Caroline Matilda of Great Britain (; 1751 – 10 May 1775) was Queen of Denmark and Norway from 1766 to 1772 by marriage to King Christian VII.

The youngest and posthumous daughter of Frederick, Prince of Wales and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, Caroline Matilda was raised in a secluded family atmosphere away from the royal court. At the age of 15, she was married to her first cousin, King Christian VII of Denmark and Norway, who suffered from a mental illness and was cold to his wife throughout the marriage. She had two children: the future Frederick VI and Louise Augusta; the latter's biological father may have been the German physician Johann Friedrich Struensee.

In 1769, Struensee entered the service of the Danish king; initially Caroline Matilda treated him coldly, but he quickly won the Queen's heart and they began a love affair. Struensee gained more and more power and instituted a series of reforms that Caroline Matilda supported. Struensee's reforms and his relationship with the Queen generated powerful enemies, who included Christian VII's stepmother Queen Dowager Juliana Maria and her son Prince Frederick. In 1772, Juliana Maria directed a plot to remove Struensee and the Queen from power. Struensee was executed and Caroline Matilda was divorced and banished to Celle, Electorate of Hanover, where she died at the age of 23 from scarlet fever in 1775.

Life

Birth and early years

thumb|left|Caroline Matilda in her mother's arms, detail from [[George Knapton's 1751 group portrait The Children of Frederick, Prince of Wales]]

Caroline Matilda was born on 1751 as the ninth and youngest child of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. Her father had died suddenly about three months before her birth, on 31 March 1751, and she was thus a posthumous child. She was born at Leicester House, London, a large aristocratic townhouse in Westminster, where her parents had lived, since the King had banished his son from court in 1737. The Princess was christened ten days after being born, on 1 August, at the same house, by the Bishop of Norwich, Thomas Hayter. Her godparents were her brother George, her aunt Caroline, and her sister Augusta.

thumb|Caroline Matilda, aged 3. [[Pastel by Jean-Étienne Liotard, 1754 (the Royal Collection).]]

Caroline Matilda grew up in the large group of siblings, and during the remaining years of the reign of George II, Augusta chose to live in seclusion with her children, devoting herself to their care, and bringing them up away from the English court and the depravities of court life. As a consequence, Augusta was to be criticised for her manner of raising her children, as she isolated them from the outside world into a secluded family environment, seldom meeting people outside the family. She enjoyed outdoor life and riding, and, despite the irregularities of her and her sisters' education, she was described as intelligent.

thumb|right|The departure of Caroline Matilda from [[Harwich for Rotterdam on board the yacht Mary on 3 October 1766. Landguard Fort on the left of the picture. Oil painting by Robert Wilkins, 1766–1767.]]

On 14 January 1766, in the middle of preparations for the wedding, King Frederick V died and his 17-year-old son became King Christian VII. On 1 October of that year in the Chapel Royal of St James's Palace (or according to other sources, in Carlton House) the marriage was celebrated by proxy, the groom being represented by the bride's brother Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany. Two days later, Caroline Matilda departed from Harwich for Rotterdam, and three weeks later she crossed the river Elbe and arrived in Altona, in the then Danish Duchy of Holstein. There she left her British entourage and was welcomed by her appointed Danish courtiers. Twelve days later, Caroline Matilda arrived in Roskilde, where she met her future husband for the first time. She held her official entry into the Danish capital on 8 November to great cheers from the population. Later the same day a second wedding ceremony with the groom present took place in the Royal Chapel at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen. Marriage celebrations and balls lasted for another month. On 1 May 1767, Christian VII and Caroline Matilda were crowned King and Queen of Denmark and Norway in the chapel of Christiansborg Palace.

Queen of Denmark and Norway

thumb|left|Portrait by [[Catherine Read, 1767]]

The young Queen at the Danish court was described as particularly temperamental, vivid and charming.

