CHAPTER VI.

CHAPTER VI.MATILDA’S ARRIVAL IN DENMARK.1766.When Matilda was told that her marriage would take place a year earlier than at first arranged she burst into tears, and no longer concealed her extreme reluctance to the Danish match. The Princess-Dowager of Wales commanded Sir Joshua Reynolds to paint the portrait of the future Queen of Denmark before her departure from England, and the great painter complained that he was unable to do justice either to the Princess or himself, because she was always weeping.[55]But neither tears nor lamentations had any effect with the Princess-Dowager; that stern mother told her daughter to remember that princes and princesses were not as ordinary mortals, free to wed as inclination suggested, and she recalled the fact that she, herself, had been sent from her secluded German home at the age of seventeen to England, to wed a husband whom she had never seen.[55]Northcote’sMemoirs of Sir J. Reynolds, vol. i.Matilda’s home had not been altogether a happy one because of this same mother, but she was fondly attached to her brothers and to her invalid sisterLouisa Anne, and she loved the land of her birth. She forced a smile in response to those who came to offer their congratulations, but she took no interest in the preparations for her marriage. She seemed to have a foreboding of evil, and it was evident to all that she was a most unwilling bride, sacrificed upon the altar of political expediency.Not much time was allowed the young Princess for reflection, for soon after the message was received from the Danish court her marriage and departure were pushed on with all speed. On June 3, 1766, a message from the King was delivered to Parliament asking for the marriage portion of the Princess Matilda. After some debate, more on matters of form than the actual sum, a portion was voted of £100,000.This important preliminary over, the King decided that his sister was to be married by proxy in England on October 1, and leave for Denmark the next day. The event excited some public interest, and we glean the following particulars from the journals concerning the preparations for the bride’s journey:—“Tuesday the provisions dressed in the royal kitchen at Somerset House were sent on board the yachts at Gravesend. The Princess Matilda’s baggage was yesterday sent down and the yachts sailed last night for Harwich.”[56][56]The Gazetteer, September 23, 1766.“There are orders for two coaches, two post-chaises and four saddle horses to be ready onThursday next at five o’clock to attend the Queen of Denmark to Harwich.”[57][57]The Gazetteer, September 29, 1766.“We hear that Princess Matilda has ordered genteel presents to all her servants, and also some benefactions to be distributed among a number of poor persons after her departure.”[58][58]The Public Advertiser, September 29, 1766.“Detachments of the Queen’s, or Second Regiment of Light Dragoons, are stationed on the Essex Road to escort the Queen of Denmark to Harwich. ’Tis imagined the Princess will only stop to change horses, as the necessary refreshments are carried in the coach. One of the King’s cooks goes over with her Royal Highness.”[59][59]The Public Advertiser, October 1, 1766.George III. personally superintended the arrangements for his sister’s marriage and journey to Denmark. We find from him the following letter to the Secretary of State:—“I return you the proposed ceremonial for the espousals of my sister which I entirely approve of. The full power must undoubtedlyex officiobe read by you, and the solemn contract by the Archbishop of Canterbury. I desire, therefore, that you will have it copied, only inserting the royal apartments of St. James’s Palace instead of the Chapel Royal, and my brother’s Christian name in those places where it has, I think, evidently been, through the negligence of the copier, omitted where he speaks. As in all other solemn declarations, that is alwaysused as well as the title. The Archbishop should then have it communicated to him, that he may see whether it is conformable to precedents, besides the dignity of his station calls for that mark of regard from me.”[60][60]Letter of King George III. to the Right Honourable Henry Seymour Conway, Secretary of State, Queen’s House, September 20, 1766. British Museum, Egerton MS. 82, fol. 20.On Wednesday, October 1, 1766, between seven and eight o’clock in the evening, the Princess Matilda was married by proxy to the King of Denmark in the council chamber of St. James’s Palace. Her brother, the Duke of York, stood for Christian VII., and the ceremony was performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the presence of the King, the Queen, the Princess-Dowager of Wales, and other members of the royal family. A large company of nobility, gentry and foreign ministers were also present. Immediately after the ceremony the Queen of Denmark, as she was called, received the congratulations of the court, but she looked pale and dejected and her eyes were full of unshed tears. The same evening the Queen took formal leave of her brother, George III.Matilda slept that night at Carlton House, and the next morning at half-past six, in the grey light of a chill October dawn, she said good-bye to her mother, and set out on her long journey. Three coaches were waiting to convey the Queen to Harwich, the road was lined with infantry, and a company of Life Guards was drawn up to escort her as faras Mile End. These preparations caused a small crowd to assemble in Pall Mall. The parting between Matilda and her mother was most affecting. The marriage had been the Princess-Dowager’s pet project, but even she felt a pang when she bade her youngest child farewell and sent her to the keeping of a strange prince in a far-off land. Her farewell present to her daughter was a ring on which the words were engraved, “May it bring thee happiness”. When the young Queen came out of the house to enter her coach it was noticed by the waiting crowd that she was weeping bitterly, and this so affected many of the women and children that they wept in company. The Duke of Gloucester, Baron Bothmar,[61]the Queen’s vice-chamberlain, who had been sent from Denmark to escort her Majesty, and Lady Mary Boothby accompanied Queen Matilda. The Life Guards conducted her as far as Mile End, and were there relieved by a detachment of Light Dragoons who escorted the Queen as far as Lord Abercorn’s house at Witham, where it was arranged that she would dine and sleep the night. Of this stage of her journey it is written: “Her Majesty was dressed in bloom-colour with white flowers. Wherever she passed the earnest prayers of the people were for her health and praying God to protect her from the perils of the sea. An easy melancholy at times seemed to affect her on account of leaving her family and place of birth, but upon the whole shecarried an air of serenity and majesty which exceedingly moved every one who beheld her.”[62][61]A brother of the Danish envoy at the court of St. James’s.[62]Public Advertiser, October 5, 1766.The next morning Matilda set out again, and escorted by another detachment of Light Dragoons reached Harwich soon after four o’clock in the afternoon, but the wind being in the north-east, and the sea rough, it was not thought advisable for her to embark. She therefore went to the house of the collector of customs where she supped and lay the night, and the next morning at half-past eleven went on board the royal yacht with her retinue. Here she took leave of her brother the Duke of Gloucester who returned to London. The wind was still rough and the yacht lay all the morning in the Roads, but towards evening, when the gale had abated, she set sail for the coast of Holland. Matilda came on deck and watched the shores of her native land until the last lights faded from her view.The evening of her departure, it is interesting to note, the eloquent Nonconformist minister, George Whitefield, preached a sermon at his Tabernacle in London on the marriage of the youthful Queen, and concluded with an impassioned prayer for her future happiness.[63][63]Vide Public Advertiser, October 8, 1766.It was known how unwilling she had been to go, and very general pity was felt for her. “The poor Queen of Denmark,” writes Mrs. Carter to Miss Talbot on October 4, 1766, “is gone out alone into the wide world: not a creature she knows to attendher any further than Altona. It is worse than dying; for die she must to all she has ever seen or known; but then it is only dying out of one bad world into another just like it, and where she is to have cares and fears and dangers and sorrows that will all yet be new to her. May it please God to protect and instruct and comfort her, poor child as she is! and make her as good, as beloved and as happy as I believe her Aunt Louisa was! They have just been telling me how bitterly she cried in the coach so far as anybody saw her.”[64][64]Mrs. Carter’sLetters, vol. iii.The Queen had a very rough crossing, and did not arrive at Rotterdam until six days after she had embarked at Harwich. She landed under a discharge of cannon, and she was received with considerable ceremony by the Prince Stadtholder and other personages. From Rotterdam to Copenhagen is a distance of some six hundred miles. It had been arranged that the Queen should accomplish this by slow stages, and every resting-place on the line of route had already been decided upon.Kew Palace, where Queen Matilda passed much of her girlhood.KEW PALACE, WHERE QUEEN MATILDA PASSED MUCH OF HER GIRLHOOD.From an Engraving, temp. 1751.At Rotterdam she embarked on the Stadtholder’s yacht and proceeded by water to Utrecht, where she stayed the night at the house of a Dutch nobleman. From Utrecht she proceeded by coach, and passed in due course into her brother’s Hanoverian dominions. Her retinue was a large and splendid one, and everywhere on the route she attracted great attention, the people coming out to cheer and bless her. She lay for one night at Osnabrück,in the castle, and (tradition says) in the same room where her great-grandfather, George I., was born and was driven back to die. She was received there, as elsewhere, with great marks of distinction. At Lingen in Westphalia a cavalcade of students, arrayed in blue uniforms, came out of the town gate on horseback to meet her. They conducted her to the house where she was to rest, they serenaded her, and kept guard all night under her windows. The next morning they escorted her three leagues on the road to Bremen, where they took their leave. Her Majesty thanked them for their gallant conduct.At Harburg on the Elbe Matilda embarked upon a richly decorated barge, which had been built by the city of Hamburg for her use. On this she sailed down the Elbe to Altona. The river was covered with boats and all kinds of craft, flying the British and Danish flags, and as the barge came in sight of Hamburg (a city adjacent to Altona) the Queen was saluted by a discharge of thirty guns. The quays of Hamburg were gaily decorated, and thronged with people anxious to catch sight of the youthful Queen.A few minutes before Matilda’s landing at Altona the Stadtholder of Schleswig-Holstein went on board to pay his respects to the Queen of Denmark, and to present to her Madame de Plessen, her first lady-in-waiting, the maids of honour, and the men of her household, who had there assembled to meet her. At Altona the Queen first set foot in Danish dominions. She landed at six o’clock in the evening,and passed down a bridge covered with scarlet cloth, and between two lines of maidens dressed in white, who strewed flowers before her feet. The streets, through which she drove, were lined with burghers under arms, thronged with people, and decorated with flags, mottoes and triumphal arches. The Queen passed under one of these arches, beautifully illuminated, just in front of her house. That same evening the chief ladies of the city were presented to her, and she supped in public. The Queen rested at Altona over Sunday. In the morning she went to church, and on her return held a court. She also received a deputation of the magistrates of Altona, and one of them read the following address:—“Your Majesty now gives us a mark of goodness, which we cannot sufficiently acknowledge, in graciously permitting us to testify the boundless veneration and joy which are excited in the hearts of the burgesses and the inhabitants on your happy arrival in this city. It is true that in every part of your journey your Majesty will receive from your faithful subjects transports of joy and most ardent vows, nevertheless, our fidelity is surpassed by none, and Altona at the same time enjoys this happy privilege, that she is the first of all the cities in the kingdom to admire in your Majesty’s person a Princess the most accomplished, and a Queen to whose protection we have the honour to recommend ourselves with all possible submission.”