Although at least from the movie synopsis, it seems to be the case that a large part of the problem was that Struensee went after power, which doesn't seem to have been so much the case here?
Well, Munck didn't do badly out of it. To quote wiki: He was appointed Master of the Horse (Riksstallmästare), knight and governor of the Royal Order of the Seraphim. He was created Baron (Friherre) Munck af Fulkila on 27 December 1778 (introduced in registry of the nobility in 1788, under nr 309), and finally Count Greve Munck af Fulkila on 4 July 1788 (introduced 16 May 1789 under nr 103). In 1787, Sophia Magdalena deposited a sum of 50.000 riksdaler in an account for Munck, which was generally rumoured to be a "farewell gift".
But still, Struensee became the de facto ruler of Denmark for a while, and his reforms were truly earth shattering for the time:
- abolition of torture abolition of unfree labor (corvée) abolition of the censorship of the press abolition of the practice of preferring nobles for state offices abolition of noble privileges abolition of "undeserved" revenues for nobles abolition of the etiquette rules at the Royal Court abolition of the Royal Court's aristocracy abolition of state funding of unproductive manufacturers abolition of several holidays introduction of a tax on gambling and luxury horses to fund nursing of foundlings ban of slave trade in the Danish colonies rewarding only actual achievements with feudal titles and decorations criminalization and punishment of bribery re-organization of the judicial institutions to minimize corruption introduction of state-owned grain storages to balance out the grain price assignment of farmland to peasants re-organization and reduction of the army university reforms reform of the state-owned medical institutions
...and then he died a gruesome death for "lese majeste and usurpation of the royal authority". To quote wiki again: First, Struensee's right hand was cut off; next, after two failed attempts, his head was severed, stuck on a pole and presented to 30,000 bystanders; then, after disembowelment, his remains were quartered.
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").
BTW, in case you're wondering: a) German because Struensee was German (and the Queen sort of was, being a Hannover and George III's sister), b) normally one would wonder why he didn't save them then, being King, but between being mentally ill and the enraged nobility taking over, Christian does have an excuse. Anyway, with all this in mind as the most recent precedent, is it a surprise Munck was careful?
Re: husband for Marie Antoinette, presumably in this particular matter, she'd prefered the Swedish option, too, but Gustav was a lousy husband in general (what with the favorites and no particular interest in his wife beyond the heir getting), whereas Louis might have been terrible in bed, not to mention phlegmatic in general, but he was the first French King since centuries not to take a mistress or a non-sexual favourite, and emotionally actually was devoted to his wife. Also, note that Gustav's method resulted in immediate scandal, whereas (most) people didn't know about why it took seven years for MA to get pregnant until Joseph's letters in this regard were finally published in the 20th century. I mean, there was gossip and theories involving the fact that post-Joseph's visit, pregnancy finally ensued, obviously, but just what the problem had been was hotly debated.
(One theory favored by future revolutionaries was that MA was an evil nymphomaniac and hence not able to get pregnant, which was completely untrue but was eagerly believed, and when the children finally did come, of course their paternity got disputed.)
Re: Meanwhile, in Sweden
Well, Munck didn't do badly out of it. To quote wiki: He was appointed Master of the Horse (Riksstallmästare), knight and governor of the Royal Order of the Seraphim. He was created Baron (Friherre) Munck af Fulkila on 27 December 1778 (introduced in registry of the nobility in 1788, under nr 309), and finally Count Greve Munck af Fulkila on 4 July 1788 (introduced 16 May 1789 under nr 103). In 1787, Sophia Magdalena deposited a sum of 50.000 riksdaler in an account for Munck, which was generally rumoured to be a "farewell gift".
But still, Struensee became the de facto ruler of Denmark for a while, and his reforms were truly earth shattering for the time:
- abolition of torture
abolition of unfree labor (corvée)
abolition of the censorship of the press
abolition of the practice of preferring nobles for state offices
abolition of noble privileges
abolition of "undeserved" revenues for nobles
abolition of the etiquette rules at the Royal Court
abolition of the Royal Court's aristocracy
abolition of state funding of unproductive manufacturers
abolition of several holidays
introduction of a tax on gambling and luxury horses to fund nursing of foundlings
ban of slave trade in the Danish colonies
rewarding only actual achievements with feudal titles and decorations
criminalization and punishment of bribery
re-organization of the judicial institutions to minimize corruption
introduction of state-owned grain storages to balance out the grain price
assignment of farmland to peasants
re-organization and reduction of the army
university reforms
reform of the state-owned medical institutions
...and then he died a gruesome death for "lese majeste and usurpation of the royal authority". To quote wiki again: First, Struensee's right hand was cut off; next, after two failed attempts, his head was severed, stuck on a pole and presented to 30,000 bystanders; then, after disembowelment, his remains were quartered.
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").
BTW, in case you're wondering: a) German because Struensee was German (and the Queen sort of was, being a Hannover and George III's sister), b) normally one would wonder why he didn't save them then, being King, but between being mentally ill and the enraged nobility taking over, Christian does have an excuse. Anyway, with all this in mind as the most recent precedent, is it a surprise Munck was careful?
Re: husband for Marie Antoinette, presumably in this particular matter, she'd prefered the Swedish option, too, but Gustav was a lousy husband in general (what with the favorites and no particular interest in his wife beyond the heir getting), whereas Louis might have been terrible in bed, not to mention phlegmatic in general, but he was the first French King since centuries not to take a mistress or a non-sexual favourite, and emotionally actually was devoted to his wife. Also, note that Gustav's method resulted in immediate scandal, whereas (most) people didn't know about why it took seven years for MA to get pregnant until Joseph's letters in this regard were finally published in the 20th century. I mean, there was gossip and theories involving the fact that post-Joseph's visit, pregnancy finally ensued, obviously, but just what the problem had been was hotly debated.
(One theory favored by future revolutionaries was that MA was an evil nymphomaniac and hence not able to get pregnant, which was completely untrue but was eagerly believed, and when the children finally did come, of course their paternity got disputed.)