Caroline Matilda of Great Britain

“ In July, 1765, the portrait of Caroline Matilda arrived in Copenhagen from London, and was hung up over the writing-table of the crown prince. He gazed at it with pleasure, and evinced his satisfaction "by expressions of delight." [31]
On the night of January 13, 1766, King Frederick [Pg 67] V. died. It is reported that about an hour before his death he called the prince royal to his bedside, and, taking him by the hand, said, "My dear son, you will soon be king of a flourishing people; but remember, that to be a great monarch it is absolutely necessary to be a good man. ”

“ THE YOUTH OF CAROLINE MATILDA—MEMOIRS OF AN UNFORTUNATE QUEEN—EDUCATION OF THE PRINCESS—SPECIMENS OF HER CORRESPONDENCE—PROPOSAL OF MARRIAGE—CAROLINE MATILDA'S FEELINGS—THE ROYAL ASSENT—DEATH OF THE KING OF DENMARK—PUBLIC OPINION—THE MARRIAGE PORTION—THE MARRIAGE—FAREWELL TO ENGLAND—LANDING IN DENMARK—ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION.
It is not possible to give any detailed account of the youth of Caroline Matilda, for young princesses are not brought much into evidence. ”

“ The only excuse I can offer arises from my ardent desire to excuse the king's orders with the utmost possible precision.
I am, &c., &c.,
R. M. KEITH. [45]
At home, Caroline Matilda appeared to have dropped out of memory with her landing at Stade. Her name [165] is never found in the journals of the time. ”

“ Banished with every circumstance of indignity from the throne of Denmark, her noble soul retained no sentiment of revenge or resentment against the wicked authors of her fall, or against the Danish people. Ambition, a passion from which she was singularly exempt, never disturbed her peace of mind; and she looked back to the diadem which had been torn from her brow with wondrous calmness and magnanimity.
It was not the crown Caroline Matilda regretted, for her children alone occupied all her care and solicitude; the feelings of the queen were absorbed in those of the mother ”

“ She who gave the king her hand and heart, is accused by the man who, at that time, promised to be her lord and protector. She, who by the unanimous verdict of the nation, received the name of mother of the country, is tried by those men who at that day would have joyfully shed their blood for her. So unhappy is Queen Caroline Matilda, and she alone among all the Queens of Denmark! At an age, and gifted with all the qualities, which seemed to determine her felicity, she finds herself on the verge of an abyss, in which her honour, her dignity, and her peace may be lost. ”

“ L. Really, mother, I should think there was precisely the difference between Matilda and Caroline, as between the two collegians. Caroline’s kind acts and polite words are always for the rich, the high-born, or the fashionable. Matilda delights in doing favors to those who can make her no return. She looks upon all as her fellow-creatures—never seeming to think of their station in life. She treats the poor, wherever she finds them, as her “neighbors,” in the Bible sense of the word. She has made many a widow’s heart to sing for joy, and she is truly a good Samaritan. ”

“ The entire decay of the queen dowager's influence on the one hand, and the too little known character of Caroline Matilda on the other, promised them no support, if they declared for either party. The king, on his departure, had displayed neither the sentiments of an obedient son nor the attention of a loving husband, and none of the statesmen at the head of affairs appeared to be in special favour with him. The friendship of the courtiers, which never springs up without selfish views, and cannot last without tangible advantages, hence saw no object that could decide their choice. ”

“ The English envoy was so delighted at Caroline Matilda's reception, that he wrote home at once:—"The princess seems to gain approbation and affection wherever she shows herself, and those more closely connected with her praise unanimously and in the highest terms her disposition and conduct." The English cabinet, however, did not put entire faith in this enthusiasm. The youth of the princess could not but cause anxiety, because the king, her husband, was, so to speak, a child too. ”

“ Alexandra, Princess of Wales, the great grand-daughter of Prince Frederick of Denmark, 290. Altona, Mr. Wraxall's visit to, 176; crowded with the partisans of Queen Matilda, ib. Ancher, Kofod, one of the commissioners who passed sentence on Struensee and Count Brandt, 61, 67; mercifully disposed, 104. Arnholdt, bailiff of Bramstedt, 31. Arnim, Herr von, minister of the King of Prussia, intercedes on behalf of Justiz-rath Struensee, 120. APPENDIX, containing extracts from the correspondence of Mr. Wraxall with his father, relative to the restoration of Caroline Matilda, 291 et seq. ”

