A QUEEN OF TEARS
_BY THE SAME AUTHOR._
THE LOVE OF AN UNCROWNED QUEEN:
SOPHIE DOROTHEA, CONSORT OF GEORGE I., AND HER CORRESPONDENCE WITH
PHILIP CHRISTOPHER, COUNT KONIGSMARCK.
NEW AND REVISED EDITION.
_With 24 Portraits and Illustrations._
_8vo, 12s. 6d. net._
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.,
LONDON, NEW YORK AND BOMBAY.
[Illustration: O keep me innocent, make others great.
Caroline Mathilde.
_After the painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1766._
_Walter S. Colls, Ph. Sc._]
A QUEEN OF TEARS
CAROLINE MATILDA, QUEEN OF
DENMARK AND NORWAY AND
PRINCESS OF GREAT BRITAIN
AND IRELAND
BY
W. H. WILKINS
_M.A., F.S.A._
_Author of "The Love of an Uncrowned Queen," and
"Caroline the Illustrious, Queen Consort of George II."_
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. I.
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
NEW YORK AND BOMBAY
1904
PREFACE
Some years ago, when visiting Celle in connection with a book I was
writing on Sophie Dorothea, _The Love of an Uncrowned Queen_, I found,
in an unfrequented garden outside the town, a grey marble monument of
unusual beauty. Around the base ran an inscription to the effect that
it was erected in loving memory of Caroline Matilda, Queen of Denmark
and Norway, Princess of Great Britain and Ireland, who died at Celle
in 1775, at the age of twenty-three years. To this may be traced the
origin of this book, for until I saw the monument I had not heard of
this English Princess--a sister of George III. The only excuse to be
offered for this ignorance is that it is shared by the great majority
of Englishmen. For though the romantic story of Caroline Matilda is
known to every Dane--she is the Mary Stuart of Danish history--her name
is almost forgotten in the land of her birth, and this despite the fact
that little more than a century ago her imprisonment nearly led to a
war between England and Denmark.
Inquiry soon revealed the full measure of my ignorance. The dramatic
tale of Queen Caroline Matilda and her unhappy love for Struensee, her
Prime Minister, has been told in Danish, German, French and English in
a variety of ways. Apart from history and biography, it has formed the
theme of novels and plays, and even of an opera. The most trustworthy
works on the Queen and Struensee are written in Danish, a language
not widely read. In English nothing of importance has been written
about her for half a century,[1] and, owing to the fact that many
documents, then inaccessible, have since become available, the books
are necessarily incomplete, and most of them untrustworthy. Moreover,
they have been long out of print.
[1] I except Dr. A. W. Ward's contribution to the _Dictionary of
National Biography_, but this is necessarily brief. A list of the books
which have been written about the Queen in different languages will be
found in the Appendix.
My object, therefore, in writing this book has been to tell once
more the story of this forgotten "daughter of England" in the light
of recent historical research. I may claim to have broken fresh
ground. The despatches of Titley, Cosby, Gunning, Keith and Woodford
(British Ministers at Copenhagen, 1764-1775) and others, quoted in
this book, are here published for the first time in any language.
They yield authoritative information concerning the Queen's brief
reign at the Danish court, and the character of the personages who
took part, directly or indirectly, in the palace revolution of
1772. Even Professor E. Holm, of Copenhagen, in his admirable work,
_Danmark-Norges Historie_ (published in 1902), vol. iv. of which deals
with the Matilda-Struensee period, is ignorant of these important
despatches, which I found two years ago in the State Paper Office,
London. To these are added many documents from the Royal Archives
at Copenhagen; most of them, it is true, have been published in the
Danish, but they are unknown to English readers. I have also, in
connection with this book, more than once visited Denmark, and have
had access to the Royal Archives at Copenhagen, and to the palaces in
which the Queen lived during her unhappy life at the Danish court. I
have followed her to Kronborg, where she was imprisoned, and to Celle,
in Germany, where she died in exile. My researches at this latter place
may serve to throw light on the closing (and little-known) years of the
Queen's brief life. She rests at Celle by the side of her ancestress,
Sophie Dorothea, whose life in many ways closely resembled her own.
