In the meanwhile, the crown prince grew up; but his education was so neglected under the coarse hands of Eickstedt and by the over-learned Sporon, that, in truth, he only acquired a decided preference for the Danish language, but never even learned to write it correctly. Although the kings of Denmark are declared to be capable of governing at the commencement of their fourteenth year, the confirmation of the crown prince was deferred till his seventeenth year, and was only then performed in the palace chapel on April 4, 1784,[63] because it could not be delayed any longer. To this was joined the entrance of the crown prince into the council of state, but the precaution was taken of appointing, on April 6, Minister of Finance von Stemann and Secretary of State Höegh-Guldberg, state ministers and members of the privy council, so that these faithful adherents of the queen might check any possible influence of the young crown prince. But the reckoning had been made without the host. The crown prince, who was endowed with sound sense and a strong will, had already formed his resolution. As early as autumn, 1781, he had suffered an insult from Guldberg, which he never forgot. He had expressed himself in terms of dissatisfaction about the cabinet orders re-introduced by Guldberg, which had been regarded as a crime in Struensee. Guldberg observed to him, in reply, that the cabinet orders were the sole sign of the sovereignty, as without them there would soon be as many kings as there were colleges in the land, and then told him, through the tutor Sporon, that, were it not for the cabinet decrees, he, the prince, would himself be not worth more than the cat of Slangerup. The brutal Eickstedt even forced the prince to make Guldberg an apology in writing. From this moment, the crown prince formed the fixed resolution to render himself independent, ere long, both of Guldberg and the other holders of the power. After carrying on a secret correspondence with Bernstorff, who had retired to his estate of Borstel, near Hamburg, and receiving his ready assurance that he would resume his ministerial functions in the event of a change of government, the knowledge of the queen's ambitious plans induced the prince to confide in other trustworthy opponents of the Guldberg ministry, especially Privy Councillors Schack Rathlau and Stampe, General Huth, and Count Reventlow, and arrange with them the execution of his plan.