Bernstorff was ordered to acquaint the Queen with the King’s resolution and declare it to be irrevocable. When the Queen was told that her first lady had gone, there was a most painful scene—she burst into tears and refused to be comforted. Her anger and resentment against the King knew no bounds, and she declared she would never forgive him. The whole of the Queen’s household was now changed; all her friends were sent away, and nominees of Holck and Saldern put in their places. The King wished to appoint as chief lady, Madame von Berkentin, who had intrigued against Madame de Plessen, but the Queen absolutely refused to admit her to her presence, and so, after much angry recrimination the vacant post was bestowed upon Madame von der LÜhe, who was not any more pleasing to the Queen from the fact that she was the sister of Count Holck. But Madame von der LÜhe proved more satisfactory than the Queen expected, and gradually won her confidence; the worst appointment was that of FrÄulein von Eyben as maid-of-honour. This woman, who had by no means an unsullied reputation, was false and untruthful—a spy who sought opportunity to betray her mistress.

Madame de Plessen was pursued with relentless severity, and two days after her dismissal from the Danish court she was ordered to quit the kingdom. She withdrew to Hanoverian territory, and finally settled at Celle. She was forbidden to hold any communication with her former mistress, but it is probable that she managed to evade this order. The separation was a bitter grief both to the Queen and her chief lady. Despite her domineering disposition and want of tact, Madame de Plessen dearly loved her young mistress, and would have died, had it been necessary, for her sake. She was by nature hard and undemonstrative, but the helpless little Queen had found a tender spot in her heart, and the maternal love she felt for her mistress was all the more fierce because of its concentration; in shielding her from the contamination of the court she was like a tigress guarding her young. Perhaps it was the very fierceness of her devotion which led her into errors of judgment, but great though these were, if she had avoided political intrigue, she might have retained her place.

To Matilda the loss of this good woman, for she was a good woman despite her unamiable qualities, was irreparable. Surrounded as she was by spies and enemies, beset by perils and temptations, she knew that she had in her chief lady a disinterested friend, and she clung to her all the more because she had not strength of herself to stand alone. Had Madame de Plessen remained with the Queen, the errors and follies of after years would never have been committed. In the dangerous path Matilda had to tread, beset by pitfalls on every side, she needed some one who would guide her stumbling feet, and lead her in the way she should go.

Queen Matilda was not allowed much time to indulge in her grief, for within ten days of Madame de Plessen’s dismissal she had to hold a court, at which she received the congratulations of the foreign ministers and Danish nobility on the birth of her son. The day was observed as a general holiday, and in the evening there was a banquet and ball at the Christiansborg Palace. If she wrote to England to complain of the hard treatment she had suffered in thus being deprived of one in whom she placed confidence, she probably received little comfort from her brother. We find Lord Weymouth writing to Gunning before Madame de Plessen’s dismissal: “The King would not be sorry to hear of her removal,”[89] and after it: “I assure you that the King is thoroughly sensible of the zealous and dutiful motives which engaged you to see with so much concern the dangerous tendency of that lady’s influence”.[90]

In the same despatch (May 4, 1768) Lord Weymouth announced the death of the Princess Louisa Anne, and enclosed a sealed letter from George III. to the Queen, whose sorrows now came upon her thick and fast, for her sister’s death was the second bereavement she had sustained within a few months, in addition to the loss of her faithful Plessen. Louisa Anne, who had once been put forward as a possible Queen of Denmark, had been always an invalid, and was so diminutive in stature that, though she completed her nineteenth year before she died, she looked like a sickly child of thirteen. There is nothing recorded of her beyond that she was a lover of literature, and of an amiable disposition.

The death of her sister furnished the Queen with an excuse for not appearing at court festivities, which became wilder and more dissolute, and were attended by many persons of ill-fame, both men and women. Prominent among them was “Catherine of the Gaiters,” who had now gained great influence over the King, and led him (or he led her) into the wildest excesses. It was one of Christian’s peculiarities that he liked to see women dressed as men, and to humour him “Milady” disguised herself in the uniform of a naval officer and accompanied the King and his friends on their night adventures. During her varied career “Milady” had made several enemies among women of her own walk in life: they were jealous of her prosperity and spoke ill of her. To revenge herself she induced the King and his party to enter the houses where these women lived, smash the windows and throw the furniture into the street. The watchmen had secret orders to take no notice of these proceedings, but they often found it difficult to prevent the populace from rising in indignation. Reverdil, who viewed the liaison between the King and “Milady” with disgust, once saw Christian returning to the palace, boasting loudly of his exploits, and he could not refrain from uttering the sarcasm, “VoilÀ un beau chemin À la gloire”. The King was exceedingly angry, and said, “Do not mock at me. Scold me if you will, but do not mock at me.”

