"For if," she had said to John Frederick, 'she begins to scold me for my friendship with you, I shall not be able to prevent myself asking about hers with Bute. Far better for family relations if the subject of our extra-marital relationships are not allowed to be brought up.”
That was in the carefree days; the Princess Dowager had gone home dissatisfied and Caroline Matilda and her lover had continued to enjoy life.
How had it all started? Oh, God, she thought, those awful days when I arrived and saw this thing they had given me for a husband. What can they expect of a girl of fifteen, taken from her home to a strange land, handed to a strange man who is little more than a lunatic, even parted from the few attendants she had brought with her and surrounded by others whose language she does not fully understand! How could I have dealt with the situation I found? Christian has been compared with the Emperor Caligula and I don't find the description wildly exaggerated. And waiting for me was Juliana Maria, my husband's stepmother, who had a son of her own, Frederick, and naturally she would feel some resentment towards me and she must hope that I would be barren so that her son would inherit the throne. And as if that were not enough there was Sophia Magdalena the Queen Dowager, widow of Christian's grandfather, quiet and dull, watching everything with those old brooding eyes of hers.
What a situation for a young inexperienced girl to find herself in! And when Christian had taken Count von Hoick to be his constant companion, day and night, appointing him Marshal of the Court so that he could be in constant attendance, she had felt outraged. How dared they marry her to such a man!
But they had managed to have a child. She had her little Frederick who was some consolation; but she was too young to be shut away and merely play the mother in a hostile Court. Those two women Juliana Maria and Sophia Magdalena had put their heads together and clucked over the decadent behaviour of Christian and insisted on his taking a mistress. But it was von Hoick who had all the influence with Christian and he tried to run not only Christian's household but hers. He had succeeded in having dismissed old Frau von Plessen who had been her Mistress of the Robes.
She had not felt any great affection for Frau von Plessen, who had been most severe in her criticism, but now she realized how important that criticism, and the advice which went with it, were; and that had Frau von Plessen stayed with her, she might not be where she was today.
How she had raged when Christian had gone on his travels and not taken her with him. The idea of him in England had tormented her; a wave of terrible homesickness came over her at that time and she hated her husband, hated her life and vowed that she would not be treated in this way.
On his travels Christian had taken with him a young physician named John Frederick Struensee and had found him to be a very good physician indeed, with the result that on his return, Struensee remained in the royal service. At first Caroline Matilda had disliked him, as she disliked all those who were her husband's friends. She herself suffered from ill health now and then; she had her family's tendency to put on weight and believed she had a touch of dropsy.
She kept to her apartments and Christian for some odd reason suddenly became interested in her.
When he came to her apartments and found her lying on her bed, he asked what ailed her and she said that she thought it might be dropsy.
"I shall see one of the doctors," she added.
"I'll send Struensee," Christian told her.
"I don't want that man near me.”
"He's the best doctor in Denmark.”
"I don't think so and I will decide on my own doctor.”
"You'll have Struensee," said Christian threateningly. This was typical of him. Why should he have cared what doctor she had? Did he care for her? Certainly not. He merely wanted to go against her wishes.
Christian strode out of her apartment and she sent for one of her women and told her to call a doctor of her choosing. She would show Christian that she had no intention of bending to his will on every occasion. If he sent Struensee, but of course if he met von Hoick on the way from her apartments he would probably forget all about her and her need for a doctor - that man would find another doctor attending her.
The door of the apartment opened and there was Struensee. Angrily she demanded what he wanted. He bowed and said he came on the King's command.
"I do not wish ..." she began.
"The King wishes that I attend you, Madam." Tears of mortification filled her eyes; everyone would be listening. She was like a slave, forced to obey the King's will.
"Come," said Struensee, 'allow me to examine you. I swear I will use all my skill to make you well again.”
There was a magnetism about the man. She had to admit it on that first occasion. He showed the utmost attention while she talked of her ailment and it was the first time since she had come to Denmark that anyone had made her feel so important. When he rose to go he said: "With Your Majesty's permission I will come and see you later in the day. We will see what effect the ointments have had then.”
She found she was waiting eagerly for his return. They had not become lovers immediately. The deadly attraction was there for her, but she was not sure that he was aware of her feelings for him.
When she was better she told her woman that Struensee was a wonderful doctor, a miraculous healer; he had not only cured her he had brought her out of her depression; he had dispelled her homesickness completely, for why should she want to be in a place where Struensee was not.
He visited her often; he told her that she would be wise to come to some understanding with her husband. Should she not accept him as he was? Let him have friends like the Count von Hoick, but she should live on amicable terms with him. She listened to him and since Christian did the same there was a slight improvement in the relationship between the King and the Queen. When a small pox scare came to Copenhagen, Struensee inoculated the Crown Prince and the operation was an absolute success. Struensee was now installed in his own apartments at the Christiansberg Palace, and there he and Caroline Matilda had become lovers.
In those first days they had been reckless. Caroline Matilda was in love; and the whole world was changed. She no longer railed against the fate which had brought her to Denmark. She would not be anywhere else than Denmark. Let Christian have his friends. What did she care?
Her women's attitude towards her was becoming furtive; she caught them exchanging sly smiles.
Once when Struensee was coming from her bedchamber in the early morning he had heard a door quietly shut.
He said: "We are being watched." Then they were careful.
"Who knows," said Struensee, 'what form Christian's revenge would take?”
"He doesn't want me.”
"He might not want anyone else to have you.”
So for a while they met less frequently, but this state of affairs Caroline Matilda declared to be unendurable and very soon they were meeting more frequently than ever, and since it was not possible to keep their relationship a secret, they did not attempt to. The whole Court was aware of the nature of the friendship between Struensee and the Queen.
But Struensee was more than a skilled doctor and a practised lover; he was an ambitious man. His great aim was political power. He was already dabbling in politics; the King's feeling for him and the Queen's devotion, allied to his own ability to plot, gave him high hopes of success. He envisaged Denmark ruled by a Regent Queen with himself the power behind the throne; and to do this it would be necessary to have the King shut up as a lunatic. Christian was showing signs of mental instability, so it was not an impossible dream.