A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Caroline Matilda
CAROLINE MATILDA,
Born 1751, daughter of Frederic Lewis, Prince of Wales, married, 1766, Christian the Seventh, King of Denmark, and became mother of Frederic, afterwards Frederic the Seventh of Denmark, in 1768. Though young, beautiful, and beloved by the nation, she was treated with neglect and hatred by the grandmother and the step-mother of her husband, who for some time influenced him against her. Struensee, a physician, and the favourite of the king, became her friend, together with Brandt, and they endeavoured to gain the king from the influence of the party opposed to the queen. The reins of government came into the hands of Struensee; but, in 1722, the party of the king's step-mother, and her son. Prince Frederic, procured the imprisonment of the queen and all her friends. Counts Struensee and Brandt were tried, and executed for high treason. Even the queen was at first in danger of death. She was accused of too great an intimacy with Struensee, was separated from her husband, and confined in Alborg, hut was released by the interference of her brother, George the Third of England. She died May 10th., 1775, at Zell, in Hanover, in consequence of her grief. The interesting letter in which she took leave of her brother, George the Third, is to be found in a small work, "Die lezten Stunden der Königin von Dänemark." She was mild and gentle, and much beloved; and though not always prudent, yet there is no doubt that she was perfectly innocent.