The Tragic Life of Caroline Matilda of Great Britain, Queen of Denmark and Norway

caroline matilda was an english princess who had a short but an intense and dramatic life she never imagined that becoming queen would be the cause of the many sorrows and difficult experiences she had to endure trying to live life on her own terms proved to be a step too far for the inexperienced and unfortunate young queen she was born on the 22nd of july 1751 to princess augusta of zucks gotha who had become a widow four months earlier when her husband frederick prince of wales died suddenly at the age of 44 leaving behind nine children matilda a friendly child spent her early years in london and later mostly at her mother's favorite house at queue well-educated matilda studied history and geography and was fluent in french german and english generous by nature the adorable and graceful young princess liked helping people and adored her many brothers and sisters her austere mother the princess dowager of wales was determined to raise her children according to her strict views keeping them away from the outside world when matilda was 13 her mother and her brother george iii of great britain and ireland were already making plans for her marriage meantime in denmark king frederick v was keen to find a wife for his son christian he looked no further than england given that he had been married to louisa an english princess who died when prince christian was only three years old in 1752 one year after he had lost his wife king frederick v married juliana maria of brunswick wolfenbuttel and the couple had another son frederick who was four years younger than his half-brother christian crown prince of denmark after some discussions princess caroline matilda was chosen as a wife for prince christian and in january 1765 king george iii announced the marriage of his sister to the crown prince of denmark on finding out about the planned engagement matilda became rather thoughtful and somewhat worried about her future in a foreign country and getting married to a man whom she had never met before but the political union between england and denmark was paramount no one ever thought of asking mathilda how she felt about getting married one year later frederick the fifth died and his son became king christian vii of denmark at the age of seventeen king christian was eager to find out more about his future wife and when he was sent a picture of matilda he declared himself extremely pleased with how she looked like both christian and matilda were rather similar in age but their characters could not be more different christian vii surrounded himself by a group of young courtiers who had no other purpose in life than seeking pleasures rumors about his scandalous behavior were spreading and although the danes were worried about their king's conduct he could not care less it was hoped though that marriage would keep him away from his dissipated lifestyle matilda could not hide her unhappiness when she heard about the marriage being brought forward and on the 1st of october 1766 she was married by proxy to christian vii the following day the 15-year-old princess said goodbye to her mother who wished her tearful daughter much happiness in her married life and left england on her way to denmark matilda couldn't stop crying and in a few weeks time she arrived in vroskila where she met her husband for the first time after the english ladies in waiting took leave of their sweet princess matilda was welcomed by her jubilant subjects lining the streets to cheer the new queen to the dismay of the nobles attending king christian greeted matilda warmly by embracing her and in defiance of the court etiquette he actually accompanied her in the same coach traveling to fredericksburg palace where she would be staying until the wedding there she met the queen dowager juliana maria and princess luis the king's sister and other members of the danish royal family the lavish wedding ceremony took place in copenhagen on the 8th of november 1766. what matilda found at the danish royal court was not exactly what she was expecting for the king and his clique of boisterous young courtiers life was an endless series of banquets balls and amusing adventures the nobles were after advancing their interests giving way to intrigue and gossip and scheming to put her own son frederick on the throne of denmark the queen dowager juliana maria was only interested in achieving political power by pulling the strings of the government thus depriving the king of taking part in the political decision-making process loose manners and morals were the norm of the day at christianborg palace where frivolity reigns supreme the members of the puritan party disapproved of the king's wasteful spending and the clergy was equally displeased with a sinful lifestyle displayed at court when in a short time king christian began treating matilda with indifference and being disrespectful to her she felt that she had failed to capture her husband's heart fearing that the young queen of denmark would become popular with her subjects the queen dowager who was hostile to matilda started spreading rumors that queen matilda was to blame for the king's lavish lifestyle nevertheless matilda was able to capture the people's hearts with her beauty her reserved demeanor and naivety the coronation and anointing of the king and queen took place on the 1st of may 1767. juliana maria's secret plans to install her own son on the throne were derailed when queen matilda gave birth to a son prince frederick on the 28th of january 1768. when christian vii decided to go on a tour to see other courts of europe matilda begged the king to take her with him but he refused and she remained in