A word of explanation is perhaps necessary for the first few chapters
of this book. In all the biographies of Caroline Matilda written in
any language, her life in England before her marriage has received
scant consideration, probably on account of her extreme youth. As her
parentage and education were largely responsible for the mistakes of
her later years, I have sketched, with some detail, the characters of
her father and mother, and her early environment. This plan has enabled
me to describe briefly the English court from the death of Queen
Caroline to the accession of George III., and so to form a link with my
other books on the House of Hanover.
My thanks are due to Miss Hermione Ramsden for kindly translating for
me sundry documents from the Danish; to Mr. Louis Bobé, of Copenhagen,
for much interesting information; and to the Editor of the _Nineteenth
Century and After_ for allowing me to re-publish certain passages from
an article I recently contributed to that review on Augusta, Princess
of Wales. I must also thank the Earl of Wharncliffe for permitting
me to reproduce the picture of Lord Bute at Wortley Hall, and Count
Kielmansegg for similar permission with regard to the portrait of
Madame de Walmoden at Gülzow.
W. H. WILKINS.
_November, 1903._
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE v
CONTENTS ix
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi
CHAPTER I.
BIRTH AND PARENTAGE 1
CHAPTER II.
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 19
CHAPTER III.
THE BETROTHAL 35
CHAPTER IV.
THE TRAINING OF A KING 52
CHAPTER V.
"THE NORTHERN SCAMP" 70
CHAPTER VI.
MATILDA'S ARRIVAL IN DENMARK 84
CHAPTER VII.
MARIAGE À LA MODE 106
CHAPTER VIII.
AT THE COURT OF DENMARK 124
CHAPTER IX.
THE BIRTH OF A PRINCE 138
CHAPTER X.
CHRISTIAN VII. IN ENGLAND 152
CHAPTER XI.
THE PRODIGAL'S RETURN 175
CHAPTER XII.
STRUENSEE 193
CHAPTER XIII.
THE TEMPTER 209
CHAPTER XIV.
THE QUEEN'S FOLLY 228
CHAPTER XV.
THE FALL OF BERNSTORFF 251
CHAPTER XVI.
QUEEN AND EMPRESS 265
CHAPTER XVII.
THE REFORMER 280
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE ORDER OF MATILDA 303
CHAPTER XIX.
THE DICTATOR 328
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
QUEEN MATILDA (_Photogravure_). _From the Painting
by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1766_ _Frontispiece_
LEICESTER HOUSE, WHERE QUEEN MATILDA WAS BORN _Facing page_ 4
FREDERICK, PRINCE OF WALES, FATHER OF QUEEN MATILDA.
_From the Painting by J. B. Vanloo at Warwick
Castle, by permission of the Earl of Warwick_ " " 14
MADAME DE WALMODEN, COUNTESS OF YARMOUTH. _From
the Painting at Gülzow by permission of Count
Kielmansegg_ " " 24
JOHN, EARL OF BUTE. _From the Painting by Sir Joshua
Reynolds at Wortley Hall, by permission of the Earl
of Wharncliffe_ " " 36
THE ELDER CHILDREN OF FREDERICK AND AUGUSTA, PRINCE
AND PRINCESS OF WALES, PLAYING IN KEW GARDENS. _From
a Painting, temp. 1750_ " " 50
QUEEN LOUISE, CONSORT OF FREDERICK V. OF DENMARK AND
DAUGHTER OF GEORGE II. OF ENGLAND. _From a Painting
by Pilo in the Frederiksborg Palace_ " " 62
KING CHRISTIAN VII. _From the Painting by P.
