraldic absurdity. He had the preposterous coat of arms engraved on the seal which he affixed to cabinet orders; he built himself a magnificent coach, resplendent with crimson and gold, and blazoned it on the panels. He vested his servants and running footmen in gaudy liveries of scarlet and white, and decked them with diamond badges. When Struensee’s valet appeared for the first time in his new livery he fell down the palace stairs, and in his fall broke his badge and his nose, and the blood spoiled his finery. On Struensee being told of this ill-omened mishap, he gave his usual answer to any unpleasant news: “As God wills”. This fatalistic answer also gives the measure of his arrogance, for he had come to consider himself an instrument chosen by God. Certainly, from his rapid rise to power, and the way in which he moulded everything to his will, Struensee may well have believed, with many others, that there was something supernatural about him, though his enemies declared that his power came from the devil. At this time, notwithstanding the universal hatred which he inspired, the Privy Cabinet Minister seemed omnipotent and his tenure of power assured. So much was this the case that Gunning, a very keen observer, thought it would be best to accept the peculiar relations which existed between the Queen and her favourite, and turn them to the advantage of England. In a long and important despatch, written nominally for the guidance of the English Secretary of State, Lord Halifax, in reality for George III., he described at length the situation at the Danish court, and gave a detailed description of the principal personages then in power. As his general view is the one taken in these pages, it is not necessary to go over the ground again, but the following word-portrait of Struensee may be quoted; the more so as it is studiously dispassionate:—