denmark lonely inconsolable and vulnerable to the conspiracies of the courtiers and queen juliana christian vii and his royal entourage reached england on the 9th of august 1768 where he was received by his royal relatives although george iii knew about the behavior of his brother-in-law and how he was treating matilda he was just trying to be courteous but in fact george iii disliked the danish king altogether king christian spoke to his mother-in-law praising his wife but it was difficult for the princess dowager of wales to hide her dissatisfaction with the conduct of her son-in-law deeply regretting the marriage of her daughter unsurprisingly christian vii declared that his sole purpose in london was to look out for amusements well george iii didn't have time for him but the danish king was cheerfully received by the london society who loved being in his company matilda was distressed to hear about her husband's frivolous behavior which was encouraged by count holke the master of the king's wardrobe who was considered the most immoral nobleman in denmark on the 3rd of october 1768 king christian vii said goodbye to george iii and his relatives and left london going to paris where he immersed himself in the dissipated life at the french court of louis xv upon the king's return to denmark his stepmother was falsely declaring that while he was away the young queen was receiving attention from various courtiers in fact matilda's behavior had been impeccable lonely and retired from the court she was only interested in looking after her little son and getting involved in charitable activities well-intentioned and deeply devoted to her husband matilda made efforts to reconcile with him and she actually succeeded when it seemed that the royal couple's relationship was improving count holker made sure it wouldn't last he influenced the king to only show coldness to matilda and as a result the gullible king returned to his scandalous way of living and carried on being unfaithful to his wife there was only so much matilda could endure feeling dejected and fed up with her life one day in october 1769 she began to feel rather ill when nothing seemed to make her feel better the king's physician johan frederick storenze was asked to help sterens's ability as a doctor was remarkable whilst his visits to see the queen were becoming more frequent her condition was beginning to improve the doctor strongly recommended that she should do what she pleased since matilda enjoyed walking outside in fresh air well why would she not do just that but royal etiquette would never allow the queen to be seen going for walks on the streets of copenhagen it did not matter said the doctor he went even further than that suggesting that more than anything else the queen should seek amusements and avoid being alone stroenze was a 32-year-old german from holstein who had met the king while he was traveling to england impressed by his professionalism the king appointed truenze as his physician the son of a clergyman strangely went to university where he studied science and philosophy he read extensively and became a free thinker and a skeptic deriding religion and conservative morals struenza assessed the political situation at court and realized that there were two groups fighting for power one led by hulker and bunched off and the other led by queen juliana her son and their associates queen matilda was somewhere in the middle he soon understood that if he wanted to rise through the ranks of authority he should not seek the favor of either of those two parties the way to achieve his ambitious plan was by becoming close to the queen since the queen hated both factions his mission was to make her understand that she could have the upper hand and attain more power than her opponents he disclosed to her that the king's mental abilities were failing and she should be ready to rule on his behalf the king was a mere spectator led by his ministers and courtiers on a personal level the king was actually regretting his past behavior towards matilda and was trying to repair that artful and duplicitous sturenzer tried to promote harmony between the king and his wife when the king became more inclined to listen to his wife she was able to use her influence over him and concentrate the authority in her hands the plan worked and the only thing left for stranger to do was to make the queen trust him completely well-mannered stranger knew how to please a woman like the queen he was as skillful as a doctor as he was a charmer soon the queen poured her heart out to stranze who was keen to listen seeing that someone was finally paying attention to her matilda was attracted to stranger like a moth to a flame and soon they became inseparable appearing together in public and at court stuenza's relationship with the queen cleared his path to political power in the spring of 1770 the state of affairs in denmark was communicated to george iii and the princess dowdger of wales something had to be done about matilda's imprudent behaviour and her relationship with a german adventurer so the princess dowager of wales left england in a hurry to go and speak to her daughter in vain the mother tried to make her daughter understand how improper her behavior was matilda declared she wanted to rule how she pleased without anyone else interfering queen matilda and her mother parted on bad terms without knowing that they had just seen each other for the last time by december sturenze was appointed in his role as master of requests and being determined to break the power of nobility he abolished the council of state in his ambitious plan to improve the running of the state he imposed a series of radical reforms some of them proving quite popular with