Christian VII, Caroline Mathilde of Wales & Struensee

[Muhler]

The keen movie goer and history buff will by now be familiar with Struensee and how he eventually...ahem, lost his head.

From the State Archives:

Here is first Queen Caroline Mathilde's confession of her having an affair with Struensee: Caroline Mathildes underskriver sin tilståelse, 1772 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Then the divorce papers signed by I don't know how many nobles with seal and all: Caroline Mathildes skilsmissedom, 1772 -2. | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Caroline Mathildes skilsmissedom, 1772 -1. | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Caroline Mathilde's signature: Caroline Mathildes underskrift, 1772 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

- Goodbye, don't let the door hit you on the way out...

But Struensee as you know, got a rough time as well. Here is first his crest: Struensees våbenskjold, grevepatent 1771. | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
And later on the annullment of him being made a count: Annullering af Struensees grevepatent, 1772. | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

It is written in Latin, if you are interested in reading the document.

But most if his reforms were ratified after his death and here are some of them: Struensees reformer - forordninger og kabinetsordrer - a set on Flickr

One can't help feeling feel sorry for Caroline Mathilde, Christian VII wasn't exactly an ideal husband. Here are some drawings made by him and they are... well, yes: Christian 7.'s tegninger og portrætter - a set on Flickr

[Biri]

I swa the film yesterday! Marvellous (actors especially)!

[Londena]

Originally Posted by Biri

I swa the film yesterday! Marvellous (actors especially)!

I agree, such a good film!

[Furienna]

I hope I will see it too, some day when I get an opportunity.

[CyrilVladisla]

After Christian VII and Caroline Mathilde were divorced, the Danish authorities deported their former Queen to Hanover. Due to her behavior, King George III preferred not to have her back in England.

[Countessmeout]

The Danish didn't deport her. George III certainly didn't turn his back on his sister. He in fact sent an ambassador to Denmark to see his sister freed from prison, likely sparing her life. The ambassador helped negotiate her release which included her settlement at her brother's castle in celle. She and her brother would remain in correspondence.

[eya]

Danish history’s most famous love child ensured the enlightenment never dimmed – The Post

[rominet09]

Such a wonderful film with such marvellous actors !!!! I loved it !

[rominet09]

Originally Posted by eya

Danish history’s most famous love child ensured the enlightenment never dimmed – The Post

very very interesting... thanks for posting !

[Kataryn]

Originally Posted by CyrilVladisla

After Christian VII and Caroline Mathilde were divorced, the Danish authorities deported their former Queen to Hanover. Due to her behavior, King George III preferred not to have her back in England.

It was not due to her behaviour but due to the people who remained loyal to her that George did not want her back in London. He feared that her court (like her court in Celle did) would become the home of Danish reformers turned revolutionaries. Sending her to Celle was a kind act of the king for his little sister, for Celle and the dukedom of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel was governed by a good friends from her childhood who were family to her: dukes Ernst and Karl of Mecklenburg-Strehlitz were the brothers of George's queen Sophie Charlotte and thus Caroline Mathilde's In-laws. She was very much loved by her family there and by the people of Celle because she believed in Struensee's ideas of enlightenment and opened up her court to the people. Her brother had forced the Danish to give back her dowry and let her have it, so she had enough money to spend on her palace in Celle, her gardens and her people.



it is known that her son Frederick (who for his whole life was very close to his half-sister Louise Auguste from the love affair with Dr. Struensee) planned to get her back to Denmark as soon as he took over the reign for his father. But he was still a child when his mother died from a disease she had gotten on carin g for a little girl she had taken on because she missed her own children so much.



So the real tragic was that she lost Struensee and then died herself so young that neither he nor she could see the changes they had brought to Denmark taking hold under her son as king.

[rominet09]

Originally Posted by Kataryn

It was not due to her behaviour but due to the people who remained loyal to her that George did not want her back in London. He feared that her court (like her court in Celle did) would become the home of Danish reformers turned revolutionaries. Sending her to Celle was a kind act of the king for his little sister, for Celle and the dukedom of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel was governed by a good friends from her childhood who were family to her: dukes Ernst and Karl of Mecklenburg-Strehlitz were the brothers of George's queen Sophie Charlotte and thus Caroline Mathilde's In-laws. She was very much loved by her family there and by the people of Celle because she believed in Struensee's ideas of enlightenment and opened up her court to the people. Her brother had forced the Danish to give back her dowry and let her have it, so she had enough money to spend on her palace in Celle, her gardens and her people.



it is known that her son Frederick (who for his whole life was very close to his half-sister Louise Auguste from the love affair with Dr. Struensee) planned to get her back to Denmark as soon as he took over the reign for his father. But he was still a child when his mother died from a disease she had gotten on carin g for a little girl she had taken on because she missed her own children so much.