“ A more tender mother than this queen has never been born in the world."
Caroline Matilda was at dinner when the imperial salute of the English frigate and the castle guns informed her Majesty of Captain McBride's arrival. [151] This gallant officer met Sir R. Keith on shore, who, after a mutual exchange of compliments, introduced the captain to her Majesty, by whom he was most graciously received as a man destined to convey her safe to her brother's electoral dominions ”

“ The queen from this time forth was more constantly than ever on the ramparts watching for the arrival of the British flotilla. The squadron, consisting of the Southampton, Captain McBride, the Seaford, Captain Davis, and the Cruizer, Captain Cummings, left England on May 22, and anchored off Elsinore on the 27th. In the meanwhile Caroline Matilda wrote her brother a most affecting letter, asserting her innocence of all the criminal accusations against her in the strongest manner, and declaring that the strictness of her future life should fully refute the slander of her enemies. ”

“ On one occasion, Caroline Matilda, conversing on the early commencement of her misfortunes, observed that, since she was born to suffer, she found some consolation in being marked out so soon by the hand of adversity. "I may possibly live," said her Majesty, "to see Denmark disabused with respect to my conduct: whereas my poor mother, one of the best women that ever existed, died while the load of obloquy lay heavy upon her, and went to the grave without the pleasure of a vindicated character." ”

“ A deputation of noblemen having been appointed by the queen dowager to observe the queen after her enlargement till her departure, under the fallacious show of respect for the royal personage so lately [152] injured and degraded—when they were admitted to Caroline Matilda's presence, and wished her in her Majesty's name a happy voyage, she answered—
"The time will come when the king will know that he has been deceived and betrayed; calumny may impose for a time on weak and credulous minds, but truth always prevails in the end. ”

“ When her Majesty was informed of the circumstances connected with the tragical death of the two prisoners, she said to Fräulein Mösting, her maid of honour,
"Unhappy men! they have paid dearly for their attachment to the king, and their zeal for my service."
No thought of self, it will be noticed: Caroline Matilda entirely forgot the humiliation to which she had been exposed by Struensee's dastardly confession, and only evinced sincere compassion for his undeserved and barbarous fate. But she was ever thus: from the first moment to the last, she sacrificed herself for others. ”

“ THE QUEEN'S LETTERS—AN EXTORTED CONFESSION—THE HIGH COURT OF INQUIRY—THE INDICTMENT—STATEMENT OF WITNESSES—REVOLTING DETAILS—AMATEUR DETECTIVES—THE MAIDS-IN-WAITING—FRAULEIN VON EYBEN—SENTIMENTS—PRESENTS—THE VERDICT DEMANDED.
When the new power was established in Copenhagen, a species of suite was appointed to wait on the unhappy Caroline Matilda, less in the quality of attendants than of spies and gaolers. ”

“ Such is everything that can be learned of the death of Caroline Matilda. Sacrificed in the first bloom of youth, and decked with the fillets of misery, she was sent, an inexperienced victim, to become the bride of a man who was a compound of insanity and brutality. In less than seven years she experienced all the honours, but also all the wretchedness, which a royal throne can offer. Then she died in the flower of life in exile, the victim of the most scandalous conspiracy. ”

“ But, for all this, a man would never do, and only a weakling and coward would do what he did, when he confessed, [101] on February 21, that he had been the queen's lover. From this moment he could only lay claim to a feeling of contempt. It would not even excuse him were it true, as has been alleged, that a pretended confession of Caroline Matilda's guilt was shown him. ”

“ It was probably during the spring of 1770 that the flood of passion broke the Queen’s last barriers down. Her enemies afterwards declared that she entered on this fatal dalliance about the time of the Crown Prince’s illness. Certain it is that after Struensee had been appointed her private secretary, a marked change took place in Matilda’s manner and bearing. She is no longer a pathetic figure of wronged and youthful innocence, but appears as a beautiful and self-willed woman who is dominated by a great passion. There were no half measures about Matilda ”

