Editing Johann Friedrich Struensee (section)

== Arrest and execution ==
{{See also|Royal Life Guards' Mutiny}}[[File:Struensees arrestation.jpg|thumb|The arrest of Struensee.<br />Contemporary woodcarving.]]
[[File:Struensee beheading.JPG|thumb|Public execution of Struensee on 28 April 1772]]
[[File:Christian VII - Portraits of Struensee and Brandt.jpg|thumb|Drawing of Struensee and Brandt by Christian VII]]
Struensee's dismissal of many government officials and officers brought him numerous political enemies. On 30 November 1771, he declared himself and Brandt [[count]]s. Those actions stirred feelings of unease and dissatisfaction in the populace of Denmark and Norway.

Christian VII along with his queen, Struensee, Brandt, and members of the royal court, spent the summer of 1771 at [[Hirschholm Palace]] north of Copenhagen. They stayed there until late in the autumn. On 7 July, the queen gave birth to a daughter, [[Princess Louise Auguste of Denmark|Louise Augusta]], widely believed then and by historians to be the daughter of Struensee. The court moved to [[Frederiksberg Palace]] just west of Copenhagen on 19 November.

The general ill will against Struensee, which had been smouldering all through the autumn of 1771, found expression in a conspiracy against him, headed by [[Schack Carl Rantzau]] and others, in the name of the [[Queen Dowager]] [[Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel|Juliana Maria]],{{sfn|Bain|1911}} to wrest power away from the king, and secure her and her son's positions of power.

The court returned to [[Christiansborg Palace]] on 8 January 1772. The season's first masquerade ball was held at the Court Theatre on 16 January.

A [[palace coup]] took place in the early morning of 17 January 1772, Struensee, Brandt and Queen Caroline Matilda were arrested in their respective bedrooms, and the perceived liberation of the king, who was driven round Copenhagen by his deliverers in a gold carriage, was received with universal rejoicing. The chief charge against Struensee was that he had usurped the royal authority in contravention of the Royal Law (''Kongelov''). He defended himself with considerable ability and, at first, confident that the prosecution would not dare to lay hands on the queen, he denied that their liaison had ever been criminal.{{sfn|Bain|1911}} The queen was taken as prisoner of state to [[Kronborg Castle]].

On 27 April/28 April, Struensee and Brandt were condemned first to lose their right hands and then to be beheaded. Their bodies were afterwards to be [[drawn and quartered]]. The ''Kongelov'' had no provisions for a mentally-ill ruler who was unfit to govern. However, as a commoner who had imposed himself in the circles of nobility, Struensee was condemned as being guilty of ''[[lèse majesté]]'' and usurpation of the royal authority, both of which were capital offences according to Paragraphs 2 and 26 of the ''Kongelov''.{{sfn|Bain|1911}}

Struensee awaited his execution at [[Kastellet, Copenhagen]]. The sentences were carried out on 28 April 1772, with Brandt being executed first.<ref name=Birkner286/>

The king himself considered Struensee a great man, even after his death. Written in German on a drawing the king made in 1775, three years after Struensee's execution, was the following: ''Ich hätte gern beide gerettet'' ("I would have liked to have saved them both"), referring to Struensee and Brandt.<ref>Ulrik Langen, ''Den afmægtige - En biografi om Christian 7.'', Jyllands-Postens Forlag, 2008, pp. 450ff. {{ISBN|978-87-769-2093-7}}.</ref>