Juliane was born in 1729, daughter of Duke Ferdinand Albert II and Duchess Antoinette Amalie of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.
She came to Denmark at the age of 22, to marry the 29-year old king Frederik V. And it was a very ungrateful task, she took upon her shoulders. First and foremost, she replaced the very popular Queen Louise, who had died eight months earlier, and the people was still mourning over the late queen, so she was'nt very popular at her arrival. It did'nt help that she was german. The danish people had found it quite refreshing that Louise was english. Frederik V was a friendly and kind man when he was sober, but he was very often drunk. He was an alkoholic and is said to have been very uncivilized in the erotic area. Never the less, Juliane grow very fond of him, even though he did'nt always returned her feelings and devotion. When he died, she wrote "The best of kings" in her diary. (One can always wonder of the state of Europe's other monarchs!
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There is a famous story of her, wanting to surprise the king, who had gone on a hunt at the Eremitage (a small hunting castle, or mansion). When her carriage arrived, a messenger came, saying that the queen was unwanted, and had to return to the palace.
Juliane always treated her mother-in-law, the dowager queen Sophie Magdalene, kindly and respectfully. She did her best to be a good stepmother for the king's four children, she was very fond of the little crown prince Christian, calling him "The dear prince". She learned to write and speak danish, but she lacked the gift of gaining on people, and never was very popular, neither at court nor with the people. And then there was the humiliantions she had to stand from her husband's behavior. A human of course can't take a treatment like that for ever, and Juliane slowly developed an intriguing nature. She never missed the oppurtunity to praise her and Frederik's only son, Hereditary Prince Frederik, even he was'nt the genius his mother claimed he was, quite the contradary actually. Juliane had humour, intelligence, and had one of the most impressing private libraries at that time, but she was blind when it came to see the faults of her son and stepchildren.
When her stepson Christian was king, and it became clear that he was insane, she did everything to get her own son closer to the throne. At the infamous night in January 1772, she nearly scared Christian VII to death, when she arrived with her soldiers in the middle of the night. Poor Christian's mind was so darkened with skizophenia and paranoia at this point, that he was convinced that they had come to kill him, so he signed everything they laided before him without objections. From this moment, Juliane, her son and minister Guldberg ruled the country
in facto, Christian was still king by name. She had the young queen Caroline Mathilde send into exile and Struensee executed. She reigned until 1784, then she was overthrowend by Crown Prince Frederik, who was now 16 years old and proclaimed Prince Regent. He layed a paper before his father, that said that the dowager queen and her son was stripped of their power, and that the government had to be replaced, and the king signed it. The hereditary tried to snap the paper, but Frederik was too quick and ran out of the room with it. Juliane was furious, and scolded her son, for not being quick enough. She had developed a taste for power, but now it was over. But she never gave up hope for her son being king, and it is said, that she rejoiced when Prince Regent Frederik and Princess Marie's son died in infancy. Then her son would still have a chance.
He never became king, but his son, Christian (VIII), did, although it was commonly known even back then, that Frederik was'nt the father of those intelligent and beautiful children his wife gave birth to.
When looking at Juliane's reaction towards Caroline Mathilde's indiscretion, one can only judge her to be a hypocrit, when she ignored her own daughter-in-law's infidelity. There a certain irony, in Juliane's grandson later married Struensee's granddaughter.
Juliane Marie died in 1796, so she lived to see the french revolution, and in the last seven years of her life, she scared to death with the thought that something similar might happen in Denmark. When Christiansborg burned in 1794, Juliane was convinced that the revolution had come and that she would share fate with Marie Antoinette, and refused to leave her appartments. The guards had to use force, to get her out of the burning palace.
