Life and Times of Her Majesty Caroline Matilda, Vol. 1 (of 3): Queen of Denmark and Norway, and Sister of H. M. George III. of EnglandWraxall, Lascelles, Sir
History
Life and Times of Her Majesty Caroline Matilda, Vol. 1 (of 3): Queen of Denmark and Norway, and Sister of H. M. George III. of England
Wraxall, Lascelles, Sir
Caroline Mathilde, Queen, consort of Christian VII, King of Denmark, 1751-1775; Denmark -- History -- Christian VII, 1766-1808
Still, Struensee found objections raised to the exaggeration of his
treatment of the crown prince by his colleague Berger; and, owing to the
latter, the prince was allowed to wear shoes and stockings; received
warmer clothing; and had his rice boiled in broth. In the cold season,
his room was slightly warmed in the morning; and he had meat soup twice
a week for dinner.
It seems that the servants, in their indolence, at times greatly
neglected their duties to the young prince. In the autumn of 1770,
while the court were enjoying the chase, the stag ran to the woods of
Frederiksborg and Fredensborg, which were about fifteen miles to the
north of Hirschholm. The hunting party returned home at a late hour; and
when the young prince was looked after, he was found breathless, and
half dead with cold. He was put to bed with a woman, who took him in
her arms, and gradually brought him round. The crown prince's room at
Hirschholm consisted of a ground-floor apartment, forty feet in length.
On the garden side, it was closed in by an iron trellis-work, which gave
Struensee's accusers an opportunity for alleging that he shut the heir to
the throne up in a cage. After the favourite's downfall, a wooden bowl
was shown as a relic, in which it was stated that the food was given to
the crown prince while at Hirschholm.
The best proof of what little real value these charges had, is simply
found in the fact that the future king, Frederick VI., was able to endure
fatigue at a very advanced age which completely knocked up younger
men; he indubitably owed this to the early hardening of his frame and
the frugality of his mode of life when a child. While his grandfather
and great-grandfather only lived to the age of forty odd, he attained
the ordinary range of human life. It is evident, too, that the prince,
long after he had grown his own master, must have considered his early
moderation in eating and drinking as good for him, because he adhered
to it through his youth; and even when he became king, his table was
remarkable for its simplicity. But we shall have an opportunity of
reverting to this subject when excellent Reverdil returns to court next
year.
At the end of October, the court removed to the palace of Frederiksberg.
Here it was arranged that, on every Monday afternoon, there should be
a court at the Christiansborg Palace, in town, and on every Thursday
evening a concert in the park of Frederiksberg. For a long time, no court
had been held; and the king only appeared there for a few minutes, and
addressed nobody. Hence the queen had to receive the respects of the
company alone, and make her observations on the faces of the ladies and
gentlemen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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