Christian VII was a mess. There is really no other way to put it, though historians have spent centuries trying to find more "academic" ways to describe the absolute chaos of his reign. If you think modern celebrity scandals are wild, they have nothing on the 18th-century Danish court. We’re talking about a teenage king who preferred street fighting to statecraft, a royal physician who basically stole the country, and a queen caught in the middle of a deadly love triangle.
But here is the thing: King Christian VII wasn't just some "mad king" trope. He was a human being suffering from what most modern experts, like those at the National Museum of Denmark, believe was schizophrenia. He was trapped. He was a pawn. And honestly? He was one of the most tragic figures to ever wear a crown.
The Boy Who Would Be King Christian VII
Growing up in the Christiansborg Palace wasn't a fairy tale. It was a nightmare. Christian was born in 1749 to King Frederik V, a man who was famously more interested in the bottle than his son. His governor, Count Detlev Reventlow, was a piece of work. He believed in "beating the nonsense" out of the boy.
Imagine being a sensitive, creative kid and having a grown man literally whip you for being nervous. It messed him up. By the time he took the throne at age 17, Christian VII was already showing signs of deep psychological distress. He was terrified of his own shadow one minute and jumping out of windows for fun the next. He wasn't ready to rule. He didn't even want to rule.
He just wanted to be a regular guy, or maybe an actor. He loved the theater. He would often practice his "kingly" speeches in front of mirrors, treating the monarchy like a role he was miscast in.
The Stövlet-Cathrine Scandal
Before the world knew about the madness, they knew about the partying. Christian VII became obsessed with a prostitute named Anne Cathrine Benthagen, better known as Stövlet-Cathrine (Boots-Cathrine). They would go out into the streets of Copenhagen at night, smash windows, get into brawls with the night watchmen, and generally act like hooligans.
It was a cry for help. The court was horrified. They eventually deported Cathrine to Holstein just to get her away from him, which only made Christian’s mental state worse. He felt isolated. He felt like a prisoner in his own palace.
Johann Friedrich Struensee: The Man Who Stole a Kingdom
If you've seen the movie A Royal Affair, you know the name Struensee. If you haven't, buckle up.
Because the King was clearly struggling, the court brought in a German doctor named Johann Friedrich Struensee. At first, it seemed like a miracle. Struensee was the only person who could calm the King down. He treated him with respect, which was something Christian hadn't experienced from many authority figures.
But Struensee had an agenda. He was a man of the Enlightenment. He wanted to change everything. And since he had the King's ear, he basically became the de facto ruler of Denmark. Between 1770 and 1772, he issued over 1,000 orders. He abolished torture. He granted freedom of the press. He fired half the government.
It was a revolution from the top down, fueled by the King’s signature on documents he barely read.
The Affair That Ruined Everything
While Struensee was busy rewriting Danish law, he was also busy with the Queen, Caroline Matilda. She was young, lonely, and stuck with a husband who—let’s be real—was not interested in her. Christian VII actually encouraged their friendship. He once famously said that Struensee was "the only one who understands us."
He wasn't kidding. He literally didn't care that his wife was having an affair with his doctor. In fact, it's widely accepted by historians like Svend Cedergreen Bech that the King’s daughter, Louise Augusta, was actually Struensee’s child.
The Danish nobility, however, cared a lot. They hated Struensee. They hated that a German "commoner" was sleeping with the Queen and running the country. They waited for their moment to strike.
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The Fall of the Enlightenment King
The end came fast. On the night of January 16, 1772, a group of conspirators—led by the King’s stepmother, Queen Dowager Juliane Marie—raided the palace after a masked ball.
They forced the confused Christian VII to sign arrest warrants for Struensee and Caroline Matilda.
Struensee’s execution was brutal. It wasn't just a hanging. They chopped off his hand, then his head, then quartered his body. It was a message. The Enlightenment experiment in Denmark was over. Caroline Matilda was exiled and never saw her children again. She died at 23, heartbroken.
And King Christian VII? He just went back to being a puppet. This time, his stepmother and his half-brother were the ones pulling the strings.
What Was Actually Wrong With Him?
For a long time, people just called him "The Mad King." But that's a lazy label. If you look at the primary sources, like the diaries of his courtiers, the symptoms are pretty clear. He suffered from hallucinations. He thought he was made of glass sometimes. He had "periods of silence" followed by "periods of extreme agitation."
Modern psychiatrists who have analyzed his case often point toward hebephrenic schizophrenia.
- He had a flat affect.
- He struggled with organized thought.
- He exhibited "inappropriate" emotional responses (like laughing during a funeral).
It’s also worth noting that the royal bloodlines back then were... let's say "complicated." Genetic issues were rampant. His father was an alcoholic, and his mother died young. He never stood a chance.
The Shadow Years
After 1772, Christian VII lived for another 36 years, but he wasn't really "there." He was a ceremonial figurehead. He would be wheeled out for official events, he would sign what was put in front of him, and then he would go back to his rooms.
The real power eventually shifted to his son, Crown Prince Frederik (later Frederik VI). In 1784, Frederik staged a bloodless coup within the palace to take control from the conservative faction that had replaced Struensee. Christian VII signed the papers for that, too. He probably didn't even realize he was overthrowing his own brother's handlers.
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Why Should We Care Today?
Christian VII matters because his life represents the tension between the old world and the new. He lived during a time when the "Divine Right of Kings" was crashing into the "Age of Reason."
He was a man who wanted to be a liberal reformer but didn't have the mental stability to hold the wheel. His reign saw the birth of modern Danish identity—even if he wasn't the one consciously building it.
Lessons from a Broken Reign
- Mental Health in Leadership: We often judge historical figures by their actions, but we rarely account for their neurodiversity or trauma. Christian was a victim of a system that didn't understand him.
- The Fragility of Reform: Struensee’s reforms were great on paper, but because they lacked a stable foundation (the King), they collapsed and caused a massive conservative backlash.
- The Human Cost of Monarchy: Caroline Matilda and Christian were both kids, basically, forced into a political marriage that destroyed both of them.
Visiting the History
If you're ever in Copenhagen, you can still feel the weight of this story. Rosenborg Castle holds many of the artifacts from his reign. You can see the portraits where his eyes look just a little too distant.
You can also visit Christiansborg Palace, though the original building where most of this drama happened burned down (twice). The spirit of the "Mad King" still lingers in the city's archives and the stories told to tourists.
How to Learn More
- Read A Royal Affair: George III, Caroline Matilda and the Scandal That Shook the Danish Court by Stella Tillyard.
- Watch the 2012 film En kongelig affære. It’s mostly accurate, though it glamorizes the romance a bit more than the grim reality.
- Check out the Danish Royal Collection online for digitized letters and documents from the 1770s.
Christian VII died in 1808. Legend says he died of a stroke caused by the fright of seeing British warships in the harbor, but that might just be another story. In the end, he was a king who never got to be a man, a ruler who was never allowed to rule, and a reminder that even the highest status can't protect you from a broken mind.
If you want to understand Danish history, you have to look past the "madness" and see the tragedy. He wasn't a villain. He was just a boy who was given a crown he couldn't carry.
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To get a better sense of how this era changed Europe, you should look into the specific laws Struensee passed during the "Struensee Era." Many of them—like the abolition of censorship—were decades ahead of their time and actually influenced the later democratic movements in Scandinavia. Examining the 1770-1772 decree logs at the Danish National Archives provides a startling look at just how fast they were trying to change the world.