Johann Friedrich Struensee
| Johann Friedrich Struensee | |
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Posthumous portrait by Hans Hansen
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Regent of Denmark (De Facto) |
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In office 20 March 1771 – 16 January 1772 |
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| Monarch | Christian VII |
| Succeeded by |
Hereditary Prince Frederick (de jure) Queen Dowager Juliana Maria (de facto) |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
5 August 1737 Halle an der Saale, Kingdom of Prussia |
| Died | 28 April 1772 (aged 34) Copenhagen, Kingdom of Denmark |
| Children | Louise Auguste, Duchess of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (assumed biological) |
| Profession | Physician |
Johann Friedrich Struensee (5 August 1737 – 28 April 1772) was a German doctor. He became royal physician to the mentally-ill King Christian VII of Denmark and a minister in the Danish government. He rose in power to a position of "de facto" regent of the country, where he tried to carry out widespread reforms. His affair with Queen Caroline Matilda ("Caroline Mathilde") caused a scandal, especially after the birth of a daughter, Princess Louise Augusta, and was the catalyst for the intrigues and power play that caused his downfall and dramatic death. He died unmarried.
Born at Halle an der Saale and baptized at Kirche St. Moritz on 7 August 1737, Struensee was the third child of six born to Pietist theologian and minister Adam Struensee (baptized in Neuruppin on 8 September 1708 – Rendsburg, 20 June 1791), Pfarrer ("curate") in Halle an der Saale in 1732, "Dr. theol. (h. c.) von Halle" ("Doctor of Theology (honoris causa, "for the honor") from the University of Halle) in 1757, pastor in Altona between 1757 and 1760, "Kgl. Generalsuperintendant von Schleswig und Holstein" ("Royal general superintendent of Schleswig and Holstein") between 1760 and 1791, and his wife (m. Berleburg, 8 May 1732) Maria Dorothea Carl (Berleburg, 31 July 1716 – Schleswig, 31 December 1792), a respectable middle-class family that believed in religious tolerance. Three of the Struensee sons went to University, but none became theologians like their father; two of the daughters married ministers.
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