the people of denmark soon it was announced that the queen was expecting her second child and in july 1771 she gave birth to her daughter princess louise but rumors were spreading that struenza was the child's father when the king signed the order to appoint stranger as first minister it caused shock and consternation the nation was ruled by a foreigner and a man of law birth who obtained absolute power dictating every order replacing in effect the king's authority george iii wrote a letter to his sister to ask her to dismiss terence and save her honor the representative of great written in denmark delivered the king's letter but it was too late the conspiracy against lorenzo and the queen had already been planned by the queen dowager and her associates a fake document was produced alleging that struenzay and the queen were trying to assume full control of the kingdom by forcing the king to abdicate subsequently the king signed the order for their arrest on the 16th of january 1772 queen matilda and strengthen attended a masked ball completely unaware of what was about to follow after the ball they retired separately to their own apartments and the following morning they were arrested when queen matilda demanded to see the king she was told he would not be available anxious and demoralized she then asked to seize terence to her shock she was informed he had been arrested the queen protested and demanded to be allowed to take her children with her she was told that the crown prince would stay and she would only be permitted to take the little princess the queen was then taken to the uninviting and somber fortress of kromborg where she became a royal prisoner at the end of january the terrible news about the situation of the queen of denmark reached the court of england king george iii was astonished and the princess dowager felt humiliated being ill for some time she died shortly after that in the meantime the imprisoned queen was anxiously awaiting her fate when she heard about struenza's harsh imprisonment conditions she was overwhelmed with grief to make matters worse in the middle of february queen matilda also heard about her mother's death in quick succession matilda and stranger were interrogated admitting to his relationship with the queen stranger signed his statement accordingly and later matilda was made to sign a statement to confirm that what stranze had said was true matilda did so thinking it would save his life a commission was set up to try the case of the king against the queen matilda was found guilty of breaking her marriage vow and as a result the marriage between king christian vii and queen matilda was declared null although matilda had ceased to be queen of denmark her daughter was declared legitimate the divorce was pronounced on the 9th of april 1772 and the following days truenze was tried and found guilty of adultery with the queen signing orders without a king's knowledge and undermining the royal authority all amounting to high treason two weeks later when he was executed matilda was heartbroken when the danish government decided to send matilda to permanent imprisonment in a faraway fortress george iii declared that if the danish government did not agree to hand matilda over to his keeping his ambassador in denmark would be recalled to london and the state of war would be declared between england and denmark the danish government gave in to his demands but unfortunately for matilda she was not allowed to see her son again or to take her daughter with her matilda pleaded with her brother to be allowed to go to england but her request was refused and she was sent to live in cele a small town not far from hanover belonging to her brother's dominions at the end of may matilda left denmark after almost six years she was crying when she first went to denmark and sadly she was also crying when she left she was warmly welcomed by the people of tele and with her brother's financial support she settled in the castle of cele soon matilda adopted a four-year-old girl named sophie to look after her and provide for her education anything to take away the sorrow of losing her own children when she was sent a picture of her son she was overjoyed but she missed her own children terribly meanwhile in denmark people were not happy with the queen dowager juliana maria and her government who were trying to reverse the reforms imposed by stranger which had actually been well received by the danes missing matilda king christian vii was not happy either and he even admitted he had been forced to accept the divorce popular support was growing for the deposed queen and the blame was thrown at juliana maria who had conspired against the young and inexperienced queen a plot to bring back matilda to denmark was being discussed but it did not materialize in may 1775 matilda developed a sore throat and fever after an outbreak called the purpose had spread through celes claiming many lives it was hoped her condition would improve but sadly it didn't and she died she was not even 24 years old matilda's unhappy marriage made her search for her own happiness by falling in love with a man for whom she was just a means to an end tragically it brought her much loss and suffering you

Channel: Lives & Histories

Views: 85,931

Keywords: Queen Matilda of Denmark, Johann Frederick Struensee, Christianborg Palace, Denmark, Copenhagen, George III of Great Britain and Ireland, Frederick V of Denmark, Royal wedding, Prince of Wales, Christian VII of Denmark, Augusta of Saxe Gotha, Princess Dowager of Wales, Juliana Maria of Brunswick Wolfenbuttel, Frederick, Reforms, Royal court, England

Id: dcoysSpToq0

Length: 20min 58sec (1258 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 30 2021