[65][65]Public Advertiser, letter from Hamburg, November 4, 1766.Matilda graciously replied, and charmed everyone by her youth and affability. When the court was over, the Queen, attended by a detachment of Hamburg troops and Danish cuirassiers, made a progress through Altona and Hamburg, and was greeted with enthusiasm by all classes of the people.The next morning, Monday, the Queen took leave of her English suite, who were now to return to England. The parting moved her to tears, and she presented Lady Mary Boothby, who had been with her for years, with a watch, set with diamonds, and a cheque for a thousand crowns. It had been stipulated by the Danish court that Matilda should bring no English person in her train to Denmark, so that she might more readily adapt herself to the customs of her adopted country.The Danish suite were, of course, all strangers to the Queen, and the first aspect of her chief lady-in-waiting, Madame de Plessen, was not reassuring. Madame de Plessen was the widow of a privy councillor, and was a little over forty years of age. She had been lady-in-waiting to Queen Sophia Magdalena, who held her in high esteem: it was through her influence that she obtained this appointment. Madame de Plessen was a virtuous and religious woman, with a strict sense of duty and high moral principles, and could be trusted to guide the young Queen in the way she should go. But she had been trained in the old school, and her ideas of etiquette were rigid in the extreme. She sought to hedge round the Queen with every possible formand ceremony, and at first her chill formalism frightened the timid Queen, who had not yet discovered that behind her austere demeanour Madame de Plessen concealed a kind heart.Madame de Plessen was a clever and ambitious woman, and like her former mistress, Sophia Magdalena, she favoured the French party at Copenhagen. Her appointment, as head of the Queen’s household, was therefore viewed with no little apprehension by Gunning, who, some time before Matilda’s arrival in Denmark, wrote to warn the British Government:—“The person at the head of the list [of the Queen’s household],” he writes, “is a lady of an excellent understanding, possessing a thorough knowledge of the world, and a most intriguing disposition. These talents have recommended her to the Ministers here as a proper person to place about the future Queen, but they are not the only ones. Her being entirely devoted to the French system and interest, pointed her out as the fittest instrument, to either give the young Princess the bias they wish (which they think will not be difficult at her age), or, by circumventing her, prevent that influence they conclude she will have on the King. Their having unhappily effected the latter in the late reign, gives them hopes of being equally successful in this; but if her Royal Highness be prepared against these snares, her good sense and discernment will prevent her falling into them, or being persuaded by all the arguments (however specious) they may use,that it is not the interest of this country [Denmark] to engage itself too close with England.”[66][66]Gunning’s despatch, Copenhagen, May 20, 1766. Marked “secret”.It soon became apparent that the English envoy’s fears were not without foundation, and before long Madame de Plessen gained a great ascendency over her young mistress. But at first she put aside all thought of political intrigue, and her only instinct was maternal sympathy for the lonely little Queen. Within a few days Matilda completely won Madame de Plessen’s heart, and the duenna determined at all hazard to protect her charge against the perils and temptations of the corrupt court whither she was bound.From Hamburg Matilda proceeded by easy stages through her Danish dominions. She was received at the gates of the city of Schleswig by the chief burgesses and clergy, who complimented her on her arrival. Her journey was a triumphal progress. Gunning writes from Copenhagen: “We have an account of her Majesty’s being arrived at Schleswig in perfect health. The transports of the common people at the expectation of again seeing an English princess on the throne are scarcely to be described. Her Majesty’s affability and condescension have already gained her the hearts of all those who have had an opportunity of approaching her.”[67][67]Gunning’s despatch, Copenhagen, October 25, 1766.Matilda arrived at the historic town of Röskilde,[68]near Copenhagen, on the evening of November 1, and rested there the night. Here Titley and Gunning were waiting to have audience, and a courier was sent ahead to inform the King, who was at the Christiansborg Palace, that his Queen was at Röskilde. The next morning, as early as seven o’clock, Christian VII., with his brother the Hereditary Prince Frederick, and his cousin Prince Charles of Hesse, set out in all haste for Röskilde. Here the King and Queen saw one another for the first time. The King greeted his bride with great heartiness, and bade her welcome to his kingdom. So delighted was he with her that, in defiance of etiquette, he embraced and kissed her in the presence of all the company. The little Queen seemed much comforted by this warm welcome, and at first sight was favourably impressed with her husband. The young King had charming manners, and was by no means ill to look upon. Though considerably under middle height he was perfectly proportioned, and possessed agility and strength. His features were regular, if not handsome, and, like his Queen and cousin, he was very fair, with blue eyes and yellow hair. His personal appearance was greatly enhanced by his dress, which was magnificent and in the best of taste.[68]Röskilde, an ancient town on the fjord of that name, once the capital of the kingdom, and afterwards the residence of the Bishop of Zealand. It has a magnificent cathedral, containing the tombs of the Kings and Queens of Denmark. They are buried there to this day. Röskilde is about twenty English miles from Copenhagen.After the first greetings were over, a procession was formed to escort Matilda to Frederiksberg,where she was to stay until her marriage. Again Christian put etiquette on one side and insisted on entering the same coach as the Queen—an ornate state coach drawn by six white horses. The coach was preceded by an escort of guards and followed by a train of other coaches. Frederiksberg was reached about noon, and here the Queen-Mother, Sophia Magdalena, the Queen-Dowager, Juliana Maria, the Princess Louise, the King’s sister, and a great number of the nobility were assembled to welcome the bride. Matilda was received by all with the greatest marks of affection and respect. Even Juliana Maria, who saw in her advent a blow to her hopes, forced herself to greet the young Queen with some show of cordiality. As for the old Queen, Sophia Magdalena, she frankly was delighted with her granddaughter-in-law, and sent a special message to Titley, as to an old friend, to tell him “how extremely satisfied and charmed she was with the person and conversation of the new Queen”.[69]Matilda gave universal satisfaction, and the envoys wrote enthusiastically:—“She has everywhere been received in these dominions with all due honours and the greatest demonstrations of joy. She seems to gain universal applause and affection wherever she appears, and her particular attendants are unanimous in giving the highest praises to her disposition and behaviour.”[70][69]Titley’s despatch, Copenhagen, November 4, 1766.[70]Ibid.Immediately on her arrival at Frederiksberg Matilda held a court, at which many personages of distinction were presented to her. The court was followed by a banquet, when the King and his bride, the two Dowager-Queens and the rest of the royal family dined in public. After the banquet the King and all the other personages present took their leave and returned to Copenhagen, leaving Matilda to well-earned rest. Her long journey had occupied a month; she left England on October 2, and reached Frederiksberg on November 2. All this time she had been on the road, and perpetually receiving congratulations and deputations. It was no small tribute to the tact and amiability of this princess of fifteen that she everywhere won golden opinions. And it was proof of the strength of her constitution that she bore the long and tedious journey across northern Europe, in inclement weather, without illness or undue fatigue.Matilda rested at Frederiksberg for five days. On Saturday, November 8, she made her public entry into Copenhagen—on the occasion of the marriage the same evening. Her entry was attended with every circumstance of pomp and enthusiasm. About noon Princess Louise drove to Frederiksberg, where her young sister-in-law was ready to receive her. Accompanied by the Princess, Queen Matilda drove to a common outside Copenhagen behind the “Blaagaard” [Blue Farm], where she found a long procession awaiting her. The Queen here descended from her coach and enteredanother, beautifully decorated and gilt. The procession then set out for Copenhagen in the following order:[71]A squadron of Horse Guards; a band of mounted drummers and trumpeters, twelve royal pages in gold and crimson liveries on horseback, and a cavalcade, under the command of the Master of the Horse, consisting of many officers of the court. Then followed the ministers of state and the ambassadors in their coaches; each coach vied with the other in magnificence, and each was drawn by six horses and escorted by six running footmen. Then came the Knights of the Order of the Elephant, wearing their robes and insignia; the Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog, also in their robes; the Royal Head Riding-Master, mounted on the “Dancing Horse” (whatever that may mean), and a bevy of beautifully dressed ladies in coaches. The climax of all this magnificence was the lovely young Queen in robes of silver tissue and ermine, with a circlet of diamonds on her fair hair, seated in her coach drawn by eight white horses, and surrounded by royal lackeys in gorgeous liveries. Immediately behind the Queen’s coach came the members of her household; and twelve halberdiers, arrayed in scarlet cloaks and equipped with pikes, closed the procession.[71]The following description of the Queen’s entry into Copenhagen and her marriage is based upon official documents in the archives of the Court Marshal at Copenhagen, and from Danish papers of the time.The procession entered Copenhagen through the Nörreport [North Gate] and passed along the Nörregade [North Street] to the Gammeltorv [Market Place]. Cannon thundered as the Queen passed under the gate, and all the bells of the churches clashed forth joyous chimes. The route was gaily decorated with flags and draperies; companies of burghers lined the streets, and the balconies, windows, and even the housetops were crowded with people, who cheered with wild enthusiasm. The little Queen, looking like a fairy in her robes of silver tissue, was seen, bowing and smiling, through the windows of her great gorgeous coach, and she captured all hearts at once. “The English rose,” the Danes called her, and they hailed her as another Queen Louise, who would act as a guide and helpmate to her husband, a purifier of his court, and a true friend of the people.In the Market Place the procession came to a halt for a few minutes before the Town Hall, and the Queen was met by a bevy of eighteen young girls, dressed in white, and who carried wreaths and baskets of flowers. Here was a magnificent arch, seventy feet high, representing a Corinthian portcullis, and through the archway was revealed a background in perspective of the Temple of Hymen. A statue of Hymen looked down upon an altar, and above this altar allegorical figures of Denmark and England clasped hands. A pretty ceremony took place; the maidens passed up the steps and laid their wreaths upon the altar of Hymen singing:God bless King Christian the MildAnd his Caroline Mathilde.Then they cast flowers before the Queen’s coach, and at “the same moment was heard the most delightful music, which broke forth simultaneously from all sides”. Thus amid music, song, flowers and shouts of joy and welcome, Matilda proceeded on her way through the city, and at last reached the Christiansborg Palace.As her coach drew up at the main entrance, the guard presented arms, and the heralds blared on their silver trumpets. The heir presumptive, Prince Frederick, was waiting to receive the Queen; he assisted her to alight, and conducted her up the grand staircase into the King’s presence. The King received his bride with every mark of affection and honour, and then led her to the knights’ hall, where a state banquet was served. The King pledged his Queen in a superb wedding goblet of crystal and gold, manufactured for the occasion.[72][72]This goblet is still preserved in the Rosenborg. It is a magnificent specimen of Danish art. The Danish and English arms are ground into the crystal, the crowned initials of the bridal pair are also inscribed, and underneath appears the legend “Felici sidere juncti, 1766”. The elaborately chased lid is surmounted by a crown. The height of the goblet is eighteen inches.After the banquet the Queen retired to her apartments to rest awhile, and then robed for her wedding. At seven o’clock in the evening all the ladies belonging to the two first ranks of the Danish nobility (namely, the countesses and baronesses), and the ladies who had taken part in the royal procession into Copenhagen, assembled in the ante-chamber ofthe Queen’s apartments. At half-past seven the Queen appeared, a beautiful vision wearing a robe of white silk brocaded with silver, a veil of priceless lace and a crown of pearls and diamonds. The ladies made a lane for her to pass, and curtsied their obeisance. The Queen, who, despite her tender years, bore herself with great dignity, proceeded to the knights’ hall, where the wedding procession was marshalled. All the members of the royal family joined in this procession with the exception of the Queen-Dowager, Juliana Maria, who pleaded illness as an excuse for not appearing. The King and Queen came last of all, and walked under a canopy to the royal chapel of the Christiansborg, where the marriage ceremony was performed by Bishop Harboe of Zealand. The chapel was brilliantly illuminated, and thronged with the chief personages in Denmark, clad in rich attire, and covered with orders and jewels. During the ceremony the King and Queen stood, or knelt, on ahaut pasbefore the altar, which was covered with cloth of gold and decked with silver candlesticks bearing large wax tapers. At the conclusion of the marriage service the procession was re-formed, and the King and Queen were conducted from the chapel to the ante-room of their apartments, where the company dispersed.In honour of the marriage day a silver medal was struck, and numerous orders and titles were distributed. At night the city of Copenhagen was illuminated, and people paraded the streets all nightshouting and singing for joy. The young Queen had won all hearts, and the popular enthusiasm evoked by the marriage augured well for the future of the monarchy.Copenhagen held high festival for a week after the royal wedding, and the populace as well as the court joined in the festivities. There was a gala performance at the theatre including a “Felicitation Ballet,” in which there were many pretty allusions to the young Queen, who was styled Venus or “la plus belle”. Two days after the marriage the knights’ hall of the Christiansborg Palace was the scene of a wedding ball. Queen Matilda opened the ball by dancing a minuet with the King with much grace and spirit. She then honoured the English envoy, Gunning, by commanding him to dance with her—a very natural proceeding, for she wished to pay honour to her native country. But it gave offence to some of the other foreign envoys present, especially to the Spanish minister, who was thedoyenof thecorps diplomatiqueat Copenhagen, and he reported the circumstance to the Spanish court, who later demanded an explanation.