The Visit of the Royal Physician by Per Olov Enquist📖

Summary of The Visit of the Royal Physician

“The Visit of the Royal Physician” is a historical novel set around 1770 at the court of King Christian VII of Denmark and Norway, known as ‘Mad King Christian’. The novel explores the passionate love affair between Queen Caroline Mathilde (daughter of the Prince of Wales) and the king’s German physician and de facto ruler, Johann Friedrich Struensee.

Reasons to read The Visit of the Royal Physician 

“The Visit of the Royal Physician” (also published as “The Royal Physician’s Visit”) offers an almost Shakespearian dramatisation of the events surrounding the reign of the mentally ill King Christian VII, the rise to power of his doctor Struensee, and Struensee’s efforts to reform the Danish state according to Enlightenment principles. It also delves into the romance between Struensee and the queen, and the palace coup that led to their downfall. The novel was an international bestseller and won several literary awards, including the prestigious August Prize (for Best Swedish Book of the Year) and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. Per Olov Enquist was one of Sweden’s most celebrated contemporary authors, with accolades including the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize (for “The Legionnaires”), the Selma Lagerlöf Prize, the Swedish Academy’s Nordic Prize, and the Austrian State Prize for European Literature, among others. “The Visit of the Royal Physician” served as an inspiration for the Danish film “A Royal Affair”, which starred Alicia Vikander, Mads Mikkelsen, and Mikkel Følsgaard. Fans of this book may also be drawn to “Music and Silence” by Rose Tremain.

Setting: Hørsholm & Copenhagen (Denmark)

Book set in Denmark: Hirschholm Palace (Hørsholm) and Christiansborg Palace (Copenhagen)

Original title: Livläkarens besök

Year of publication: 1999

Nr of pages: 320