Prince Charles noticed with amazement how great a power Struensee had acquired; it was the first time he had seen the favourite, and he took a strong dislike to him, which, perhaps, coloured the description he gave of the visit. "After an hour's conversation," writes Prince Charles [on arriving at Gottorp], "in which we recalled past times, the Queen took me by the arm and said: 'Now, escort me to Princess Louise's apartments, but do not take me through the ante-chamber'--where the suite were assembled. We almost ran along the corridor to the side door by the staircase, and then we saw some of the suite coming downstairs. The Queen espied Struensee among them, and said hastily: 'I must go back; do not keep me!' I replied that I could not well leave her Majesty alone in the passage. 'No! no!' she cried, 'go to the Princess,' and she fled down the corridor." [Struensee had probably forbidden the Queen to talk to the Princess alone.] "I was much astonished, but I obeyed her commands. She was always ill at ease with me when Struensee was present; at table he invariably seated himself opposite to her."[125] [125] _Mémoires de mon Temps._ Prince Charles and his wife noted with great regret the change in the Queen; they remembered that she was only eighteen, they made allowance for her good heart and her lively spirits, but even so they grieved to see her forget her self-respect, and indulge in amusements which hurt her reputation. They ascribed this change to the pernicious influence of Struensee. She seemed frightened of him, and trembled, when he spoke to her, like a bird, ensnared. Frequently he so far forgot himself as to treat her with scant respect. For instance, Prince Charles writes: "The King's dinner was dull. The Queen afterwards played at cards. I was placed on her right, Struensee on her left; Brandt, a new arrival, and Warnstedt, a chamberlain, completed the party. I hardly like to describe Struensee's behaviour to the Queen, or repeat the remarks he dared address to her openly, while he leant his arm on the table close to her. 'Well, why don't you play?' 'Can't you hear?' and so forth. I confess my heart was grieved to see this Princess, endowed with so much sense and so many good qualities, fallen to such a point and into hands so bad."[126] [126] _Mémoires de mon Temps._