[73]Nor was this the only unpleasantness at the ball. After supper thekehraus, a Danish country dance, was danced, and one figure was danced in procession. Thekehrauswas led by Prince Charles of Hesse and his wife, the Princess Louise—probably because they knew all the figures. The King came next with the Queen, and all the rest of the company followed,two and two. The King, who had supped freely, was in boisterous spirits, and called out to Prince Charles: “Lead thekehrausthrough all the apartments”. The Prince therefore led the procession through the rooms on the first floor of the palace, the band, presumably, going before. The procession of laughing and dancing men and women followed, until they came to the ante-chamber of the Queen’s apartments. At the door of the Queen’s bedchamber Prince Charles found Madame de Plessen standing like a dragon in his path. Imperiously she waved him back, and declared that his entrance would be an outrage, alike on etiquette and decency. But the King, whom any opposition goaded to anger, shouted: “Do not heed an old woman’s nonsense! Go on! Go on!” Therefore Madame de Plessen, still expostulating, was thrust aside, and the procession danced through the Queen’s bedchamber, and so back to the ballroom.[73]Gunning’s despatch, Copenhagen, November 18, 1766.The Marriage Ball of Christian VII. and Queen Matilda in the Christiansborg Palace.THE MARRIAGE BALL OF CHRISTIAN VII. AND QUEEN MATILDA IN THE CHRISTIANSBORG PALACE.From a Contemporary Print.These incidents, trivial though they were, revealed the rocks ahead in the way of the young Queen, and showed that no common care would be necessary to avoid them. As the English Secretary of State, Conway, wrote to Gunning not long after Matilda’s arrival at Copenhagen:—“Her Majesty is entering upon the most important era of her life, and at a tender age is launched, as it were alone, into a strange and wide ocean, where it might require the utmost care and prudence to steer with that nice conduct which may at once conciliate the affections of her court and people, and support the dignity of that high station to which Providence has called her”.[74][74]Conway’s despatch to Gunning, St. James’s, November 18, 1766.CHAPTER VII.MARIAGE À LA MODE.1766-1767.The court of Denmark over which Matilda was now the reigning Queen, though not the ruling spirit, was the last place in the world for a young and innocent girl to be sent alone. It was a hotbed of intrigue, a stye of vile epicurism, where even decency was disregarded. Cunning as foxes, and like foxes in their lust and greed, the majority of the courtiers thought only of advancing their personal interests at the expense of each other, or by vain and frivolous amusement to kill the passing hour. All things that made for purity of life, nobility of purpose, or singleness of heart, were mocked at and derided. Truth, honour and virtue were by-words. During the later years of Frederick V.’s reign the influence of the French court (at its worst) had not been confined in Denmark to politics alone, but extended to manners and morals as well. This influence became far more visible at the court of Christian VII. than at that of his father. The society which the young King collected around him within the walls of the Christiansborg Palace did its best to copy Versailles, and it succeeded in aping the vices, if not the superficialrefinement, of the court of France. At Christiansborg might be seen the same type of silly brainless persons as those who flitted about the ante-chambers of Versailles, who adopted the same frivolous tone, and the same loose morals. Their avowed object was to avoidennui, but in their pursuit of pleasure they often caught boredom. The Danish courtiers, both men and women, were artificial to the core. They painted their faces, powdered their hair, and dressed extravagantly. They disguised every real sentiment, and sought always to seem what they were not. They expressed nothing but contempt for the language and customs of their native land. To be Danish wasbourgeois, to be virtuous even more so.The cheap cynicism which mocks at marriage, and all its privileges and duties, was much in vogue among the fashionable or “young party” at the Danish court. Christian VII. had heard too much of these views from the young rake-hells whom he chose for his companions not to be entirely at one with them, and he looked on marriage as the greatest burden. He had been extremely reluctant to take it upon himself and had only done so at the strongest representations of his ministers. Reverdil declares with a groan that to this epicene being “une personne royale dans son lit lui semblait d’ailleurs plutôt un objet de respect que d’amour,” and adds that the King would have certainly refused to perform his connubial duties had it not been represented to him that the absence of an heir to thethrone would give rise to all manner of evil gossip respecting himself.The young King had consented to marry with an ill grace, and after his marriage he lost no time in declaring to his boon companions that he intended to be in every respect a husbandà la mode. The first sight of his consort’s fresh and youthful beauty had seemed to awaken in him some dormant sense of manliness, and he treated her at first with a plausible imitation of lover-like ardour. He was flattered by the warmth of her reception and the praises of her beauty, which he interpreted as tributes to his own good taste. The ceremonies incident on the wedding gratified his love of display, and the festivities that followed delighted his pleasure-loving soul. He was like a child with a new toy, but he wearied of it even more quickly than a child. If his passion ever existed it was short-lived, for on the third day of his marriage he said to one of his intimate friends that he strongly advised him never to marry, as the unmarried state was far preferable. This speech might have been credited to the affectation of a very young husband who wished to pose as a cynic, but there was evidently something more behind it, for neither of the young couple appeared to be happy during the first days of their married life; Christian was restless and discontented, Matilda pensive and melancholy.The Queen’s depression was natural. The excitement and novelty of her journey and her enthusiastic welcome had buoyed her up at first, but nowthese were over she felt the reaction. She was a stranger in a strange land, separated from every one she had ever known, and she suffered from homesickness. A closer acquaintance with her husband obliterated the favourable first impression she had formed of him. He was a disappointment. The flattering despatches which the English envoys had sent to London (some of which we have quoted) credited him with every physical and mental endowment, and portrayed him as a paragon among princes. These encomiums, duly communicated to the Princess-Dowager, had been dunned into Matilda’s ears with such persistency that she thought she was marrying a prince who was almost a demi-god, and who gathered up into himself all the attributes of the legendary heroes of Scandinavian romance. What then must have been her disappointment when she found that her husband resembled a Frenchpetit maître, rather than a son of the Vikings. To add to her disillusion Christian made hardly any show of affection for his wife, and after the first few days treated her with open indifference. A week after their marriage the royal couple gave a banquet at the Christiansborg Palace, and it was noticed by the company that already the bloom had faded from the young Queen’s cheeks, and she smiled with evident effort. Her sadness increased from day to day, and she often gazed at the ring her mother had given her, with its inscription, “May it bring thee happiness,” and sighed heavily. The King, who wished for nothing but to be amused,was piqued by his consort’s despondency, and so far from making any attempt to comfort her, relieved his feelings by satirical remarks. One day when one of his favourites called his attention to the Queen’s sadness, he said: “What does it matter? It is not my fault. I believe she has the spleen.” The King’s indifference to his Queen was quickly noticed by the courtiers, who took their cue accordingly, and treated her as a person of little account. Ogier, the French envoy at Copenhagen, reported to Paris three weeks after the marriage: “The English Princess has produced hardly any impression on the King’s heart; but had she been even more amiable she would have experienced the same fate, for how could she please a man who seriously believes that it is not good form (n’est pas du bon air) for a husband to love his wife?”The French envoy was exultant that the marriage, on which England had built such high hopes, should produce so little effect politically. The Queen had no influence with the King, and he would be more likely to oppose her wishes than to yield to them, if only for fear lest it should be thought that he was governed by his wife. The poor little Queen had no wish for political power, and was too much downcast by her own personal disappointments to be of any use in a diplomatic intrigue. But George III., and the English Government, who had no knowledge of the real state of affairs, persisted in their project of using the Queen for their own advantage; and SecretaryConway sent minute instructions to Gunning as to the best way in which this could be worked.“In regard to your applying to the young Queen,” he writes, “her affection to his Majesty [George III.], and love for her native country, cannot but incline her to preserve, as much as it can be in her power to do, the mind of the King of Denmark, permanently fixed upon the strictest union with his Majesty’s, who has no one view in his alliance inconsistent with the honour of the King of Denmark or the welfare of his kingdom. Both Mr. Titley and you will doubtless omit nothing that can mark your utmost attention and desire of serving her Majesty. There might seem an impropriety in endeavouring to engage her Majesty to interfere in business, especially in what has the air of court intrigue, but so far as informing her Majesty fully of the present state of the court, and apprising her who are the best friends of her native country, and consequently most inclined to promote the true honour and interests of their own, it will be your duty, and may be an essential service to her Majesty, whose good sense will make the properest use of the lights you furnish. The etiquette of the court of Denmark (I find by your letter of September 2) allows an easier access to family ministers than to others, and this privilege you will, I imagine, have no difficulty to preserve.... You may also be assured that the affection of his Majesty [George III.], and his care for the welfare and happiness of his sister, so deservedly the object of his loveand esteem, cannot fail of having suggested every proper counsel and information more immediately necessary for her guidance in the delicate and important situation she is placed. Upon that foundation you may properly build, and in such further lights as it may be fit for you to give her Majesty, I think both the opportunities and the matter of the information itself should rather flow naturally than be too affectedly sought.”[75][75]Sir H. S. Conway’s despatch to Gunning, St. James’s, October 24, 1766.The English Government was soon disappointed of its hope of using the Danish Queen as a pawn in the political game. Gunning, in bitter disappointment, enlightened Conway as to the true state of affairs a few weeks after the marriage. “All access to either the King or Queen of Denmark,” he wrote, “is rendered so difficult that without being furnished with some pretext I can never expect to approach either of their Majesties but in public. The preference given me there has already occasioned some of the most unheard of and preposterous complaints.” [Here he refers to the protest of the Spanish minister already mentioned.] “Monsieur Reventlow[76]has lately made me some overtures to a better understanding; he speaks in raptures of the Queen whenever I see him, and I believe will constitute as much as depends upon him to promote her Majesty’s happiness. This is of itself a sufficient reason for my wishing to cultivate his good opinion,and if possible to bring him over to our interests. [The French Minister] encourages the carrying on intrigues against us; they (I need not tell you, sir) increase every day, and particularly since the arrival of her Majesty,—the principal people about her being our most inveterate enemies.”[77][76]Reventlow had been appointed the Queen’s Chief Chamberlain.