Unhinged Facts About King Christian VII Of Denmark, The Mad Dane
Life’s hard out there for a megalomaniacal, lust-obsessed monarch with some serious “emotional availability” issues.
Though King Christian VII of Denmark technically held absolute power over the Scandinavian nation, by the end of his life his disturbing mental issues—not to mention a particularly awkward cuckold situation—made him ruler only in name.
But what’s fact and what’s fiction when it comes to the Mad Dane? Read these 44 facts about King Christian VII of Denmark to find out.
King Christian VII Facts
1. Mommy Issues
Christian was born to King Frederick V and Louise of Great Britain at the lavish Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen. Though Christian’s family were filthy rich and powerful, this didn’t mean that they were happy.
Louise lost a child before bearing Christian, and she miscarried her sixth child before dying from complications. When his mother died, Christian was barely three years old.
2. Absent Father
Christian’s father Frederick was no caretaker to the newly-bereft boy. At the best of times, Frederick was utterly uninterested in either state affairs or the bothersome task of raising a well-adjusted son.
According to historians, Fredrick was much more intrigued by far less chivalrous pursuits...
3. Insipid Boy
The famed 18th-century writer Horace Walpole described King Christian VII during his travels in England as an “insipid boy” who “took notice of nothing” and “took pleasure in nothing.”
