The King's birthday was also made the occasion of glorifying the reigning Queen, and of rewarding her adherents. Struensee gave Matilda all the semblance of power, and himself grasped the substance. In order to identify the young Queen with the revolutionary changes that had recently taken place, and impressing upon the nation the prominent position which she now held in the councils of the state, a new order was established, which was called the Order of Matilda. The Queen was founder of the order, and the statutes were as follows:-- "I. The order shall be called the Order of Matilda. "II. It shall be conferred on both women and men. The number shall never exceed twenty-four, the Queen, its founder, included. "III. It shall only be conferred on those persons who deserve particular attention of the Queen, independently of merit or services rendered. "IV. It is forbidden to ask for the order, and those who act contrary to this rule will deprive themselves for ever of the hope of obtaining it. "V. Those women or men who, on receiving the Order of Matilda, already possess the 'Order of the Perfect Union' of the late Queen-Mother, Sophia Magdalena, shall deliver the insignia of the latter to the Queen. "VI. The order shall be worn with a pink ribbon striped with silver. The men shall wear it round the neck, and the ladies fasten it in the shape of a bow on the left breast. "VII. On the death of any person decorated with the Order of Matilda, the heirs are expected to return the insignia to the Queen." The badge of the order was a medallion with the letters "C. M." set in diamonds, with a royal crown over it and a laurel wreath round it. The Queen was pleased to confer it on the King, the Queen-Dowager, and Prince Frederick. The others to whom it was given on the day of its institution were Struensee, Rantzau, Osten, Brandt, General and Madame Gahler, Madame de Plessen, who still lived at Celle, and Baroness Schimmelmann, and Countess Holstein, the Queen's ladies-in-waiting. The Queen only decorated those who were her avowed supporters, and the establishment of this order gave her the opportunity of honouring them in a special and personal manner. But Struensee's enemies declared that he had invented the order for his own special benefit, inasmuch as he despised the Order of the Dannebrog, and did not yet dare to take for himself the Order of the Elephant--the highest order in Denmark. This, however, was a malicious invention, for Struensee could have had any order and title he wished, and if he did not take them all at once, it was because he liked to prolong the pleasure of anticipation.