So the real tragic was that she lost Struensee and then died herself so young that neither he nor she could see the changes they had brought to Denmark taking hold under her son as king.

Thank you for this info... this story is so heartbreaking.....

[CyrilVladisla]

Originally Posted by rominet09

Thank you for this info... this story is so heartbreaking.....

It was informative to learn that Caroline had relatives in Celle to rely on. Without them she would have been totally abandoned. That also would be heartbreaking.

[Kataryn]

Originally Posted by CyrilVladisla

It was informative to learn that Caroline had relatives in Celle to rely on. Without them she would have been totally abandoned. That also would be heartbreaking.

If you saw the movie "A Royal Affair", you could see that the Danish king had sent Caroline Mathilde's best friend and lady-in-waiting Louise von Plessen away from court because she had once too often chosen to speak for the queen. Louise was offered a new home my Caroline Mathilde's brother in Celle, so when Caroline Mathilde came there, she was already awaited by her best friend. Plus her sister Augusta (who was also her godmother) was the wife of the then duke of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (and the nephew of Juliane Marie of Denmark, who had been a princess of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel) and the sisters became close again, much to the annoyance of Juliane Marie in Denmark.



That was another point I think why George III. sent his little sister to Celle, because so she could be close to her eldest sister (who had only married two years before Caroline Mathilde, so for a long time had been like the second mother to her) and thus he could annoy Juliane, who was too much of a friend with Frederick the Grand of Prussia to let him sleep in peace.

[Ralf]

The marriage between Christian VII and princes Caroline Mathilde ended on April 6, 1772. Does anyone know where/in what city that dissolvement took place?

[Muhler]

Originally Posted by Ralf

The marriage between Christian VII and princes Caroline Mathilde ended on April 6, 1772. Does anyone know where/in what city that dissolvement took place?

That must have been Copenhagen.
She was after all found guilty of adultery and banished to Germany.

[CyrilVladisla]

Originally Posted by Muhler

That must have been Copenhagen.
She was after all found guilty of adultery and banished to Germany.

Could Caroline have legally been banished to England? England was her native country.

[Muhler]

Originally Posted by CyrilVladisla

Could Caroline have legally been banished to England? England was her native country.

She could, but didn't.
Presumably she was politically embarrassing.
She was officially sentenced for having committed adultery - against a foreign king. In a country that had long been not an ally, but a country England in particular and Britain in general had been on friendly footing with for several hundred years! A pretty impressive track record!
She had a child - that even then was considered likely to be Struensee's child.

She could hardly walk around at the British court - that would be a snub towards Denmark, as well as embarrassing for the British king and his family.

So what to do? Ship her off to the ancestral homelands of the BRF, the German principalities. Out of sight - out of mind...
And she had the good grace to die in an appropriately short time afterwards.

One really can't help feeling sorry for her, eh?

[JR76]

Let's not forget that Celle was part of her family's hereditary lands which they had ruled for almost exactly 500 years when Caroline Mathilde was born. Her grandfather and brother were both Electors of Hannover and her father was born only 36 km away from Celle in the city of Hannover.

[rominet09]

The film made all the actors utterly likeable, even the King….a treasure of a film !

[Countessmeout]

Originally Posted by Muhler

She could, but didn't.
Presumably she was politically embarrassing.
She was officially sentenced for having committed adultery - against a foreign king. In a country that had long been not an ally, but a country England in particular and Britain in general had been on friendly footing with for several hundred years! A pretty impressive track record!
She had a child - that even then was considered likely to be Struensee's child.

She could hardly walk around at the British court - that would be a snub towards Denmark, as well as embarrassing for the British king and his family.

So what to do? Ship her off to the ancestral homelands of the BRF, the German principalities. Out of sight - out of mind...
And she had the good grace to die in an appropriately short time afterwards.

One really can't help feeling sorry for her, eh?

Celle seemed to be the place to ship off unfaithful wives. She was burried near her great-grandmother Sophia Dorothea, the wife of George I of GB. Sophia was exiled there after her marriage was dissolved for abandoning her husband. Like Caroline Mathilde, her own lover was not so lucky to face exile. Her lover was killed and dumped in a river.

Sophia though didn't have as you put it, the good graces to die quickly like Caroline did. She lived for thirty years in exile. In her case she was exiled home, as Celle was her native land. She wasn't imprisoned at Celle castle though like Caroline was.

Certainly interesting grave mates.