[77]Gunning’s despatch to Conway, Copenhagen, November 18, 1766.One of the “inveterate enemies” was the austere and haughty Madame de Plessen, who hedged the Queen round with iron etiquette, and permitted none to enter her presence without her permission. Especially did she throw difficulties in the way of the English envoy having frequent access of her Majesty, on the ground that his visits would be sure to cause jealousy and ill-will. The Queen, she urged, must overcome her natural preferences, she must forget that she was a Princess of Great Britain, and remember only that she was Queen of Denmark and Norway. This was perhaps sound advice so far as it went, but Madame de Plessen’s object in giving it was not altogether disinterested. She, like her former mistress, Queen Sophia Magdalena, was a sworn friend of France, and probably in its pay. Madame de Plessen had a genius for political intrigue, and her apartments in the palace formed arendez-vousfor the friends of France.It is difficult to follow the cross-currents of politics at the Danish court during the early years of the reign of Christian VII., but so far as foreign affairs were concerned, the position may be briefly summarised thus: The main object of England was to check France; the main object of Sweden was to check Russia. Therefore, whatever was disagreeable to France at Copenhagen was agreeable to England. Whatever was disagreeable to Sweden was agreeable to Russia. Failing to see her own influence in the ascendant at the Danish court, England would prefer to see that of Russia. Bernstorff, the Prime Minister, was very friendly to Russia, and not ill-disposed to England. Therefore, the French envoy and Madame de Plessen intrigued against him. In domestic politics also the Queen’s chief lady was in opposition to Bernstorff, and to her chambers flocked malcontents, including many of the staider and more conservative among the Danish nobility, who shook their heads over the misgovernment of the Prime Minister, and the follies and extravagancies of the King and his friends.The advent of the young Queen was made an excuse for the King to gratify his passion for festivity and display. During the preceding reign the court had led a comparatively quiet life, but the winter following Christian VII.’s marriage was an unceasing round of gaiety. Balls, banquets, concerts, masques, operas and plays, hunting parties, sledge parties, circuses, and excursions to the different royal castles around Copenhagen—there were a good many—succeeded one another in quick succession. The King had a great love for the play, so he built a court theatre at the Christiansborg Palace and decorated it without regard to expense. A French companyacted there, and the King and his suite frequently took part in the performances. The King acted a part in Voltaire’sZaire, and his performance was received with great applause. He was so much impressed with his dramatic talents that he twice repeated his performance in the larger theatre of Copenhagen, and there the general public were permitted to attend. Acting, however, was but a passing phase with the King, and he soon tired of it, though he undoubtedly showed talent.Madame de Plessen did all she could to prevent the Queen from taking part in the court festivities, but Matilda, who was young, and fond of pleasure, could not be prevailed upon to absent herself altogether, more especially as by doing so she would incur the displeasure of the King. But she never appeared unless attended by Madame de Plessen, and turned to her always for guidance. It was Madame de Plessen who chose the ladies to dance in the same quadrilles as the Queen, and she took care that none, however beautiful or fashionable they might be, should be admitted to this honour if there were the slightest blemish upon their reputation. With men the same care was not necessary, for, as a matter of etiquette, the Queen never danced with any but princes of the blood, ambassadors, ministers of state, or others it was deemed advisable to honour in an especial manner.The introduction of masquerades was a still more startling innovation, and gave great offence to the two Dowager-Queens. Sophia Magdalena protested,but though her protests were supported by several of the ministers, and the more prominent among the clergy, they were unheeded. The King and his friends anticipated too many gallant adventures to forego the opportunities which a masked ball offered, and they wished to imitate at Copenhagen those masquerades held at the opera in Paris. The first masked ball ever given in Denmark was held in December in the Christiansborg Palace. All the ladies and gentlemen belonging to the first three classes were admitted, besides all officers belonging to both services. They were allowed to appear in any fancy dress they chose, the only restriction being that they should not come “in the likeness of an animal or any unseemly disguise”. The King appeared as a Sultan, and his immediate following were also in eastern dress. The point was fiercely debated whether the Queen should appear at the masquerades or not; the Dowager-Queens and Madame de Plessen being wholly against it, and the King insisting upon it. Finally a compromise was arrived at; Matilda showed herself to the company for a short time, and then retired to her apartments to play chess with court ladies chosen for her by Madame de Plessen, and the elderly wives of ministers. It was as well that the Queen retired early, for the tone of the masquerade became more and more free as the evening wore on, and degenerated at last into riotous licence.The expense of these entertainments was very heavy, and the people, who were overburdened withtaxes, began to murmur. There was great distress in Copenhagen during the winter of 1766-67, and the contrast between the want and misery in the poorer quarters of the city, and the festivity and extravagance in the palace, was very striking. The people, who loved the pomp and circumstance of royalty, might at another time have overlooked this lavish expenditure, on the ground of the youth and natural gaiety of the King. But sinister rumours were afloat concerning him and his pleasures, and he had already by his puerile amusements and dissipated conduct forfeited to a great extent the public respect. Moreover, the Puritan party in Denmark was very strong, and included the elder members of the royal family, and many of the most influential personages in church and state. These regarded many of the court festivities with disapproval, and the masquerades with horror. The clergy especially were violent in their denunciations, and did not hesitate to fan the flame of popular discontent. For instance, a building, belonging, and adjacent to, the Christiansborg Palace, in which there was a large wood store and brewery, caught fire about this time, and was burned to the ground; the conflagration was the biggest known in Copenhagen for years. Pastor Münter, a preacher of great power, seized upon the incident to preach a sermon against the sinful amusements of the court. He declared that the fire was a sign from heaven to warn the King and his following to refrain from their wicked ways, and if they did not profit by itthey would be utterly consumed with fire, if not here, then most certainly hereafter. The sermon made a great sensation in Copenhagen, and the preacher was reprimanded by the court, but he was regarded as an inspired prophet by many austere Puritans.The worst of all this controversy was that the innocent young Queen was blamed unjustly. Rumours were spread abroad that Matilda was largely responsible for these extravagancies; and in proof of the assertion it was pointed out that the introduction of masquerades followed upon the arrival of the English princess. It was said that these rumours originated at the court of the Queen-Dowager. Juliana Maria had retired to the Fredensborg with her son, the Hereditary Prince Frederick, where she was surrounded by a little circle of malcontents. In due time these untruths reached Matilda’s ears and caused her great annoyance. The young Queen’s household, including Madame de Plessen, did everything they could to contradict the reports, but with indifferent success. The mischief was done, and it remained a fixed idea in the minds of many people that the Queen was almost as devoted as the King to frivolous amusements. Queen Matilda communicated her uneasiness to the English envoy, who wrote home:—“At a time when the Crown labours under the pressure of heavy debts, and the revenue, from mismanagement, is so much lessened, people naturally complain of the increase of expenses, and theintroduction of a number of entertainments, and amongst these, of masquerades. The Queen is under the greatest uneasiness, lest this should be imputed to her having any inclination for a diversion of this kind, from which, on the contrary, the goodness of her heart, and the purity of her sentiments, render her very averse. The sweetness of her disposition, and the uncommon degree of prudence and discretion she is endowed with, must ensure her a large share of happiness; but whatever my wishes may be, I cannot flatter myself this will ever bear any proportion to what her Majesty so justly deserves.”[78]To which the Secretary of State replied: “Your attention to her Danish Majesty is most justly commendable, and certainly her Majesty’s cautious conduct is most amiable and respectable”.[79][78]Gunning’s despatch, Copenhagen, December 6, 1766.[79]Conway’s despatch, St. James’s, December 29, 1766.The festivities of the Danish court culminated in the coronation and anointing of the King and Queen, which took place on May 1, 1767.[80]The day dawned brilliantly fine, though the air was clear and cold. At an early hour the bells of the Vor-Frue-Kirke (the Church of Our Lady, the metropolitan church of Denmark) began to ring, and bells chimed merrily from other towers. At eleven o’clock all the gentlemen-in-waiting assembled in the King’s ante-chamber, and all the ladies-in-waiting in the Queen’s. The King donned the anointing robes:“A short jacket and breeches of gold brocade, pearl-coloured silk stockings, white gloves embroidered with gold, and white shoes with red heels; his buckles, garters and coat buttons were set with diamonds, and his cloak of royal ermine was embroidered with golden flowers”. The King, thus arrayed, crowned himself with his own hands according to theLex Regia, which ordained that “since the Kings of Denmark do not receive the crown from any hands but their own, the ceremony of coronation shall be performed by themselves”.[80]The following description of the coronation is taken from official documents preserved in the Royal Archives, Copenhagen.With the crown on his head the King, accompanied by the Grand Chamberlain, who carried the Queen’s crown on a velvet cushion, went to the Queen’s room and crowned her with his own hands.This ceremony over, the King took the sceptre in his right hand and the orb in his left, and donned the collars of both the great Danish orders, the Elephant and the Dannebrog. Then he passed into his audience chamber, his train upborne by the Counts Reventlow and Danneskjold-Samsöe. There he held a court, and received the homage of the principal personages in the state.The Queen, likewise attired in her anointing robes, to wit: “A robe of cloth of gold, and a royal mantle of red velvet lined with ermine and embroidered with gold crowns,” and with the crown upon her head, passed into her audience chamber, her train upborne by Madame de Plessen and the Countess St. Germains. Here she held a court, and received the homage of the assembled ladies.The Christiansborg Palace, Copenhagen.THE CHRISTIANSBORG PALACE, COPENHAGEN.From an Old Print, temp. 1768.The procession to the chapel of the Christiansborg was then marshalled, and as the bells rang out it passed down the marble stairs of the palace and across the quadrangle to the chapel. The King walked under a red velvet canopy, upborne by four privy councillors and four Knights of the Elephant. The Queen walked beneath a similar canopy, upborne by four privy councillors and four Knights of the Dannebrog.The royal chapel was decorated with great splendour. Of this, as of the other arrangements connected with the coronation, it was recorded: “There was nothing lacking to make it beautiful. It was so splendid and superb that even the foreign envoys were forced to admire the beauty and lavish expenditure, to say nothing of the art in which these were turned to account.” The thrones of the King and Queen were placed upon a dais, under a gorgeous canopy, upborne by two figures of angels with drawn swords. On one side of the canopy was the King’s motto, “Gloria ex amore patriae,” and on the other were the initials of the King and Queen. The King’s throne was of solid ivory, surmounted by a huge amethyst nearly as large as a hen’s egg. The Queen’s throne was of silver, elaborately wrought, and polished until it shone like crystal. At the foot of the thrones lay three life-size lions in cast silver.At the entrance to the royal chapel the King and Queen were received by the three Bishops, who were to officiate at the ceremony of the anointing,vested in copes of gold brocade. The Bishops first conducted the King to his throne while the choir sang an anthem. They then returned and led the Queen to her throne in like manner. Bishop Harboe of Zealand preached a sermon, and then the ceremony of anointing took place; the coronation was considered as already performed. First the King was anointed with the holy oil, and then the Queen. The service concluded with aTe Deum.As the royal procession returned to the palace, a salute from the ramparts was fired, and the heralds on the gate blew a loud blast on their silver trumpets. The King and Queen received the congratulations of their court, and then the coronation banquet took place. During the banquet a chorale was sung by the choir, of which a verse may be roughly translated as follows:—And long shall it be before the sons of the North weep,For while Christian lives, and Matilda,There shall be nothing but joy,And every man shall dwell in his tent in peace.The coronation was a people’s holiday, and ample provision was made for every class to partake in the festivities. When the banquet was over the King and Queen passed on to the balcony of the palace to look down upon the general rejoicings. A free dinner was given to the populace, and wine ran like water from a fountain, “red wine on the right side and on the left white, five hogsheads of each, of which all drank who would”.In the courtyard an ox had been roasted whole, and not an ox only, for it was stuffed with “three wethers, five lambs, eight pigs, ten geese, twenty brace of duck, and fifty-eight brace of old (sic) hens”. The roasted ox reposed upon a carriage painted red, and its horns were gilt.“The moment their Majesties appeared on the balcony,” continues the chronicle, “the fountain of wine was set running, and the ox was wheeled forward, pulled by eighteen sailors in white breeches and jackets, with sashes of red, and wreaths upon their heads. On either side of the ox-carriage more sailors walked, similarly attired, and carried baskets of bread. The Quarter-master-Sergeant then ascended the ox-carriage and cried in a loud voice: ‘The roast ox will now be given away!’ and he threw to the crowd a number of silver pieces. With shouts of delight the people rushed forward and scrambled for money, food and wine. The feasting and revelry that followed occupied a countless number of the poor all that evening and the greater part of the night, so delighted were they. Their Majesties took great pleasure in watching the tumult from the balcony of the Christiansborg.”