Wichman, 1766_ " " 76
KEW PALACE, WHERE QUEEN MATILDA PASSED MUCH OF HER
GIRLHOOD. _From an Engraving, temp. 1751_ " " 90
THE MARRIAGE BALL OF CHRISTIAN VII. AND QUEEN
MATILDA IN THE CHRISTIANSBORG PALACE. _From a
Contemporary Print_ " " 104
THE CHRISTIANSBORG PALACE, COPENHAGEN. _From an Old
Print, temp. 1768_ " " 120
EDWARD, DUKE OF YORK, BROTHER OF QUEEN MATILDA.
_From the Painting by G. H. Every_ " " 132
QUEEN MATILDA RECEIVING THE CONGRATULATIONS OF THE
COURT ON THE BIRTH OF THE CROWN PRINCE FREDERICK.
_From a Contemporary Print_ " " 142
CARLTON HOUSE, PALL MALL, THE RESIDENCE OF THE
PRINCESS-DOWAGER OF WALES. _From a Print, temp.
1765_ " " 156
THE MASKED BALL GIVEN BY CHRISTIAN VII. AT THE OPERA
HOUSE, HAYMARKET. _From the "Gentleman's Magazine,"
1768_ " " 172
THE PALACE OF FREDERIKSBORG, FROM THE GARDEN
TERRACE. _From an Engraving, temp. 1768_ " " 180
WILLIAM HENRY, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, BROTHER OF QUEEN
MATILDA. _From the Painting by H. W. Hamilton, 1771_
" " 190
STRUENSEE. _From an Engraving, 1771_ " " 206
QUEEN SOPHIA MAGDALENA, GRANDMOTHER OF CHRISTIAN
VII. " " 226
AUGUSTA, PRINCESS OF WALES, MOTHER OF QUEEN MATILDA.
_After a Painting by F. B. Vanloo_ " " 244
GEORGE III., BROTHER OF QUEEN MATILDA. _From a
Painting by Allan Ramsay (1767) in the National
Portrait Gallery_ " " 264
THE FREDERIKSBERG PALACE, NEAR COPENHAGEN. _From a
Print, temp. 1770_ " " 282
THE PALACE OF HIRSCHHOLM. _Temp. 1770_ " " 304
TWO RELICS OF QUEEN MATILDA IN THE ROSENBORG CASTLE,
COPENHAGEN. (1) THE INSIGNIA OF THE ORDER OF
MATILDA; (2) THE WEDDING GOBLET " " 330
QUEEN MATILDA AND HER SON, THE CROWN PRINCE OF
DENMARK. _From the Painting at the Rosenborg,
Copenhagen_ " " 348
CHAPTER I.
BIRTH AND PARENTAGE.
1751.
Caroline Matilda, Queen of Denmark and Norway, Princess of Great
Britain and Ireland (a sister of George III.), was born at Leicester
House, London, on Thursday, July 22, 1751. She was the ninth and
youngest child of Frederick Prince of Wales and of his wife Augusta
of Saxe-Gotha, and came into the world a little more than four months
after her father's death. There is a Scandinavian superstition to the
effect that children born fatherless are heirs to misfortune. The life
of this "Queen of Tears" would seem to illustrate its truth.
Caroline Matilda inherited many of her father's qualities, notably his
warm, emotional temperament, his desire to please and his open-handed
liberality. Both in appearance and disposition she resembled her father
much more than her mother. Some account of this Prince is therefore
necessary for a right understanding of his daughter's character, for,
though she was born after his death, the silent forces of heredity
influenced her life.
Frederick Prince of Wales was the elder son of George II. and of his
consort Caroline of Ansbach. He was born in Hanover during the reign of
Queen Anne, when the prospects of his family to succeed to the crown of
England were doubtful, and he did not come to England until he was in
his twenty-second year and his father had reigned two years. He came
against the will of the King and Queen, whose cherished wish was that
their younger son William Duke of Cumberland should succeed to the
English throne, and the elder remain in Hanover. The unkindness with
which Frederick was treated by his father had the effect of driving him
into opposition to the court and the government. He had inherited from
his mother many of the graces that go to captivate the multitude, and
he soon became popular. Every cast-off minister, every discontented
politician, sought the Prince of Wales, and found in him a ready weapon
to harass the government and wound the King. The Prince had undoubted
grievances, such as his restricted allowance and the postponement of
his marriage to a suitable princess. For some years after Frederick's
arrival in England the King managed to evade the question of the
marriage, but at last, owing chiefly to the clamour of the opposition,
he reluctantly arranged a match between the Prince of Wales and
Augusta, daughter of the reigning Duke of Saxe-Gotha.
