The freedom of the press introduced by Struensee would ultimately bring about his own downfall. In a concerted smear campaign, his opponents spread false claims about him in pamphlets and various diatribes. The dowager queen Juliana Maria, who had her own reasons for being hostile to the royal couple and to Struensee, was at the centre of a circle of conspirators now forming at court. The group was made up of members of the nobility and the military. During the night between 16 and 17 January 1772, the plot came to fruition: Caroline Matilda, Struensee and some of his allies were arrested.
In the course of lengthy interrogations, first Struensee and then Caroline Matilda admitted to their intimate relationship. Struensee was sentenced to death and the queen was charged with adultery. At the end of March 1772, divorce proceedings were initiated against the queen, and in April the royal couple’s marriage was dissolved. It was decided that Caroline Matilda would spend the rest of her life in seclusion at Aalborghus Castle in Jutland. The verdict was a foregone conclusion from the very beginning of the sham trial against Struensee and his friend Enevold Brandt, and their sentences were demonstratively harsh: both were brutally executed on 28 April 1772. In addition, almost every single one of Struensee’s reforms was reversed.