07 02 Johann Friedrich Struensee

Comment: www.danmarkshistorien.dk (Danish history.dk) is a website about Danish history run by historians at University Aarhus in Denmark and www.denstoredanske.dk is The Great Danish Encyclopedia, also maintained by historians and other scientists. Interestingly, the understanding of Queen Caroline Mathilde’s role in Struensee’s reforms differ on the two sites:

danmarkshistorien.dk entry about Struensee: Fra maj 1770 og til januar 1772 regerede dronning Caroline Mathilde og Struensee i kongens navn. (From May 1770 until January 1772, Queen Caroline Mathilde and Struensee governed in the name of the King.)

denstoredanske.dk entry about Caroline Mathilde: Caroline Mathilde viste ikke interesse for Struensees reformarbejde. (Caroline Mathilde showed no interest in Struensee’s refomations.)

We contacted the editors of both sites in order to find out which one is true; denstoredanske.dk never answered, danmarkshistorien.dk wrote back that historians cannot agree on the issue. They also added a comment at the bottom of their Struensee page explaining that historically, Danish historians have tended to downplay Struensee’s impact in Denmark since he was German.

Regarding Caroline Mathilde’s daughter, Louise Augusta, denstoredanske.dk assumes that Struensee was her father, danmarkshistorien.dk says that nobody knows since at the time of the conception, Caroline Mathilde had sexual relations with both Struensee and the King as well as other men.

http://blogs.bu.edu/guidedhistory/moderneurope/vincenza-rico/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johann-Friedrich-Graf-von-Struensee

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Friedrich_Struensee