The bride-elect landed at Greenwich in April, 1736, and, two days
after her arrival, was married to Frederick at the Chapel Royal,
St. James's. The Princess was only seventeen years of age and could
not speak a word of English. She was tall and slender, with an oval
face, regular features, bright, intelligent eyes, and an abundance
of light-brown hair. Frederick's marriage did not make him on better
terms with his parents, and in this family quarrel the Princess, who
soon showed that she possessed more than usual discretion, sided with
her husband. The disputes between the King and the Prince of Wales
culminated in an open act of revolt on the part of the latter, when,
with incredible folly, he carried off his wife, on the point of her
first lying-in, from Hampton Court to St. James's. Half an hour after
her arrival in London the Princess was delivered of a girl child,
Augusta, who later in life became Duchess of Brunswick. The King was
furious at this insubordination, and as soon as the Princess was
sufficiently recovered to be moved, he sent his son a message ordering
him to quit St. James's with all his household. The Prince and Princess
went to Kew, where they had a country house; and for a temporary London
residence (while Carlton House, which the Prince had bought, was being
repaired) they took Norfolk House, St. James's Square.
A few weeks after this rupture the illustrious Queen Caroline died,
to the great grief of the King and the nation. Her death widened the
breach in the royal family, for the King considered that his son's
undutiful conduct had hastened his mother's death. Frederick now
ranged himself in open opposition to the King and the government, and
gathered around him the malcontent politicians, who saw in Walpole's
fall, or Frederick's accession to the throne, their only chance of
rising to power. The following year, 1738, a son and heir (afterwards
George III.) was born to the Prince and Princess of Wales at Norfolk
House. This event strengthened the position of the Prince, especially
as the King's health was reported to be failing.
Frederick removed his household to Leicester House in Leicester Fields.
It was here, eleven years later, that his posthumous daughter Caroline
Matilda was born. Leicester House was built by the Earl of Leicester
in the reign of James I. There was a field before it in those days,
but a square was subsequently built around the field, and Leicester
House occupied the north-east corner of what was then Leicester Fields,
but is now known as Leicester Square. It was a large and spacious
house, with a courtyard in front, and the state rooms were admirably
adapted for receptions and levees, but as a residence it was not so
satisfactory. Frederick chiefly made use of Carlton House and Kew
for his family life, and kept Leicester House for entertaining. His
court there offered a curious parallel to the one his father had held
within the same walls in the reign of George I., when the heir to
the throne was also at variance with the King. Again Leicester House
became the rallying place of the opposition, again its walls echoed
with the sound of music and dance, again there flocked to its
assemblies ladies of beauty and fashion, elegant beaux, brilliant wits,
politicians and pamphleteers. Frederick's intelligence has been much
abused, but he was intelligent enough to gather around him at this time
much of what was best in the social life of the day, and his efforts
were ably seconded by his clever and graceful wife.
[Illustration: LEICESTER HOUSE, WHERE QUEEN MATILDA WAS BORN.]
After the fall of Walpole several of the Prince's friends took office,
and a formal, though by no means cordial, reconciliation was patched
up between the King and the Heir Apparent, but there was always veiled
hostility between them, and from time to time their differences
threatened to become acute. For instance, after the Jacobite rising the
Prince of Wales disapproved of the severities of his brother, the Duke
of Cumberland, "the butcher of Culloden," and showed his displeasure in
no unequivocal manner. When the Jacobite peers were condemned to death
the Prince and Princess interceded for them, in one case with success.
Lady Cromartie, after petitioning the King in vain for her husband's
life, made a personal appeal, as a wife and mother, to the Princess of
Wales, and brought her four children to plead with her as well. The
Princess said nothing, but, with evident emotion, summoned her own
children and placed them beside her. This she followed by praying the
King for Cromartie's life, and her prayer was granted.