MATILDA’S ARRIVAL IN DENMARK.

1766.

When Matilda was told that her marriage would take place a year earlier than at first arranged she burst into tears, and no longer concealed her extreme reluctance to the Danish match. The Princess-Dowager of Wales commanded Sir Joshua Reynolds to paint the portrait of the future Queen of Denmark before her departure from England, and the great painter complained that he was unable to do justice either to the Princess or himself, because she was always weeping.[55]But neither tears nor lamentations had any effect with the Princess-Dowager; that stern mother told her daughter to remember that princes and princesses were not as ordinary mortals, free to wed as inclination suggested, and she recalled the fact that she, herself, had been sent from her secluded German home at the age of seventeen to England, to wed a husband whom she had never seen.

[55]Northcote’sMemoirs of Sir J. Reynolds, vol. i.

Matilda’s home had not been altogether a happy one because of this same mother, but she was fondly attached to her brothers and to her invalid sisterLouisa Anne, and she loved the land of her birth. She forced a smile in response to those who came to offer their congratulations, but she took no interest in the preparations for her marriage. She seemed to have a foreboding of evil, and it was evident to all that she was a most unwilling bride, sacrificed upon the altar of political expediency.

Not much time was allowed the young Princess for reflection, for soon after the message was received from the Danish court her marriage and departure were pushed on with all speed. On June 3, 1766, a message from the King was delivered to Parliament asking for the marriage portion of the Princess Matilda. After some debate, more on matters of form than the actual sum, a portion was voted of £100,000.

This important preliminary over, the King decided that his sister was to be married by proxy in England on October 1, and leave for Denmark the next day. The event excited some public interest, and we glean the following particulars from the journals concerning the preparations for the bride’s journey:—

“Tuesday the provisions dressed in the royal kitchen at Somerset House were sent on board the yachts at Gravesend. The Princess Matilda’s baggage was yesterday sent down and the yachts sailed last night for Harwich.”[56]

[56]The Gazetteer, September 23, 1766.

“There are orders for two coaches, two post-chaises and four saddle horses to be ready onThursday next at five o’clock to attend the Queen of Denmark to Harwich.”[57]

[57]The Gazetteer, September 29, 1766.

“We hear that Princess Matilda has ordered genteel presents to all her servants, and also some benefactions to be distributed among a number of poor persons after her departure.”[58]

[58]The Public Advertiser, September 29, 1766.

“Detachments of the Queen’s, or Second Regiment of Light Dragoons, are stationed on the Essex Road to escort the Queen of Denmark to Harwich. ’Tis imagined the Princess will only stop to change horses, as the necessary refreshments are carried in the coach. One of the King’s cooks goes over with her Royal Highness.”[59]

[59]The Public Advertiser, October 1, 1766.

George III. personally superintended the arrangements for his sister’s marriage and journey to Denmark. We find from him the following letter to the Secretary of State:—

“I return you the proposed ceremonial for the espousals of my sister which I entirely approve of. The full power must undoubtedlyex officiobe read by you, and the solemn contract by the Archbishop of Canterbury. I desire, therefore, that you will have it copied, only inserting the royal apartments of St. James’s Palace instead of the Chapel Royal, and my brother’s Christian name in those places where it has, I think, evidently been, through the negligence of the copier, omitted where he speaks. As in all other solemn declarations, that is alwaysused as well as the title. The Archbishop should then have it communicated to him, that he may see whether it is conformable to precedents, besides the dignity of his station calls for that mark of regard from me.”[60]

[60]Letter of King George III. to the Right Honourable Henry Seymour Conway, Secretary of State, Queen’s House, September 20, 1766. British Museum, Egerton MS. 82, fol. 20.

On Wednesday, October 1, 1766, between seven and eight o’clock in the evening, the Princess Matilda was married by proxy to the King of Denmark in the council chamber of St. James’s Palace. Her brother, the Duke of York, stood for Christian VII., and the ceremony was performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the presence of the King, the Queen, the Princess-Dowager of Wales, and other members of the royal family. A large company of nobility, gentry and foreign ministers were also present. Immediately after the ceremony the Queen of Denmark, as she was called, received the congratulations of the court, but she looked pale and dejected and her eyes were full of unshed tears. The same evening the Queen took formal leave of her brother, George III.

Matilda slept that night at Carlton House, and the next morning at half-past six, in the grey light of a chill October dawn, she said good-bye to her mother, and set out on her long journey. Three coaches were waiting to convey the Queen to Harwich, the road was lined with infantry, and a company of Life Guards was drawn up to escort her as faras Mile End. These preparations caused a small crowd to assemble in Pall Mall. The parting between Matilda and her mother was most affecting. The marriage had been the Princess-Dowager’s pet project, but even she felt a pang when she bade her youngest child farewell and sent her to the keeping of a strange prince in a far-off land. Her farewell present to her daughter was a ring on which the words were engraved, “May it bring thee happiness”. When the young Queen came out of the house to enter her coach it was noticed by the waiting crowd that she was weeping bitterly, and this so affected many of the women and children that they wept in company. The Duke of Gloucester, Baron Bothmar,[61]the Queen’s vice-chamberlain, who had been sent from Denmark to escort her Majesty, and Lady Mary Boothby accompanied Queen Matilda. The Life Guards conducted her as far as Mile End, and were there relieved by a detachment of Light Dragoons who escorted the Queen as far as Lord Abercorn’s house at Witham, where it was arranged that she would dine and sleep the night. Of this stage of her journey it is written: “Her Majesty was dressed in bloom-colour with white flowers. Wherever she passed the earnest prayers of the people were for her health and praying God to protect her from the perils of the sea. An easy melancholy at times seemed to affect her on account of leaving her family and place of birth, but upon the whole shecarried an air of serenity and majesty which exceedingly moved every one who beheld her.”[62]

[61]A brother of the Danish envoy at the court of St. James’s.

[62]Public Advertiser, October 5, 1766.

The next morning Matilda set out again, and escorted by another detachment of Light Dragoons reached Harwich soon after four o’clock in the afternoon, but the wind being in the north-east, and the sea rough, it was not thought advisable for her to embark. She therefore went to the house of the collector of customs where she supped and lay the night, and the next morning at half-past eleven went on board the royal yacht with her retinue. Here she took leave of her brother the Duke of Gloucester who returned to London. The wind was still rough and the yacht lay all the morning in the Roads, but towards evening, when the gale had abated, she set sail for the coast of Holland. Matilda came on deck and watched the shores of her native land until the last lights faded from her view.

The evening of her departure, it is interesting to note, the eloquent Nonconformist minister, George Whitefield, preached a sermon at his Tabernacle in London on the marriage of the youthful Queen, and concluded with an impassioned prayer for her future happiness.[63]

[63]Vide Public Advertiser, October 8, 1766.

It was known how unwilling she had been to go, and very general pity was felt for her. “The poor Queen of Denmark,” writes Mrs. Carter to Miss Talbot on October 4, 1766, “is gone out alone into the wide world: not a creature she knows to attendher any further than Altona. It is worse than dying; for die she must to all she has ever seen or known; but then it is only dying out of one bad world into another just like it, and where she is to have cares and fears and dangers and sorrows that will all yet be new to her. May it please God to protect and instruct and comfort her, poor child as she is! and make her as good, as beloved and as happy as I believe her Aunt Louisa was! They have just been telling me how bitterly she cried in the coach so far as anybody saw her.”[64]

[64]Mrs. Carter’sLetters, vol. iii.

The Queen had a very rough crossing, and did not arrive at Rotterdam until six days after she had embarked at Harwich. She landed under a discharge of cannon, and she was received with considerable ceremony by the Prince Stadtholder and other personages. From Rotterdam to Copenhagen is a distance of some six hundred miles. It had been arranged that the Queen should accomplish this by slow stages, and every resting-place on the line of route had already been decided upon.

Kew Palace, where Queen Matilda passed much of her girlhood.KEW PALACE, WHERE QUEEN MATILDA PASSED MUCH OF HER GIRLHOOD.From an Engraving, temp. 1751.

KEW PALACE, WHERE QUEEN MATILDA PASSED MUCH OF HER GIRLHOOD.From an Engraving, temp. 1751.

At Rotterdam she embarked on the Stadtholder’s yacht and proceeded by water to Utrecht, where she stayed the night at the house of a Dutch nobleman. From Utrecht she proceeded by coach, and passed in due course into her brother’s Hanoverian dominions. Her retinue was a large and splendid one, and everywhere on the route she attracted great attention, the people coming out to cheer and bless her. She lay for one night at Osnabrück,in the castle, and (tradition says) in the same room where her great-grandfather, George I., was born and was driven back to die. She was received there, as elsewhere, with great marks of distinction. At Lingen in Westphalia a cavalcade of students, arrayed in blue uniforms, came out of the town gate on horseback to meet her. They conducted her to the house where she was to rest, they serenaded her, and kept guard all night under her windows. The next morning they escorted her three leagues on the road to Bremen, where they took their leave. Her Majesty thanked them for their gallant conduct.

At Harburg on the Elbe Matilda embarked upon a richly decorated barge, which had been built by the city of Hamburg for her use. On this she sailed down the Elbe to Altona. The river was covered with boats and all kinds of craft, flying the British and Danish flags, and as the barge came in sight of Hamburg (a city adjacent to Altona) the Queen was saluted by a discharge of thirty guns. The quays of Hamburg were gaily decorated, and thronged with people anxious to catch sight of the youthful Queen.

A few minutes before Matilda’s landing at Altona the Stadtholder of Schleswig-Holstein went on board to pay his respects to the Queen of Denmark, and to present to her Madame de Plessen, her first lady-in-waiting, the maids of honour, and the men of her household, who had there assembled to meet her. At Altona the Queen first set foot in Danish dominions. She landed at six o’clock in the evening,and passed down a bridge covered with scarlet cloth, and between two lines of maidens dressed in white, who strewed flowers before her feet. The streets, through which she drove, were lined with burghers under arms, thronged with people, and decorated with flags, mottoes and triumphal arches. The Queen passed under one of these arches, beautifully illuminated, just in front of her house. That same evening the chief ladies of the city were presented to her, and she supped in public. The Queen rested at Altona over Sunday. In the morning she went to church, and on her return held a court. She also received a deputation of the magistrates of Altona, and one of them read the following address:—

“Your Majesty now gives us a mark of goodness, which we cannot sufficiently acknowledge, in graciously permitting us to testify the boundless veneration and joy which are excited in the hearts of the burgesses and the inhabitants on your happy arrival in this city. It is true that in every part of your journey your Majesty will receive from your faithful subjects transports of joy and most ardent vows, nevertheless, our fidelity is surpassed by none, and Altona at the same time enjoys this happy privilege, that she is the first of all the cities in the kingdom to admire in your Majesty’s person a Princess the most accomplished, and a Queen to whose protection we have the honour to recommend ourselves with all possible submission.”[65]

[65]Public Advertiser, letter from Hamburg, November 4, 1766.

Matilda graciously replied, and charmed everyone by her youth and affability. When the court was over, the Queen, attended by a detachment of Hamburg troops and Danish cuirassiers, made a progress through Altona and Hamburg, and was greeted with enthusiasm by all classes of the people.

The next morning, Monday, the Queen took leave of her English suite, who were now to return to England. The parting moved her to tears, and she presented Lady Mary Boothby, who had been with her for years, with a watch, set with diamonds, and a cheque for a thousand crowns. It had been stipulated by the Danish court that Matilda should bring no English person in her train to Denmark, so that she might more readily adapt herself to the customs of her adopted country.

The Danish suite were, of course, all strangers to the Queen, and the first aspect of her chief lady-in-waiting, Madame de Plessen, was not reassuring. Madame de Plessen was the widow of a privy councillor, and was a little over forty years of age. She had been lady-in-waiting to Queen Sophia Magdalena, who held her in high esteem: it was through her influence that she obtained this appointment. Madame de Plessen was a virtuous and religious woman, with a strict sense of duty and high moral principles, and could be trusted to guide the young Queen in the way she should go. But she had been trained in the old school, and her ideas of etiquette were rigid in the extreme. She sought to hedge round the Queen with every possible formand ceremony, and at first her chill formalism frightened the timid Queen, who had not yet discovered that behind her austere demeanour Madame de Plessen concealed a kind heart.