At the end, and after being persuaded by his old tutor Reverdil, Christian VII consummated his marriage for the sake of the succession, and after the Queen gave birth to Crown Prince Frederick on 28 January 1768, he turned his interest to the brothels of Copenhagen. During this meeting, Struensee was constantly at the Queen's side, so the Dowager Princess of Wales had no opportunity to talk freely with her daughter and could only instruct Woodford, the British Minister to Saxe-Lauenburg, to caution Caroline Matilda about her behaviour. In the end, neither Woodford nor the Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh (who visited his sister in the same year in Copenhagen) succeeded in this purpose.

In September 1770 came the fall of the Chancellor Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff, reportedly thanks to the intrigues of both Struensee and Caroline Matilda; when the Dowager Princess of Wales asked her daughter about these rumours, the Queen responded to her mother's lamentations with an arrogant phrase: "Pray, madam, allow me to govern my own kingdom as I please!" The fall of Caroline Matilda was necessary to overthrow Struensee, although he had not achieved power thanks to the Queen, but because of his dominance over the King; however, the Queen was a powerful ally of his, and for this reason it was necessary to remove them at the same time.

Divorce and exile

The interrogation of Johann Friedrich Struensee began on 20 February 1772, but concerning the "crime of familiarity" with respect to the Queen, he admitted to nothing for three days. Later, he tried to shift much of the responsibility for the adultery onto Caroline Matilda. Struensee's main political associate and friend, Enevold Brandt, was interrogated at the same time, and reportedly admitted his knowledge of the favourite's crimes. In parallel to this, the Queen's staff were also questioned, and the testimony of her chamber staff, particularly her head chamber woman Charlotta Hedevig Matthie, her lady's maids Kristine Sofie Frederikke Bruun, Anna Charlotte Margrete Horn and Engel Marie Arensbach, and her chamber maid Anna Petersen, were particularly incriminating, as well as that of her lady-in-waiting Elisabeth von Eyben. but without success. At the same time, George III had been provided conclusive evidence against his sister, and it was reported that he was advised that she could not remain at the Danish court. After Caroline Matilda's death, it was discovered that the Danes had offered to send Struensee and his allies into exile in Aalborg in north Jutland, but the British government strongly refused to consent to this and even threatened to break diplomatic relations with Denmark-Norway and begin a military intervention. A British squadron arrived off the shores of Copenhagen, but a few hours before its arrival George III received the news that the Danish government guaranteed the freedom of the former Queen. Keith was also able to secure the return of her dowry, a pension, and Caroline Matilda's right to retain her royal title.

By May 1772 the British and Danish governments had been able to figure out where Caroline Matilda would live; at the suggestion of George III, the new residence of his "Criminal Sister" was to be Celle Castle, located in the Electorate of Hanover. On 3 May the former Queen, accompanied by Keith and a delegation of Danish nobles, departed from Helsingør in two frigates and a sloop; her two children, Crown Prince Frederick and Louise Augusta, remained in Copenhagen and she never saw them again. On 5 June she arrived in the district of Stade (where the Danish delegation finally left her), and was greeted in an elaborate ceremony, and the next day a reception was held in her honour. From Stade, the former Queen went to Göhrde, where she stayed for a few months before finally going to Celle. On 20 October Caroline Matilda made her solemn entry into the city, where a proper court was organised for her. Thereafter, she rarely left Celle, with only a few visits to Hanover.

Life in Celle

thumb|Monument in [[Celle, Germany.]]

In Celle, Caroline Matilda led a very quiet life. Here she was finally reunited with her beloved former hofmesterinde Countess Louise von Plessen. The former Queen was visited by many relatives and friends, among them her older sister Augusta, Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, which many contemporaries considered a way to keep her watched. Her main entertainment was a small theatre, built especially for her in the castle, as well a library with numerous books in German and English; in addition, she became known for her charity towards poor children and orphans. Keith, who visited Caroline Matilda in November 1772, later reported to Lord Suffolk that he had found her in a contented mood and that she did not want to have any relations with the Danish court except those that directly affected the well-being of her children.