After the reconciliation the Prince and Princess of Wales occasionally
attended St. James's, but since the death of Queen Caroline the court
of George II. had lost its brilliancy and become both gross and
dull, in this respect contrasting unfavourably with Leicester House.
Grossness and dulness were characteristic of the courts of our first
two Hanoverian kings, but whatever complaint might be brought against
Leicester House, the society there was far livelier and more refined
than that which assembled at St. James's. The popular grievance against
Leicester House was that it was too French. France was just then very
unpopular in England, and the British public did not like the French
tastes of the Prince of Wales--the masques imitated from Versailles,
the French plays acted by French players and the _petits soupers_. High
play also took place at Leicester House, but the Princess did her best
to discourage this. In the other frivolities which her husband loved
she acquiesced, more for the sake of keeping her influence over him
than because she liked them. Her tastes were simple, and her tendencies
puritanical.
At Kew the Prince and Princess of Wales led a quieter life, and here
the influence of the Princess was in the ascendant. Kew House was an
old-fashioned, low, rambling house, which the Prince had taken on a
long lease from the Capel family. The great beauty of Kew lay in its
extensive garden, which was improved and enlarged by Frederick. He
built there orangeries and hothouses after the fashion of Herrenhausen,
and filled them with exotics. Both Frederick and his wife had a love
of gardening, and often worked with their children in the grounds, and
dug, weeded and planted to their hearts' content. Sometimes they would
compel their guests to lend a hand as well. Bubb Dodington tells how he
went down to Kew on a visit, accompanied by several lords and ladies,
and they were promptly set to work in the garden, probably to their
disgust. Dodington's diary contains the following entries:--
"_1750, February 27._--Worked in the new walk at Kew.
"_1750, February 28._--All of us, men, women and children, worked at
the same place. A cold dinner."[2]
[2] Bubb Dodington's _Diary_, edition 1784.
It was like Frederick's monkeyish humour to make the portly and pompous
Dodington work in his garden; no doubt he hugely enjoyed the sight. The
Prince's amusements were varied, if we may judge from the following
account by Dodington:--
"_1750, June 28._--Lady Middlesex, Lord Bathurst, Mr. Breton and I
waited on their Royal Highnesses to Spitalfields to see the manufactory
of silk, and to Mr. Carr's shop in the morning. In the afternoon the
same company, with Lady Torrington in waiting, went in private coaches
to Norwood Forest to see a settlement of gypsies. We returned and went
to Bettesworth the conjurer, in hackney coaches. Not finding him we
went in search of the little Dutchman, but were disappointed; and
concluded the particularities of this day by supping with Mrs. Cannon,
the Princess's midwife."[3]
[3] Bubb Dodington's _Diary_, edition 1784.
These, it must be admitted, were not very intellectual amusements. On
the other hand it stands to Frederick's credit that he chose as his
personal friends some of the ablest men of the day, and found delight
and recreation in their society. Between him and Bolingbroke there
existed the warmest sympathy. When Bolingbroke came back to England
after Walpole's fall, he renewed his friendship with Frederick,
and often paced with him and the Princess through the gardens and
shrubberies of their favourite Kew, while he waxed eloquent over the
tyranny of the Whig oligarchy, which kept the King in thrall, and
held up before them his ideal of a patriot king. Both the Prince and
Princess listened eagerly to Bolingbroke's theories, and in after
years the Princess instilled them into the mind of her eldest son.
Chesterfield and Sir William Wyndham also came to Kew sometimes, and
here Frederick and Augusta exhibited with just pride their flower-beds
to Pope, who wrote of his patron--
And if yet higher the proud list should end
Still, let me add, no follower, but a friend.