Madame de Plessen was a clever and ambitious woman, and like her former mistress, Sophia Magdalena, she favoured the French party at Copenhagen. Her appointment, as head of the Queen’s household, was therefore viewed with no little apprehension by Gunning, who, some time before Matilda’s arrival in Denmark, wrote to warn the British Government:—

“The person at the head of the list [of the Queen’s household],” he writes, “is a lady of an excellent understanding, possessing a thorough knowledge of the world, and a most intriguing disposition. These talents have recommended her to the Ministers here as a proper person to place about the future Queen, but they are not the only ones. Her being entirely devoted to the French system and interest, pointed her out as the fittest instrument, to either give the young Princess the bias they wish (which they think will not be difficult at her age), or, by circumventing her, prevent that influence they conclude she will have on the King. Their having unhappily effected the latter in the late reign, gives them hopes of being equally successful in this; but if her Royal Highness be prepared against these snares, her good sense and discernment will prevent her falling into them, or being persuaded by all the arguments (however specious) they may use,that it is not the interest of this country [Denmark] to engage itself too close with England.”[66]

[66]Gunning’s despatch, Copenhagen, May 20, 1766. Marked “secret”.

It soon became apparent that the English envoy’s fears were not without foundation, and before long Madame de Plessen gained a great ascendency over her young mistress. But at first she put aside all thought of political intrigue, and her only instinct was maternal sympathy for the lonely little Queen. Within a few days Matilda completely won Madame de Plessen’s heart, and the duenna determined at all hazard to protect her charge against the perils and temptations of the corrupt court whither she was bound.

From Hamburg Matilda proceeded by easy stages through her Danish dominions. She was received at the gates of the city of Schleswig by the chief burgesses and clergy, who complimented her on her arrival. Her journey was a triumphal progress. Gunning writes from Copenhagen: “We have an account of her Majesty’s being arrived at Schleswig in perfect health. The transports of the common people at the expectation of again seeing an English princess on the throne are scarcely to be described. Her Majesty’s affability and condescension have already gained her the hearts of all those who have had an opportunity of approaching her.”[67]

[67]Gunning’s despatch, Copenhagen, October 25, 1766.

Matilda arrived at the historic town of Röskilde,[68]near Copenhagen, on the evening of November 1, and rested there the night. Here Titley and Gunning were waiting to have audience, and a courier was sent ahead to inform the King, who was at the Christiansborg Palace, that his Queen was at Röskilde. The next morning, as early as seven o’clock, Christian VII., with his brother the Hereditary Prince Frederick, and his cousin Prince Charles of Hesse, set out in all haste for Röskilde. Here the King and Queen saw one another for the first time. The King greeted his bride with great heartiness, and bade her welcome to his kingdom. So delighted was he with her that, in defiance of etiquette, he embraced and kissed her in the presence of all the company. The little Queen seemed much comforted by this warm welcome, and at first sight was favourably impressed with her husband. The young King had charming manners, and was by no means ill to look upon. Though considerably under middle height he was perfectly proportioned, and possessed agility and strength. His features were regular, if not handsome, and, like his Queen and cousin, he was very fair, with blue eyes and yellow hair. His personal appearance was greatly enhanced by his dress, which was magnificent and in the best of taste.

[68]Röskilde, an ancient town on the fjord of that name, once the capital of the kingdom, and afterwards the residence of the Bishop of Zealand. It has a magnificent cathedral, containing the tombs of the Kings and Queens of Denmark. They are buried there to this day. Röskilde is about twenty English miles from Copenhagen.

After the first greetings were over, a procession was formed to escort Matilda to Frederiksberg,where she was to stay until her marriage. Again Christian put etiquette on one side and insisted on entering the same coach as the Queen—an ornate state coach drawn by six white horses. The coach was preceded by an escort of guards and followed by a train of other coaches. Frederiksberg was reached about noon, and here the Queen-Mother, Sophia Magdalena, the Queen-Dowager, Juliana Maria, the Princess Louise, the King’s sister, and a great number of the nobility were assembled to welcome the bride. Matilda was received by all with the greatest marks of affection and respect. Even Juliana Maria, who saw in her advent a blow to her hopes, forced herself to greet the young Queen with some show of cordiality. As for the old Queen, Sophia Magdalena, she frankly was delighted with her granddaughter-in-law, and sent a special message to Titley, as to an old friend, to tell him “how extremely satisfied and charmed she was with the person and conversation of the new Queen”.[69]Matilda gave universal satisfaction, and the envoys wrote enthusiastically:—

“She has everywhere been received in these dominions with all due honours and the greatest demonstrations of joy. She seems to gain universal applause and affection wherever she appears, and her particular attendants are unanimous in giving the highest praises to her disposition and behaviour.”[70]

[69]Titley’s despatch, Copenhagen, November 4, 1766.

[70]Ibid.

Immediately on her arrival at Frederiksberg Matilda held a court, at which many personages of distinction were presented to her. The court was followed by a banquet, when the King and his bride, the two Dowager-Queens and the rest of the royal family dined in public. After the banquet the King and all the other personages present took their leave and returned to Copenhagen, leaving Matilda to well-earned rest. Her long journey had occupied a month; she left England on October 2, and reached Frederiksberg on November 2. All this time she had been on the road, and perpetually receiving congratulations and deputations. It was no small tribute to the tact and amiability of this princess of fifteen that she everywhere won golden opinions. And it was proof of the strength of her constitution that she bore the long and tedious journey across northern Europe, in inclement weather, without illness or undue fatigue.

Matilda rested at Frederiksberg for five days. On Saturday, November 8, she made her public entry into Copenhagen—on the occasion of the marriage the same evening. Her entry was attended with every circumstance of pomp and enthusiasm. About noon Princess Louise drove to Frederiksberg, where her young sister-in-law was ready to receive her. Accompanied by the Princess, Queen Matilda drove to a common outside Copenhagen behind the “Blaagaard” [Blue Farm], where she found a long procession awaiting her. The Queen here descended from her coach and enteredanother, beautifully decorated and gilt. The procession then set out for Copenhagen in the following order:[71]A squadron of Horse Guards; a band of mounted drummers and trumpeters, twelve royal pages in gold and crimson liveries on horseback, and a cavalcade, under the command of the Master of the Horse, consisting of many officers of the court. Then followed the ministers of state and the ambassadors in their coaches; each coach vied with the other in magnificence, and each was drawn by six horses and escorted by six running footmen. Then came the Knights of the Order of the Elephant, wearing their robes and insignia; the Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog, also in their robes; the Royal Head Riding-Master, mounted on the “Dancing Horse” (whatever that may mean), and a bevy of beautifully dressed ladies in coaches. The climax of all this magnificence was the lovely young Queen in robes of silver tissue and ermine, with a circlet of diamonds on her fair hair, seated in her coach drawn by eight white horses, and surrounded by royal lackeys in gorgeous liveries. Immediately behind the Queen’s coach came the members of her household; and twelve halberdiers, arrayed in scarlet cloaks and equipped with pikes, closed the procession.

[71]The following description of the Queen’s entry into Copenhagen and her marriage is based upon official documents in the archives of the Court Marshal at Copenhagen, and from Danish papers of the time.

The procession entered Copenhagen through the Nörreport [North Gate] and passed along the Nörregade [North Street] to the Gammeltorv [Market Place]. Cannon thundered as the Queen passed under the gate, and all the bells of the churches clashed forth joyous chimes. The route was gaily decorated with flags and draperies; companies of burghers lined the streets, and the balconies, windows, and even the housetops were crowded with people, who cheered with wild enthusiasm. The little Queen, looking like a fairy in her robes of silver tissue, was seen, bowing and smiling, through the windows of her great gorgeous coach, and she captured all hearts at once. “The English rose,” the Danes called her, and they hailed her as another Queen Louise, who would act as a guide and helpmate to her husband, a purifier of his court, and a true friend of the people.

In the Market Place the procession came to a halt for a few minutes before the Town Hall, and the Queen was met by a bevy of eighteen young girls, dressed in white, and who carried wreaths and baskets of flowers. Here was a magnificent arch, seventy feet high, representing a Corinthian portcullis, and through the archway was revealed a background in perspective of the Temple of Hymen. A statue of Hymen looked down upon an altar, and above this altar allegorical figures of Denmark and England clasped hands. A pretty ceremony took place; the maidens passed up the steps and laid their wreaths upon the altar of Hymen singing:

God bless King Christian the MildAnd his Caroline Mathilde.

God bless King Christian the Mild

And his Caroline Mathilde.

Then they cast flowers before the Queen’s coach, and at “the same moment was heard the most delightful music, which broke forth simultaneously from all sides”. Thus amid music, song, flowers and shouts of joy and welcome, Matilda proceeded on her way through the city, and at last reached the Christiansborg Palace.

As her coach drew up at the main entrance, the guard presented arms, and the heralds blared on their silver trumpets. The heir presumptive, Prince Frederick, was waiting to receive the Queen; he assisted her to alight, and conducted her up the grand staircase into the King’s presence. The King received his bride with every mark of affection and honour, and then led her to the knights’ hall, where a state banquet was served. The King pledged his Queen in a superb wedding goblet of crystal and gold, manufactured for the occasion.[72]

[72]This goblet is still preserved in the Rosenborg. It is a magnificent specimen of Danish art. The Danish and English arms are ground into the crystal, the crowned initials of the bridal pair are also inscribed, and underneath appears the legend “Felici sidere juncti, 1766”. The elaborately chased lid is surmounted by a crown. The height of the goblet is eighteen inches.

After the banquet the Queen retired to her apartments to rest awhile, and then robed for her wedding. At seven o’clock in the evening all the ladies belonging to the two first ranks of the Danish nobility (namely, the countesses and baronesses), and the ladies who had taken part in the royal procession into Copenhagen, assembled in the ante-chamber ofthe Queen’s apartments. At half-past seven the Queen appeared, a beautiful vision wearing a robe of white silk brocaded with silver, a veil of priceless lace and a crown of pearls and diamonds. The ladies made a lane for her to pass, and curtsied their obeisance. The Queen, who, despite her tender years, bore herself with great dignity, proceeded to the knights’ hall, where the wedding procession was marshalled. All the members of the royal family joined in this procession with the exception of the Queen-Dowager, Juliana Maria, who pleaded illness as an excuse for not appearing. The King and Queen came last of all, and walked under a canopy to the royal chapel of the Christiansborg, where the marriage ceremony was performed by Bishop Harboe of Zealand. The chapel was brilliantly illuminated, and thronged with the chief personages in Denmark, clad in rich attire, and covered with orders and jewels. During the ceremony the King and Queen stood, or knelt, on ahaut pasbefore the altar, which was covered with cloth of gold and decked with silver candlesticks bearing large wax tapers. At the conclusion of the marriage service the procession was re-formed, and the King and Queen were conducted from the chapel to the ante-room of their apartments, where the company dispersed.

In honour of the marriage day a silver medal was struck, and numerous orders and titles were distributed. At night the city of Copenhagen was illuminated, and people paraded the streets all nightshouting and singing for joy. The young Queen had won all hearts, and the popular enthusiasm evoked by the marriage augured well for the future of the monarchy.

