A Royal Affair
(Here’s my analysis of the Danish movie ‘A Royal Affair’.)
‘A Royal Affair’ tells the true story of a man who tried to help the masses and then was betrayed by all of them.
Eighteenth century Denmark is a distasteful, squalid mess of a country, reeking with poverty and oppressive customs, ruled abysmally by an indolent, parsimonious council of aristocrats in the absence of an able king. But there is one man who is willed to change Denmark into a more progressive nation — Dr. Struensee, a fellow of the Enlightenment. Struensee manages to become the personal physician of King Christian VII, who suffers from schizophrenia. He becomes close friends with the king, so much so that the king trusts him like a dog does his master. And so, Struensee gains immense power without shedding a single drop of blood.
With the help of the queen, Caroline Mathilde, Struensee uses this new power to change Denmark.
And oh, what all reforms follow! An orphanage for homeless and illegitimate children, lifting all censors, bestowing the freedom of speech and expression upon the Danish people, abolishing slavery and fiefdom, making smallpox vaccination mandatory for all children, and many more! Literally, hundreds and hundreds of new laws are passed! So, do the people sincerely thank the queen and Struensee? Do they come out in the masses to the royal palace, with flaming torches, to demand to see their saviours, their gods, and pay obeisance to them?
This movie shows the true power of propaganda. Truth, rational thinking count nothing in the malicious, but strangely engrossing face of scandal. It shows how easily people can be swayed by brainwashing, making them forget all that was good and will ever be.
When the Danish people hear of the love affair (a news craftily propagated by the members of the former council dissolved by Struensee) between Struensee and their queen, they are outraged! They are furious at this German upstart who dared to defile the honour of the Danish crown! They do not care to know that the affair was more of an intellectual acquaintance than one of unfaithfulness. They don’t care about the loneliness of the foreign queen, a queen burdened by a schizophrenic husband who pays no attention to her and abuses her, a queen who found a sole friend in the revolutionary.
History is a cruel master. It remembers only the victors. Struensee is wiped of the pages of history along with his reforms. And this brings us to an important conclusion. If the common people can’t differentiate between their benefactors and their enemies, if they are so swayed by propaganda and so prone to brainwashing, should anyone try to help them at all?
