Life and Times of Her Majesty Caroline Matilda, Vol. 2 (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. 2 (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
Jessen appeared at the appointed hour, and heard that, beside Von
Eickstedt, Colonel von Köller was also present. The gentlemen expressed
their determination to overthrow Struensee, and the two colonels
reckoned on the support of their regiments and of the artillery in
doing so. A few days after, Colonel Eickstedt sent the ex-valet a
message, through Beringskjold, to grant him an interview, which
was to take place at the rooms of the latter. Jessen went, and the
colonel proposed to him to go quietly to Fredensborg--where the queen
dowager and her son were residing at the time--and inform them that
an insurrection against Struensee was being prepared, for which he
(Eickstedt), Colonel Köller, and other gentlemen had drawn up the
plan. The queen and hereditary prince were invited to place themselves
at the head of the anti-Struensee party, in order by their authority
to prevent the excited populace from committing excesses on innocent
persons.
The queen dowager had already been fully prepared for the event by
the forged document shown her by Suhm. She consulted with Guldberg,
and declared her willingness to accept the proposal made to her. The
party of the queen dowager was thus organized. Valet Jessen conveyed
the good news to Copenhagen, and there performed from time to time
the part of negociator between the conspirators at Fredensborg and
those in the capital. In order to avoid notice, he made his reports in
writing, and addressed his letters sometimes to his mother-in-law, the
waiting-woman, Jacobi, at others to his little daughter, Juliana Maria
Jessen, who was afterwards a celebrated poetess, and at that time was
living with her grandmother.
When the queen dowager returned to Copenhagen in November, the secret
meetings of her party were held at the house of Abildgaard, chaplain
of the Holmenschurch, close to the palace, whose wife was a relation
of Beringskjold. The rectory had two entrances, from two different
streets, and Jessen, who was thoroughly acquainted with the ins and
outs of the Christiansborg Palace, offered the conspirators the
most valuable aid at these secret meetings. He was also thoroughly
conversant with the private staircases that led in the palace from
the queen's apartments to those of the king and Struensee, so that
it was eventually an easy matter for the conspirators to cut off all
communication between the three parties most interested, at the moment
when they carried out their enterprise.
The outbreak of the conspiracy was settled for the night between
January 16 and 17, 1772. On Thursday, the 16th, a _bal paré en domino_
was given in the palace theatre at Christiansborg, to which all nine
rank-classes were admitted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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