Copenhagen held high festival for a week after the royal wedding, and the populace as well as the court joined in the festivities. There was a gala performance at the theatre including a “Felicitation Ballet,” in which there were many pretty allusions to the young Queen, who was styled Venus or “la plus belle”. Two days after the marriage the knights’ hall of the Christiansborg Palace was the scene of a wedding ball. Queen Matilda opened the ball by dancing a minuet with the King with much grace and spirit. She then honoured the English envoy, Gunning, by commanding him to dance with her—a very natural proceeding, for she wished to pay honour to her native country. But it gave offence to some of the other foreign envoys present, especially to the Spanish minister, who was thedoyenof thecorps diplomatiqueat Copenhagen, and he reported the circumstance to the Spanish court, who later demanded an explanation.[73]Nor was this the only unpleasantness at the ball. After supper thekehraus, a Danish country dance, was danced, and one figure was danced in procession. Thekehrauswas led by Prince Charles of Hesse and his wife, the Princess Louise—probably because they knew all the figures. The King came next with the Queen, and all the rest of the company followed,two and two. The King, who had supped freely, was in boisterous spirits, and called out to Prince Charles: “Lead thekehrausthrough all the apartments”. The Prince therefore led the procession through the rooms on the first floor of the palace, the band, presumably, going before. The procession of laughing and dancing men and women followed, until they came to the ante-chamber of the Queen’s apartments. At the door of the Queen’s bedchamber Prince Charles found Madame de Plessen standing like a dragon in his path. Imperiously she waved him back, and declared that his entrance would be an outrage, alike on etiquette and decency. But the King, whom any opposition goaded to anger, shouted: “Do not heed an old woman’s nonsense! Go on! Go on!” Therefore Madame de Plessen, still expostulating, was thrust aside, and the procession danced through the Queen’s bedchamber, and so back to the ballroom.

[73]Gunning’s despatch, Copenhagen, November 18, 1766.

The Marriage Ball of Christian VII. and Queen Matilda in the Christiansborg Palace.THE MARRIAGE BALL OF CHRISTIAN VII. AND QUEEN MATILDA IN THE CHRISTIANSBORG PALACE.From a Contemporary Print.

THE MARRIAGE BALL OF CHRISTIAN VII. AND QUEEN MATILDA IN THE CHRISTIANSBORG PALACE.From a Contemporary Print.

These incidents, trivial though they were, revealed the rocks ahead in the way of the young Queen, and showed that no common care would be necessary to avoid them. As the English Secretary of State, Conway, wrote to Gunning not long after Matilda’s arrival at Copenhagen:—

“Her Majesty is entering upon the most important era of her life, and at a tender age is launched, as it were alone, into a strange and wide ocean, where it might require the utmost care and prudence to steer with that nice conduct which may at once conciliate the affections of her court and people, and support the dignity of that high station to which Providence has called her”.[74]

[74]Conway’s despatch to Gunning, St. James’s, November 18, 1766.

MARIAGE À LA MODE.

1766-1767.

The court of Denmark over which Matilda was now the reigning Queen, though not the ruling spirit, was the last place in the world for a young and innocent girl to be sent alone. It was a hotbed of intrigue, a stye of vile epicurism, where even decency was disregarded. Cunning as foxes, and like foxes in their lust and greed, the majority of the courtiers thought only of advancing their personal interests at the expense of each other, or by vain and frivolous amusement to kill the passing hour. All things that made for purity of life, nobility of purpose, or singleness of heart, were mocked at and derided. Truth, honour and virtue were by-words. During the later years of Frederick V.’s reign the influence of the French court (at its worst) had not been confined in Denmark to politics alone, but extended to manners and morals as well. This influence became far more visible at the court of Christian VII. than at that of his father. The society which the young King collected around him within the walls of the Christiansborg Palace did its best to copy Versailles, and it succeeded in aping the vices, if not the superficialrefinement, of the court of France. At Christiansborg might be seen the same type of silly brainless persons as those who flitted about the ante-chambers of Versailles, who adopted the same frivolous tone, and the same loose morals. Their avowed object was to avoidennui, but in their pursuit of pleasure they often caught boredom. The Danish courtiers, both men and women, were artificial to the core. They painted their faces, powdered their hair, and dressed extravagantly. They disguised every real sentiment, and sought always to seem what they were not. They expressed nothing but contempt for the language and customs of their native land. To be Danish wasbourgeois, to be virtuous even more so.

The cheap cynicism which mocks at marriage, and all its privileges and duties, was much in vogue among the fashionable or “young party” at the Danish court. Christian VII. had heard too much of these views from the young rake-hells whom he chose for his companions not to be entirely at one with them, and he looked on marriage as the greatest burden. He had been extremely reluctant to take it upon himself and had only done so at the strongest representations of his ministers. Reverdil declares with a groan that to this epicene being “une personne royale dans son lit lui semblait d’ailleurs plutôt un objet de respect que d’amour,” and adds that the King would have certainly refused to perform his connubial duties had it not been represented to him that the absence of an heir to thethrone would give rise to all manner of evil gossip respecting himself.

The young King had consented to marry with an ill grace, and after his marriage he lost no time in declaring to his boon companions that he intended to be in every respect a husbandà la mode. The first sight of his consort’s fresh and youthful beauty had seemed to awaken in him some dormant sense of manliness, and he treated her at first with a plausible imitation of lover-like ardour. He was flattered by the warmth of her reception and the praises of her beauty, which he interpreted as tributes to his own good taste. The ceremonies incident on the wedding gratified his love of display, and the festivities that followed delighted his pleasure-loving soul. He was like a child with a new toy, but he wearied of it even more quickly than a child. If his passion ever existed it was short-lived, for on the third day of his marriage he said to one of his intimate friends that he strongly advised him never to marry, as the unmarried state was far preferable. This speech might have been credited to the affectation of a very young husband who wished to pose as a cynic, but there was evidently something more behind it, for neither of the young couple appeared to be happy during the first days of their married life; Christian was restless and discontented, Matilda pensive and melancholy.

The Queen’s depression was natural. The excitement and novelty of her journey and her enthusiastic welcome had buoyed her up at first, but nowthese were over she felt the reaction. She was a stranger in a strange land, separated from every one she had ever known, and she suffered from homesickness. A closer acquaintance with her husband obliterated the favourable first impression she had formed of him. He was a disappointment. The flattering despatches which the English envoys had sent to London (some of which we have quoted) credited him with every physical and mental endowment, and portrayed him as a paragon among princes. These encomiums, duly communicated to the Princess-Dowager, had been dunned into Matilda’s ears with such persistency that she thought she was marrying a prince who was almost a demi-god, and who gathered up into himself all the attributes of the legendary heroes of Scandinavian romance. What then must have been her disappointment when she found that her husband resembled a Frenchpetit maître, rather than a son of the Vikings. To add to her disillusion Christian made hardly any show of affection for his wife, and after the first few days treated her with open indifference. A week after their marriage the royal couple gave a banquet at the Christiansborg Palace, and it was noticed by the company that already the bloom had faded from the young Queen’s cheeks, and she smiled with evident effort. Her sadness increased from day to day, and she often gazed at the ring her mother had given her, with its inscription, “May it bring thee happiness,” and sighed heavily. The King, who wished for nothing but to be amused,was piqued by his consort’s despondency, and so far from making any attempt to comfort her, relieved his feelings by satirical remarks. One day when one of his favourites called his attention to the Queen’s sadness, he said: “What does it matter? It is not my fault. I believe she has the spleen.” The King’s indifference to his Queen was quickly noticed by the courtiers, who took their cue accordingly, and treated her as a person of little account. Ogier, the French envoy at Copenhagen, reported to Paris three weeks after the marriage: “The English Princess has produced hardly any impression on the King’s heart; but had she been even more amiable she would have experienced the same fate, for how could she please a man who seriously believes that it is not good form (n’est pas du bon air) for a husband to love his wife?”

The French envoy was exultant that the marriage, on which England had built such high hopes, should produce so little effect politically. The Queen had no influence with the King, and he would be more likely to oppose her wishes than to yield to them, if only for fear lest it should be thought that he was governed by his wife. The poor little Queen had no wish for political power, and was too much downcast by her own personal disappointments to be of any use in a diplomatic intrigue. But George III., and the English Government, who had no knowledge of the real state of affairs, persisted in their project of using the Queen for their own advantage; and SecretaryConway sent minute instructions to Gunning as to the best way in which this could be worked.

“In regard to your applying to the young Queen,” he writes, “her affection to his Majesty [George III.], and love for her native country, cannot but incline her to preserve, as much as it can be in her power to do, the mind of the King of Denmark, permanently fixed upon the strictest union with his Majesty’s, who has no one view in his alliance inconsistent with the honour of the King of Denmark or the welfare of his kingdom. Both Mr. Titley and you will doubtless omit nothing that can mark your utmost attention and desire of serving her Majesty. There might seem an impropriety in endeavouring to engage her Majesty to interfere in business, especially in what has the air of court intrigue, but so far as informing her Majesty fully of the present state of the court, and apprising her who are the best friends of her native country, and consequently most inclined to promote the true honour and interests of their own, it will be your duty, and may be an essential service to her Majesty, whose good sense will make the properest use of the lights you furnish. The etiquette of the court of Denmark (I find by your letter of September 2) allows an easier access to family ministers than to others, and this privilege you will, I imagine, have no difficulty to preserve.... You may also be assured that the affection of his Majesty [George III.], and his care for the welfare and happiness of his sister, so deservedly the object of his loveand esteem, cannot fail of having suggested every proper counsel and information more immediately necessary for her guidance in the delicate and important situation she is placed. Upon that foundation you may properly build, and in such further lights as it may be fit for you to give her Majesty, I think both the opportunities and the matter of the information itself should rather flow naturally than be too affectedly sought.”[75]

[75]Sir H. S. Conway’s despatch to Gunning, St. James’s, October 24, 1766.

The English Government was soon disappointed of its hope of using the Danish Queen as a pawn in the political game. Gunning, in bitter disappointment, enlightened Conway as to the true state of affairs a few weeks after the marriage. “All access to either the King or Queen of Denmark,” he wrote, “is rendered so difficult that without being furnished with some pretext I can never expect to approach either of their Majesties but in public. The preference given me there has already occasioned some of the most unheard of and preposterous complaints.” [Here he refers to the protest of the Spanish minister already mentioned.] “Monsieur Reventlow[76]has lately made me some overtures to a better understanding; he speaks in raptures of the Queen whenever I see him, and I believe will constitute as much as depends upon him to promote her Majesty’s happiness. This is of itself a sufficient reason for my wishing to cultivate his good opinion,and if possible to bring him over to our interests. [The French Minister] encourages the carrying on intrigues against us; they (I need not tell you, sir) increase every day, and particularly since the arrival of her Majesty,—the principal people about her being our most inveterate enemies.”[77]

[76]Reventlow had been appointed the Queen’s Chief Chamberlain.

[77]Gunning’s despatch to Conway, Copenhagen, November 18, 1766.

One of the “inveterate enemies” was the austere and haughty Madame de Plessen, who hedged the Queen round with iron etiquette, and permitted none to enter her presence without her permission. Especially did she throw difficulties in the way of the English envoy having frequent access of her Majesty, on the ground that his visits would be sure to cause jealousy and ill-will. The Queen, she urged, must overcome her natural preferences, she must forget that she was a Princess of Great Britain, and remember only that she was Queen of Denmark and Norway. This was perhaps sound advice so far as it went, but Madame de Plessen’s object in giving it was not altogether disinterested. She, like her former mistress, Queen Sophia Magdalena, was a sworn friend of France, and probably in its pay. Madame de Plessen had a genius for political intrigue, and her apartments in the palace formed arendez-vousfor the friends of France.

It is difficult to follow the cross-currents of politics at the Danish court during the early years of the reign of Christian VII., but so far as foreign affairs were concerned, the position may be briefly summarised thus: The main object of England was to check France; the main object of Sweden was to check Russia. Therefore, whatever was disagreeable to France at Copenhagen was agreeable to England. Whatever was disagreeable to Sweden was agreeable to Russia. Failing to see her own influence in the ascendant at the Danish court, England would prefer to see that of Russia. Bernstorff, the Prime Minister, was very friendly to Russia, and not ill-disposed to England. Therefore, the French envoy and Madame de Plessen intrigued against him. In domestic politics also the Queen’s chief lady was in opposition to Bernstorff, and to her chambers flocked malcontents, including many of the staider and more conservative among the Danish nobility, who shook their heads over the misgovernment of the Prime Minister, and the follies and extravagancies of the King and his friends.