Reverdil did not heed the warning, and a few evenings later at the palace theatre he saw “Milady” sitting in a prominent box and covered with jewels; below her were the maids of honour, and facing her was the Queen. Reverdil was standing near Holck, who was responsible for this arrangement, and he thus gave vent to his indignation. “Sir,” said he, “though a hundred times you have turned into ridicule what I have said, I say again that a man can be neither a good subject, nor a good servant, who does not weep to see such a creature thus defy the Queen, and the King make himself, to the great peril of the state, the greluchon of a foreign minister.” Holck turned on his heel. The next morning Reverdil received a written order from the King commanding him to leave Copenhagen within twenty-four hours. The out-spoken Swiss lost no time in obeying the order, and left the country. When he returned to Copenhagen three years later the situation had changed.

Reverdil was not the only one who entered a protest against the ascendency of “Catherine of the Gaiters”. She had induced the King to buy her a palace, create her a baroness, and promise her a pension, but in the hour of her triumph she fell as suddenly as she had risen. The shameful scenes in the streets had so moved the honest people of Copenhagen to indignation that they threatened to rise in revolt unless the woman was dismissed. So threatening was their attitude and so loud were their murmurs that at last the ministers resolved to act. They sought the assistance of Schimmelmann and Saldern to convince the King that matters had reached danger-point. The latter then went with Bernstorff to the King, and by trading on his fears, persuaded him to sign an order commanding Catherine to quit the kingdom at once. The King signed without much difficulty; perhaps he was frightened, perhaps he was already weary of her. Catherine was arrested at her house and conducted across the frontier to Hamburg, where the obsequious municipality put her into prison.[91]

Dismissal and banishment now formed the order of the day at Copenhagen. Prince Charles of Hesse had left the capital under the cloud of the King’s displeasure, and though he was later given as a consolation the vice-royalty of the duchies, he was for a time in exile. Reventlow, by making friends with the Russian party, had managed to crawl back into office, but not to a place in the household of the Queen. Brandt soon followed Sperling into banishment. He became jealous of the reigning favourite Holck, and wrote the King a private letter containing severe reflections on Holck’s conduct. As might have been expected the King showed the letter to Holck, with the result that Brandt was commanded to quit the capital within twenty-four hours, and Danish territory within eight days. Holck was more in favour than before, and the Queen’s position more unhappy.

The King, now that he was deprived of the society of “Milady,” and a check put upon his follies, suffered from ennui, and determined to travel. He proposed to visit England and France, and to be absent from Denmark six months. His ministers, who at another time would have opposed the idea of the King being away from his dominions for so long, now thought it advisable that he should go. The situation had become intolerable. The King was most unpopular with his people, and if he travelled for a time it would not only give an opportunity for scandal and bitter feeling to die down, but it was possible that he would gain wisdom, and return a saner and better man. The question of expense was a considerable one, but in this matter Schimmelmann proved useful—he advanced a loan.

When Matilda heard of her husband’s intended tour, she pleaded hard to accompany him, especially as he was going to England. The desire to see again her family and native country made her put aside her pride, and beg this favour of the King with all the eloquence in her power. But he refused on several grounds, the real reason being that he did not want her with him. She then prayed that Madame de Plessen might come back to her during the King’s absence, and it was said that Christian, before he started, promised to grant this, but when he had gone a little way on his journey he withdrew his promise. Under the circumstances the Queen came to the wise resolution of retiring from the capital altogether during the King’s absence. It was necessary for her to be on her guard, for it was rumoured that an intrigue was set on foot to deprive her of the regency in the event of the King’s demise.[92] No doubt Juliana Maria thought that the post of regent should be filled either by herself, or her son Frederick, whose chances of succession to the throne had been greatly lessened by the birth of Matilda’s son. There had been some idea of appointing a regent during the King’s absence from his dominions, but the claims of the rival Queens were too delicate to decide, and the difficulty was avoided by appointing a council of regency composed of Counts Thott and Moltke and Baron Rosenkrantz.

Christian VII. left Copenhagen in May, 1768, on his tour; his suite consisted of no less than fifty-six persons, chief among them being Bernstorff, the principal Secretary of State. The King travelled south through Schleswig, where he remained some little time; the two Russian envoys, Saldern and Filosofow, were there, and weighty diplomatic matters were discussed. The treaty by which Russia exchanged her claims on ducal Schleswig and Holstein for the counties of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst was arranged there—a treaty of great importance to Denmark.[93]

The King then proceeded through the southern part of his dominions vi Kiel to Ahrensburg, near Hamburg. Here, without knowing it, he took one of the most important steps of his life. He appointed John Frederick Struensee, a doctor of Altona, his travelling physician, and Struensee joined the King’s suite forthwith.

A few days later Christian quitted Denmark. After paying a visit of reconciliation to his brother-in-law, Prince Charles of Hesse, at Hanau, near Frankfort, he travelled down the Rhine to Cologne, and thence to Amsterdam and Brussels. From Brussels he journeyed to Calais, where his brother-in-law, George III., had sent the Mary yacht to convey him to England.