“ As Matilda grew towards womanhood, more than one Norman chieftain had endeavoured to obtain her hand in marriage; but on preferring their request to William Rufus, that politic monarch had refused his consent. He did not wish to see an English princess, a lineal descendant of Alfred the Great, allied to any man whose power or abilities might enable him to aspire to the throne. Matilda, therefore, remained in the seclusion of the cloister until King Henry sent to her his proposals of [154] marriage. It is related that the young princess received the offer with dislike if not with disdain. ”

“ Matilda as Queen of England radiated a beautiful character. Her piety, her conjugal virtues, and her generous spirit were worthy of the daughter of Margaret Atheling, and of her queenly position in a country greatly disrupted by greed and political factions. Her exertions for the good of her people were varied. She tried in every way to improve the conditions of the country, causing roads to be made through wild heaths and forests, thus facilitating commerce which had never been looked upon as a national asset. ”

“ But the conduct which the queen had before assumed in the hope of entirely winning her husband's affection, was now dictated by resentment. The party of Juliana Maria, who desired a separation between the couple, had informed Caroline Matilda of her husband's conduct while absent, and the result was a decided coldness. This produced such savageness in the king, and he was so dissatisfied, that he complained about his consort in the presence of his domestics. This was a famous opening for these creatures, who took all possible trouble to direct Christian's attention to other ladies. ”

“ The good understanding among the other members of the royal family did not at first appear to be disturbed by the king's marriage. It is true that Sophia Magdalena, who was sixty-six years of age, and whose heart was distracted between fear of God and ambition, could not thoroughly sympathise with the girlish Caroline Matilda, but it is probable that she was the more willing to forgive her her youth and beauty, because she did not apprehend any political rival in her. ”

“ MATILDA (1102-1164) , queen of England and empress, daughter of Henry I. of England, by Matilda, his first wife, was born in 1102. In 1109 she was betrothed to the emperor-elect, Henry V., and was sent to Germany, but the marriage was delayed till 1114. Her husband died after eleven years of wedlock, leaving her childless; and, since both her brothers were now dead, she was recalled to her father’s court in order that she might be recognized as his successor in England and Normandy. The Great Council of England did homage to her under considerable pressure. ”

“ After all, though, can we blame a mother because she anxiously interests herself in the welfare of her own son? It is probable that many of the stories connected with Juliana Maria rest on ex post facto evidence; and though I adhere to my opinion that she behaved with unnecessary cruelty to Caroline Matilda when she held the latter in her power, I do not believe that the stories which I have been compelled to bring forward against her are more than the natural exaggerations of party spirit. ”

“ But Matilda was his wife and not his mistress, his Queen and not his fancy of an hour, yet she did not hesitate to array herself in male attire to please her husband, at the suggestion of her lover. It may be, too, that she wished to imitate in this, as in other things, the Empress of Russia, Catherine the Great, who frequently wore [Pg 225] uniforms and rode en homme. However this may be, Matilda adopted a riding-habit made like that of a man, and rode astride. The Queen often went out hunting with Struensee, or rode by his side through the city, in this extraordinary attire. ”

“ Queen Matilda served as regent of the kingdom in Henry's absence, as William's queen had for him. Both queens received special coronation apart from their husbands; they held considerable estates which they administered through their own officers, and were frequently composed of escheated honors. Matilda was learned and a literary patron. She founded an important literary and scholastic center. Her compassion was great and her charities extensive. In London she founded several almshouses and a caregiving infirmary for lepers. ”

“ THE TYPHUS FEVER—DEATH OF THE PAGE—THE QUEEN'S VISIT—SYMPTOMS OF ILLNESS—DR. ZIMMERMANN—PASTOR LEHZEN—CAROLINE MATILDA'S GOODNESS OF HEART—HER DEATH—THE FUNERAL—GENERAL GRIEF—THE MONUMENTS—LETTER TO GEORGE III.—PROOFS OF CAROLINE MATILDA'S INNOCENCE—THE QUEEN'S CHARACTER.
We have seen that in the early part of 1775 the queen of Denmark appeared the picture of blooming health. ”