As a representative of the Enlightenment he introduced a large number of reforms, thereby creating much opposition to his rule, not the least because he disregarded the national language, using only German. When he abolished all censorship, the result was a flood of pamphlets against himself. Also his affair with Queen Caroline Matilda caused scandal.
He fell from power when he was convicted of high treason and decapitated, drawn and quartered in the fields outside Copenhagen in 1772.
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