The Prince not only sought the society of men of letters, but made some
attempts at authorship himself. His verse was not very remarkable; the
best perhaps was the poem addressed to the Princess beginning:--
'Tis not the liquid brightness of those eyes,
That swim with pleasure and delight;
Nor those heavenly arches which arise
O'er each of them, to shade their light:
and so on through five stanzas of praise of Augusta's charms, until:
No,--'tis that gentleness of mind, that love
So kindly answering my desire;
That grace with which you look, and speak, and move,
That thus has set my soul on fire.
Perhaps it was of these lines that the Prince once asked Lord Poulett
his opinion. "Sir," replied that astute courtier, "they are worthy of
your Royal Highness."
Notwithstanding his admiration of his wife, Frederick was not faithful
to her. But it may be doubted whether, after his marriage, he indulged
in any serious intrigue, and his flirtations were probably only
tributes offered to the shrine of gallantry after the fashion of the
day. In every other respect he was a good husband. He was also a
devoted father, a kind master to his servants, and a true friend. In
his public life he always professed a love of liberty. To a deputation
of Quakers he once delivered the following answer: "As I am a friend
to liberty in general, and to toleration in particular, I wish you may
meet with all proper favour, but, for myself, I never gave my vote in
parliament, and to influence my friends, or direct my servants, in
theirs, does not become my station. To leave them entirely to their own
consciences and understandings, is a rule I have hitherto prescribed
to myself, and purpose through life to observe." "May it please the
Prince of Wales," rejoined the Quaker at the head of the deputation, "I
am greatly affected with thy excellent notions of liberty, and am more
pleased with the answer thou hast given us, than if thou hadst granted
our request."
Frederick avowed a great love for the country over which he one day
hoped to reign; and, though French in his tastes rather than English,
he did all in his power to encourage the national sentiment. For
instance, it is recorded on one of his birthdays: "There was a very
splendid appearance of the nobility and gentry and their ladies at
Leicester House, and his Royal Highness observing some lords to wear
French stuffs, immediately ordered the Duke of Chandos, his Groom of
the Stole, to acquaint them, and his servants in general, that after
that day he should be greatly displeased to see them appear in any
French manufacture".[4]
[4] _The Annual Register_, January, 1748.
Moreover, he instilled in the minds of his children the loftiest
sentiments of patriotism. In view of the German predilections of
his father and grandfather the training which Frederick gave his
children, especially his eldest son, had much to do in after years
with reconciling the Tory and Jacobite malcontents to the established
dynasty. The wounds occasioned by the rising of 1745 were still
bleeding, but the battle of Culloden had extinguished for ever the
hopes of the Stuarts, and many of their adherents were casting about
for a pretext of acquiescing in the inevitable. These Frederick met
more than half way. He was not born in England (neither was Charles
Edward), but his children were, and he taught them to consider
themselves Englishmen and not Germans, and to love the land of their
birth. His English sentiments appear again and again in his letters and
speeches. They crop up in some verses which he wrote for his children
to recite at their dramatic performances. On one occasion the piece
selected for representation was Addison's play of _Cato_, in which
Prince George, Prince Edward, and the Princesses Augusta and Elizabeth
took part. Frederick wrote a prologue and an epilogue; the prologue was
spoken by Prince George. After a panegyric on liberty the future King
went on to say:--
Should this superior to my years be thought,
Know--'tis the first great lesson I was taught.
What! though a boy! it may with pride be said
A boy--in England born, in England bred;
Where freedom well becomes the earliest state,
For there the laws of liberty innate--etc., etc.
There came an echo of this early teaching years later when George III.
wrote into the text of his first speech to parliament the memorable
words: "Born and educated in this country, I glory in the name of
Briton".
In the epilogue spoken by Prince Edward similar sentiments were
expressed:--
In England born, my inclination,
Like yours, is wedded to this nation:
And future times, I hope, will see
Me General in reality.[5]
Indeed, I wish to serve this land,
It is my father's strict command;
And none he ever gave shall be
More cheerfully obeyed by me.
[5] Prince Edward, Duke of York, became a Vice-Admiral of the Blue.