Although no longer Queen, Caroline Matilda still played an important role in Danish politics, because she was the mother of the future King. In September 1774 she was visited by the traveller and adventurer Nathaniel Wraxall; during this visit he collected a lot of information about her life in Denmark that later formed the basis of his memoirs. He returned in October as a secret agent for a group of restive Danish nobles. Some were exiled in Hamburg for their support for the former Queen, notably Baron Frederik Ludvig Ernst Bülow (spouse of Anna Sofie Bülow), and Count Ernst von Schimmelmann (son of Caroline von Schimmelmann

Issue

{| class="wikitable"

!Name!!Birth!!Death!!Notes

|-

|King Frederick VI of Denmark||28 January 1768||3 December 1839||married 1790, Princess Marie of Hesse-Kassel; had issue

|-

|Princess Louise Augusta of Denmark||7 July 1771||13 January 1843||married 1786, Frederick Christian II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg; had issue

|}

Cultural depictions

thumb|[[Kristian Zahrtmann: Scene from the court of Christian VII. History painting from 1873 at the Hirschsprung Collection.]]

thumb|[[Kristian Zahrtmann: Interior from the court of Christian VII. History painting from 1881 at the Hirschsprung Collection.]]

Caroline Matilda, the story of her marriage, and her affair with Struensee has featured in many artistic works:

Literature

  • 1827: Caroline Matilda, to Christian the Seventh of Denmark, a poem by Lydia Sigourney.
  • 1935: Die Gefangene von Celle – a 1935 novel by Else von Hollander-Lossow
  • 1935: The Favourite of the Queen (; later Der Favorit der Königin) – a 1935 novel by Robert Neumann
  • 1948: The Queen's Physician – a 1948 novel by Edgar Maass
  • 1953: Converse at Night in Copenhagen () – a 1953 novel by Karen Blixen
  • 1955: Caroline Matilda, princess of Great Britain and queen of Denmark – a 1955 novel by Geoffrey Vaughan Blackstone
  • 1969: The Lost Queen – a 1969 novel by Norah Lofts
  • 1985: Letter from Celle – a 1985 dramatic poem by Edward Lowbury
  • 1999: The Visit of the Royal Physician () – a 1999 novel by Per Olov Enquist
  • 2000: Prinsesse af Blodet - en roman om Caroline Mathilde – a 2000 novel by Bodil Steensen-Leth
  • 2015: There's a mad king in Denmark () – a 2015 biographical novel by Dario Fo

Stage

  • 1827: Struensee – an 1827 drama by Michael Beer with stage music by his brother Giacomo Meyerbeer (Stuttgart and Tübingen: Cotta 1829, premiered in Munich in 1828). The play was originally forbidden under the rule of the Prussian King Frederick William III, and finally allowed by his more liberal successor Frederick William IV and premiered in Berlin in 1856.
  • 1991: Caroline Mathilde – a 1991 two-act ballet staged by the Royal Danish Ballet and choreographed by Flemming Flindt to music by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.
  • 2008: The Visit of the Royal Physician () – a 2008 opera staged by the Royal Danish Opera and composed by Bo Holten to a libretto based on Enquist's 1999 novel.

Film

  • 1923: The Love of a Queen () – a 1923 German historical drama silent film directed by Ludwig Wolff, in which Queen Caroline Mathilde was portrayed by the German actress Henny Porten.
  • 1935: The Dictator – a 1935 British film directed by Victor Saville, in which Caroline Mathilde was portrayed by the English actress Madeleine Carroll.
  • 1957: King in Shadow () – a 1957 West German feature film directed by Harald Braun, and based on Neumann's 1935 novel, in which Caroline Mathilde was portrayed by the French actress Odile Versois.
  • 2012: A Royal Affair () – an Academy Award-nominated Danish historical drama film directed by Nikolaj Arcel, in which Queen Caroline Matilda is portrayed by the Swedish actress Alicia Vikander.

Ancestors

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Queen Caroline Mathilde at the website of the Royal Danish Collection at Rosenborg Castle
  • Henry Churchyard "Royal Genealogies, Part 10"

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