Queen Marie was regent of Denmark from 5 September 1814 to 1 June 1815, during the absence of her spouse in the Vienna Congress in Austria. Marie took her office as regent with ambition, and she was regarded to have performed her duties well during her regency. When she took her seat on her first day in the regency, she read aloud her own "Exposé de la situation politique du Danemarc" as her opening speech, a summary of the Danish foreign policy since 1807, which had placed Denmark, as an ally of Napoleon, in the difficult situation it was in 1814, and an analysis of the political condition of Denmark.