We get many pleasant glimpses, in contemporary letters and memoirs,
of the domestic felicity of the royal household at Kew and Leicester
House; of games of baseball and "push pin," with the children in
the winter, of gardening and cricket in the summer, and of little
plays, sometimes composed by the Prince, staged by the Princess and
acted by their sons and daughters all the year round. "The Prince's
family," Lady Hervey writes, "is an example of innocent and cheerful
amusement,"[6] and her testimony is corroborated on all sides.
[6] Lady Hervey's _Letters_.
Frederick Prince of Wales died suddenly on March 20, 1751, to the
great grief of his wife and children, and the consternation of his
political adherents. The Prince had been suffering from a chill, but
no one thought that there was any danger. On the eighth day of his
illness, in the evening, he was sitting up in bed, listening to the
performance of Desnoyers, the violinist, when he was seized with a
violent fit of coughing. He put his hand upon his heart and cried,
"_Je sens la mort!_" The Princess, who was in the room, flew to her
husband's assistance, but before she could reach his side he was dead.
Later it was shown that the immediate cause of death was the breaking
of an abscess in his side, which had been caused by a blow from a
cricket ball a few weeks before. Cricket had been recently introduced
into England, and Frederick was one of the first to encourage the game,
which soon became national. He often played in matches at Cliveden and
Kew.
No Prince has been more maligned than Frederick Prince of Wales, and
none on less foundation. He opposed Walpole and the Whig domination,
and therefore the Whig pamphleteers of the time, and Whig historians
since, have poured on him the vials of their wrath, and contemptuously
dismissed him as half fool and half rogue. But the utmost that can
be proved against him is that he was frivolous, and unduly fond of
gambling and gallantry. These failings were common to the age, and in
his case they were largely due to his neglected youth. Badly educated,
disliked by his parents, to whom he grew up almost a stranger, and
surrounded from the day of his arrival in England by malcontents,
parasites and flatterers, it would have needed a much stronger man
than Frederick to resist the evil influences around him. His public
utterances, and there is no real ground for doubting their sincerity,
go to show that he was a prince of liberal and enlightened views, a
friend of peace and a lover of England. It is probable that, had he
been spared to ascend the throne, he would have made a better king than
either his father or grandfather. It is possible that he would have
made a better king than his son, for, though he was by no means so
good a man, he was more pliant, more tolerant, and far less obstinate.
Speculation is idle in such matters, but it is unlikely, if Frederick
had been on the throne instead of George III., that he would have
encouraged the policy which lost us our American colonies. Dying when
he did, all that can be said of Frederick politically is that he never
had a fair chance. Keeping the mean between two extreme parties in
the state he was made the butt of both, but the fact remains that he
attracted to his side some of the ablest among the moderate men who
cared little for party and much for the state. Certainly nothing in his
life justified the bitter Jacobite epigram circulated shortly after his
death:--
Here lies Fred,
Who was alive, and is dead,
Had it been his father,
I had much rather;
Had it been his brother,
Still better than another;
Had it been his sister,
No one would have missed her;
Had it been the whole generation,
So much better for the nation;
But since 'tis only Fred,
Who was alive, and is dead,
There's no more to be said.
George II. was playing cards when the news of his son's death was
brought to him. He turned very pale and said nothing for a minute; then
he rose, whispered to Lady Yarmouth, "_Fritz ist todt_," and quitted
the room. But he sent that same night a message of condolence to the
bereaved widow.
[Illustration: FREDERICK, PRINCE OF WALES, FATHER OF QUEEN MATILDA.
_From the Painting by J. B. Vanloo at Warwick Castle, by permission of
the Earl of Warwick._]
The death of her husband was a great blow to Augusta Princess of
Wales. Suddenly deprived of the prospect of becoming Queen of England,
she found herself, at the age of thirty-two, left a widow with eight
young children and expecting shortly to give birth to another. Her
situation excited great commiseration, and among the people the dead
Prince was generally regretted, for despite his follies he was known to
be kindly and humane. Elegies were cried about the streets, and very
common exclamations were: "Oh, that it were his brother!" "Oh, that
it were the Butcher!" Still it cannot be pretended that Frederick was
deeply mourned. A conversation was overheard between two workmen, who
were putting up the hatchment over the gate at Leicester House, which
fairly voiced the popular sentiment: "He has left a great many small
children," said one. "Aye," replied the other, "and what is worse, they
belong to our parish."
