Christian VII, the son of Frederick V,…

Christian VII, the son of Frederick V, King of Denmark, and his first consort Louisa, daughter of George II of Great Britain, had become King of Denmark and Norway, and Duke of Schleswig and Holstein, on his father’s death on January 14, 1766.

Although possessed of a winning personality and considerable talent, he has been badly educated, systematically terrorized by a brutal governor, Detlev Greve zu Reventlow, and hopelessly debauched by corrupt pages, and is apparently intelligent and certainly has periods of clarity, Christian suffers from severe mental problems, possibly schizophrenia.

After his marriage at Christiansborg on November 8, 1766, to his cousin Princess Caroline Matilda (known in Denmark as Queen Caroline Mathilde), a sister of King George III of Great Britain, he has abandoned himself to the worst excesses, especially debauchery.

He had in 1767 entered in to a relationship with the courtesan Støvlet-Cathrine‎, publicly declaring that he cannot love Caroline Mathilde, because it is "unfashionable to love one's wife".

He ultimately sinks into a condition of mental stupor.

Symptoms during this time include paranoia, self-mutilation and hallucinations.

He becomes submissive to upstart Johann Friedrich Struensee, who has risen steadily in power in the late 1760s.

The neglected and lonely Caroline Mathilde has drifted into an affair with Struensee.

The king’s marriage with Caroline Mathilde is in 1772 dissolved by divorce.

Struensee is arrested and executed in this same year.

Christian had signed Struensee's arrest warrant with indifference, and under pressure from his stepmother, Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, who had led the movement to have the marriage dissolved.

Caroline Mathilde, retaining her title but not her children, will eventually leave Denmark in exile and pass her remaining days in neighboring Celle, where on May 11, 1775, she will die of scarlet fever.

The marriage had produced two children, the future Frederick VI and Princess Louise Auguste.

However, it is widely believed that Louise was the daughter of Struensee—portrait comparisons have supported this.

Christian is only nominally king from 1772 onward.

Denmark is now ruled by Christian's stepmother, his physically disabled half-brother Frederick, and the Danish politician Ove Høegh-Guldberg.