Mad King and Sane Reformer.

Radio Record, Volume XI, Issue 1, 10 July 1936, Page 30

Mad King and Sane Reformer.

Historical Translation which is a Boon © Companion for Its Readers

‘'PHE Queen’s: Doctor," being the ‘strange story of the rise and fall of ‘Struensee, Dictator, lover and doctor of medicine-thus the publishers concisely sum up on the cover of. a remarkable novel the life of this phenomenal man. Struensee is 2. man of three characters, each totally different from the others: Doctor of Medicine; keen practitioner and daring surgeon, who cured of his vicious habits the debauched monarch of Denmark, King Christian, and by using the gifts of hypnotism and suggestion retarded the insanity which was constantly encroaching upon this monarch. The Lover; susceptible to the charms of women he seemed to hold a fascination for all the fair sex, a fascination irresistible even to Queen Matilda of Denmark, the youngest sister of George III of England. The Dictator; fired with’ enthusiasm for social reform he held political ideas which were a quarter of a century before their time (the period of this novel is in the middle ,of the 18th century). Following in the footsteps of the man he greatly admired, JeanJacques Rousseau, he put into practice what Rousseau preached, made all men eqnal, gave land to the poor, bread to the hungry, founded hospitals and took away the privileges of the clergy and nobility. When the book is put down and the last page finished you realise that you have not been reading about people,

but have met and talked with them, understood their outlook, their ambitions and petty jealousies. The King, a spineless and dissipated yet a pitiable one, is loyal to only one man, his friend Struensee. Hven in the end, while he is in the throes of insanity, he remembers and exclaims as the death sentence of Struensee is put before him, "I like Struensee, I like him." The Queen, a lonely little foreigner in a strange land, was only a child (she was fifteen when married and only twenty-three at the time of her death) looking for the companionship which she eventually found -in. Struensee, loving him with all the burning. of a young passionate ‘heart and bearing him a daughter, . ; The King’s -Juliana Mary, a wicked and ambitious woman, who desired to assure the succession to the throne of her deformed and ‘crippled son, Frederick. ‘Frederick himself, a poor fellow ‘bullied. from pillar to post by -his mother; the -burghers dragging their beloved Struensee’s carriage triumphantly through the streets of Copenhagen, then again these same men, after losing their money in an ill-ad-vised financial operation of Struensee, only too glad to drag their benefactor through the streets to his destruction. You get to know all these people, laugh with them in their joys, ery with them in their sorrows, like them, pity them, despise them. Perhaps the most graphic chapter in the book is the one narrating the action on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange. One can feel the tense excitement, hear the shouts of the brokers and sense the great drama which is being acted within those four walls, Some credit must go to the translators, Hdwin and Willa Muir, who-have given the: Bnglish-speaking peoples an opportunity to know this: "historical character. vs Don’t miss reading this book-history written in simple language and in an easy-going style; a boon companion for one travelling, on holiday or just enjoying a winter’s night in front of the fire. "The Queen’s Doctor." Robert Neumann. Translated by Edwin and Willa Muir. Victor Gollancz, Ltd. Our copy from the publishers,

FIND it most rejuvenating to be assured that after twenty years of the Diplomatie Service heaven still lies

about me in my infancy.

~Mr_

Harold

Nicolson