The advent of the young Queen was made an excuse for the King to gratify his passion for festivity and display. During the preceding reign the court had led a comparatively quiet life, but the winter following Christian VII.’s marriage was an unceasing round of gaiety. Balls, banquets, concerts, masques, operas and plays, hunting parties, sledge parties, circuses, and excursions to the different royal castles around Copenhagen—there were a good many—succeeded one another in quick succession. The King had a great love for the play, so he built a court theatre at the Christiansborg Palace and decorated it without regard to expense. A French companyacted there, and the King and his suite frequently took part in the performances. The King acted a part in Voltaire’sZaire, and his performance was received with great applause. He was so much impressed with his dramatic talents that he twice repeated his performance in the larger theatre of Copenhagen, and there the general public were permitted to attend. Acting, however, was but a passing phase with the King, and he soon tired of it, though he undoubtedly showed talent.

Madame de Plessen did all she could to prevent the Queen from taking part in the court festivities, but Matilda, who was young, and fond of pleasure, could not be prevailed upon to absent herself altogether, more especially as by doing so she would incur the displeasure of the King. But she never appeared unless attended by Madame de Plessen, and turned to her always for guidance. It was Madame de Plessen who chose the ladies to dance in the same quadrilles as the Queen, and she took care that none, however beautiful or fashionable they might be, should be admitted to this honour if there were the slightest blemish upon their reputation. With men the same care was not necessary, for, as a matter of etiquette, the Queen never danced with any but princes of the blood, ambassadors, ministers of state, or others it was deemed advisable to honour in an especial manner.

The introduction of masquerades was a still more startling innovation, and gave great offence to the two Dowager-Queens. Sophia Magdalena protested,but though her protests were supported by several of the ministers, and the more prominent among the clergy, they were unheeded. The King and his friends anticipated too many gallant adventures to forego the opportunities which a masked ball offered, and they wished to imitate at Copenhagen those masquerades held at the opera in Paris. The first masked ball ever given in Denmark was held in December in the Christiansborg Palace. All the ladies and gentlemen belonging to the first three classes were admitted, besides all officers belonging to both services. They were allowed to appear in any fancy dress they chose, the only restriction being that they should not come “in the likeness of an animal or any unseemly disguise”. The King appeared as a Sultan, and his immediate following were also in eastern dress. The point was fiercely debated whether the Queen should appear at the masquerades or not; the Dowager-Queens and Madame de Plessen being wholly against it, and the King insisting upon it. Finally a compromise was arrived at; Matilda showed herself to the company for a short time, and then retired to her apartments to play chess with court ladies chosen for her by Madame de Plessen, and the elderly wives of ministers. It was as well that the Queen retired early, for the tone of the masquerade became more and more free as the evening wore on, and degenerated at last into riotous licence.

The expense of these entertainments was very heavy, and the people, who were overburdened withtaxes, began to murmur. There was great distress in Copenhagen during the winter of 1766-67, and the contrast between the want and misery in the poorer quarters of the city, and the festivity and extravagance in the palace, was very striking. The people, who loved the pomp and circumstance of royalty, might at another time have overlooked this lavish expenditure, on the ground of the youth and natural gaiety of the King. But sinister rumours were afloat concerning him and his pleasures, and he had already by his puerile amusements and dissipated conduct forfeited to a great extent the public respect. Moreover, the Puritan party in Denmark was very strong, and included the elder members of the royal family, and many of the most influential personages in church and state. These regarded many of the court festivities with disapproval, and the masquerades with horror. The clergy especially were violent in their denunciations, and did not hesitate to fan the flame of popular discontent. For instance, a building, belonging, and adjacent to, the Christiansborg Palace, in which there was a large wood store and brewery, caught fire about this time, and was burned to the ground; the conflagration was the biggest known in Copenhagen for years. Pastor Münter, a preacher of great power, seized upon the incident to preach a sermon against the sinful amusements of the court. He declared that the fire was a sign from heaven to warn the King and his following to refrain from their wicked ways, and if they did not profit by itthey would be utterly consumed with fire, if not here, then most certainly hereafter. The sermon made a great sensation in Copenhagen, and the preacher was reprimanded by the court, but he was regarded as an inspired prophet by many austere Puritans.

The worst of all this controversy was that the innocent young Queen was blamed unjustly. Rumours were spread abroad that Matilda was largely responsible for these extravagancies; and in proof of the assertion it was pointed out that the introduction of masquerades followed upon the arrival of the English princess. It was said that these rumours originated at the court of the Queen-Dowager. Juliana Maria had retired to the Fredensborg with her son, the Hereditary Prince Frederick, where she was surrounded by a little circle of malcontents. In due time these untruths reached Matilda’s ears and caused her great annoyance. The young Queen’s household, including Madame de Plessen, did everything they could to contradict the reports, but with indifferent success. The mischief was done, and it remained a fixed idea in the minds of many people that the Queen was almost as devoted as the King to frivolous amusements. Queen Matilda communicated her uneasiness to the English envoy, who wrote home:—

“At a time when the Crown labours under the pressure of heavy debts, and the revenue, from mismanagement, is so much lessened, people naturally complain of the increase of expenses, and theintroduction of a number of entertainments, and amongst these, of masquerades. The Queen is under the greatest uneasiness, lest this should be imputed to her having any inclination for a diversion of this kind, from which, on the contrary, the goodness of her heart, and the purity of her sentiments, render her very averse. The sweetness of her disposition, and the uncommon degree of prudence and discretion she is endowed with, must ensure her a large share of happiness; but whatever my wishes may be, I cannot flatter myself this will ever bear any proportion to what her Majesty so justly deserves.”[78]To which the Secretary of State replied: “Your attention to her Danish Majesty is most justly commendable, and certainly her Majesty’s cautious conduct is most amiable and respectable”.[79]

[78]Gunning’s despatch, Copenhagen, December 6, 1766.

[79]Conway’s despatch, St. James’s, December 29, 1766.

The festivities of the Danish court culminated in the coronation and anointing of the King and Queen, which took place on May 1, 1767.[80]The day dawned brilliantly fine, though the air was clear and cold. At an early hour the bells of the Vor-Frue-Kirke (the Church of Our Lady, the metropolitan church of Denmark) began to ring, and bells chimed merrily from other towers. At eleven o’clock all the gentlemen-in-waiting assembled in the King’s ante-chamber, and all the ladies-in-waiting in the Queen’s. The King donned the anointing robes:“A short jacket and breeches of gold brocade, pearl-coloured silk stockings, white gloves embroidered with gold, and white shoes with red heels; his buckles, garters and coat buttons were set with diamonds, and his cloak of royal ermine was embroidered with golden flowers”. The King, thus arrayed, crowned himself with his own hands according to theLex Regia, which ordained that “since the Kings of Denmark do not receive the crown from any hands but their own, the ceremony of coronation shall be performed by themselves”.

[80]The following description of the coronation is taken from official documents preserved in the Royal Archives, Copenhagen.

With the crown on his head the King, accompanied by the Grand Chamberlain, who carried the Queen’s crown on a velvet cushion, went to the Queen’s room and crowned her with his own hands.

This ceremony over, the King took the sceptre in his right hand and the orb in his left, and donned the collars of both the great Danish orders, the Elephant and the Dannebrog. Then he passed into his audience chamber, his train upborne by the Counts Reventlow and Danneskjold-Samsöe. There he held a court, and received the homage of the principal personages in the state.

The Queen, likewise attired in her anointing robes, to wit: “A robe of cloth of gold, and a royal mantle of red velvet lined with ermine and embroidered with gold crowns,” and with the crown upon her head, passed into her audience chamber, her train upborne by Madame de Plessen and the Countess St. Germains. Here she held a court, and received the homage of the assembled ladies.

The Christiansborg Palace, Copenhagen.THE CHRISTIANSBORG PALACE, COPENHAGEN.From an Old Print, temp. 1768.

THE CHRISTIANSBORG PALACE, COPENHAGEN.From an Old Print, temp. 1768.

The procession to the chapel of the Christiansborg was then marshalled, and as the bells rang out it passed down the marble stairs of the palace and across the quadrangle to the chapel. The King walked under a red velvet canopy, upborne by four privy councillors and four Knights of the Elephant. The Queen walked beneath a similar canopy, upborne by four privy councillors and four Knights of the Dannebrog.

The royal chapel was decorated with great splendour. Of this, as of the other arrangements connected with the coronation, it was recorded: “There was nothing lacking to make it beautiful. It was so splendid and superb that even the foreign envoys were forced to admire the beauty and lavish expenditure, to say nothing of the art in which these were turned to account.” The thrones of the King and Queen were placed upon a dais, under a gorgeous canopy, upborne by two figures of angels with drawn swords. On one side of the canopy was the King’s motto, “Gloria ex amore patriae,” and on the other were the initials of the King and Queen. The King’s throne was of solid ivory, surmounted by a huge amethyst nearly as large as a hen’s egg. The Queen’s throne was of silver, elaborately wrought, and polished until it shone like crystal. At the foot of the thrones lay three life-size lions in cast silver.

At the entrance to the royal chapel the King and Queen were received by the three Bishops, who were to officiate at the ceremony of the anointing,vested in copes of gold brocade. The Bishops first conducted the King to his throne while the choir sang an anthem. They then returned and led the Queen to her throne in like manner. Bishop Harboe of Zealand preached a sermon, and then the ceremony of anointing took place; the coronation was considered as already performed. First the King was anointed with the holy oil, and then the Queen. The service concluded with aTe Deum.

As the royal procession returned to the palace, a salute from the ramparts was fired, and the heralds on the gate blew a loud blast on their silver trumpets. The King and Queen received the congratulations of their court, and then the coronation banquet took place. During the banquet a chorale was sung by the choir, of which a verse may be roughly translated as follows:—

And long shall it be before the sons of the North weep,For while Christian lives, and Matilda,There shall be nothing but joy,And every man shall dwell in his tent in peace.

And long shall it be before the sons of the North weep,

For while Christian lives, and Matilda,

There shall be nothing but joy,

And every man shall dwell in his tent in peace.

The coronation was a people’s holiday, and ample provision was made for every class to partake in the festivities. When the banquet was over the King and Queen passed on to the balcony of the palace to look down upon the general rejoicings. A free dinner was given to the populace, and wine ran like water from a fountain, “red wine on the right side and on the left white, five hogsheads of each, of which all drank who would”.In the courtyard an ox had been roasted whole, and not an ox only, for it was stuffed with “three wethers, five lambs, eight pigs, ten geese, twenty brace of duck, and fifty-eight brace of old (sic) hens”. The roasted ox reposed upon a carriage painted red, and its horns were gilt.

“The moment their Majesties appeared on the balcony,” continues the chronicle, “the fountain of wine was set running, and the ox was wheeled forward, pulled by eighteen sailors in white breeches and jackets, with sashes of red, and wreaths upon their heads. On either side of the ox-carriage more sailors walked, similarly attired, and carried baskets of bread. The Quarter-master-Sergeant then ascended the ox-carriage and cried in a loud voice: ‘The roast ox will now be given away!’ and he threw to the crowd a number of silver pieces. With shouts of delight the people rushed forward and scrambled for money, food and wine. The feasting and revelry that followed occupied a countless number of the poor all that evening and the greater part of the night, so delighted were they. Their Majesties took great pleasure in watching the tumult from the balcony of the Christiansborg.”

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