The Duke of Gloucester was received with every mark of respect, and his visit to Copenhagen was a continual round of festivity. There was a grand review of the troops in his honour, and a gala performance at the court theatre. One day the King and Queen and the Duke made an excursion to the ancient castle Kronborg at Elsinore, and were entertained by the commandant of the fortress. The Queen-Mother, Sophia Magdalena, gave a _déjeuner_ to the English Prince at Hirschholm and Count Otto Moltke gave a ball. The Queen's birthday festivities are described by the English envoy:-- "Saturday, July 22, was the anniversary of the Queen's birthday, which not having been observed since her Majesty's arrival in these dominions, by reason of the King of Denmark's absence, his Majesty was determined to celebrate it now with as much magnificence as possible. The court testified its joy on this occasion by a very numerous and brilliant appearance.... In the evening followed a succession of new entertainments at the court theatre, designed and executed purposely in honour of her Majesty, and the day's festivity was closed with a great supper at the King's table. On Monday began the second act of this celebration. At six o'clock in the evening his Majesty and the noblemen who performed a part in the Carousal,[115] richly habited in Turkish dresses, and upon horses finely caparisoned, set out in grand procession through the city, attended by the Horse Guards and by a large band of martial music; at seven the procession returned to the great area of the palace, and as soon as the noblemen, appointed judges, had taken their seats, the exhibition began. One quadrille was led by the King, the other by Count Ahlfeld, governor of the city. The whole ceremony was very magnificent, and performed with the utmost address and good order, in the presence of her Danish Majesty, the Queen-Mother, Sophia Magdalena, his Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester, the whole court, and several thousand spectators. The performance concluded soon after nine, and was succeeded by an elegant supper and ball. The court returns this evening to Frederiksberg, where there is a grand firework to be played off; the whole gardens are to be illuminated, and, after a magnificent supper in a large building erected for that purpose, a masquerade ball is intended, to which two thousand persons are to be admitted."[116] [115] The Carousal was a musical ride which the King and the courtiers had been rehearsing in the riding school for weeks beforehand. _Vide_ Gunning's despatch, April 15, 1769. [116] Gunning's despatch, Copenhagen, July 25, 1769.