Contrary to expectation the King behaved with great kindness to his
daughter-in-law, and a few days after her bereavement paid her a visit
in person. He refused the chair of state placed for him, seated himself
on the sofa beside the Princess, and at the sight of her sorrow was
so much moved as to shed tears. When the Princess Augusta, his eldest
granddaughter, came forward to kiss his hand, he took her in his arms
and embraced her. To his grandsons the King said: "Be brave boys, be
obedient to your mother, and endeavour to do credit to the high station
in which you are born". He who had never acted the tender father
delighted in playing "the tender grandfather".[7]
[7] _Vide_ Horace Walpole's _Reign of George II._
A month after his father's death Prince George was created Prince
of Wales and Earl of Chester, but the young Prince, though always
respectful, never entertained any affectionate feelings for his
grandfather. This may have been due, in part, to the unforgiving spirit
with which the old King followed his son even to the tomb. Frederick's
funeral was shorn of almost every circumstance of state. No princes
of the blood and no important members of the government attended, and
he was buried in Westminster Abbey "without either anthem or organ".
Of the few faithful friends who attended the last rites, Dodington
writes: "There was not the attention to order the board of green cloth
to provide them a bit of bread; and these gentlemen of the first rank
and distinction, in discharge of their last sad duty to a loved, and
loving, master, were forced to bespeak a great, cold dinner from a
common tavern in the neighbourhood; at three o'clock, indeed, they
vouchsafed to think of a dinner and ordered one, but the disgrace was
complete--the tavern dinner was paid for and given to the poor".[8]
[8] Dodington's _Diary_, April 13, O.S., 1751, edition 1784.
Some five months after Frederick's death his widow gave birth to a
princess, the subject of this book. Dodington thus records the event,
which, except in the _London Gazette_, was barely noticed by the
journals of the day:--
"On Wednesday, the Princess walked in Carlton Gardens, supped and went
to bed very well; she was taken ill about six o'clock on Thursday
morning, and about eight was delivered of a Princess. Both well."[9]
[9] Dodington's _Diary_, July 13, O.S., 1751, edition 1784.
The advent of this daughter was hardly an occasion for rejoicing. Apart
from the melancholy circumstances of her birth, her widowed mother
had already a young and numerous family,[10] several of whom were far
from strong, and all, with the exception of her eldest son, the heir
presumptive to the throne, unprovided for.
[10] Table. See next page.
Eleven days after her birth the Princess was baptised at Leicester
House by Dr. Hayter, Bishop of Norwich, and given the names of Caroline
Matilda, the first being after her grandmother, the second harking
back to our Norman queens. Except in official documents she was always
known by the latter name, and it is the one therefore that will be
used in speaking of her throughout this book. The infant had three
sponsors, her aunt the Princess Caroline (represented by proxy), her
eldest sister the Princess Augusta, and her eldest brother the Prince
of Wales. In the case of the godfather the sponsorship was no mere
form, for George III. stood in the light of guardian to his sister all
through her life.
TABLE SHOWING THE CHILDREN OF FREDERICK AND AUGUSTA, PRINCE AND
PRINCESS OF WALES, AND ALSO THE DESCENT OF HIS MAJESTY KING
EDWARD VII. FROM FREDERICK PRINCE OF WALES.
Frederick Prince of Wales = Augusta of Saxe-Gotha
(son of George II. and | (daughter of Frederick II.
Caroline of Ansbach). | Duke of Saxe-Gotha).
|
+---------------------------------+
|
+--Augusta, b. 1737, d. 1813, m. Charles William Duke of Brunswick,
| and had issue among others
| |
| Caroline, Consort of George IV., who had issue
| |
| Princess Charlotte, d. in childbirth, 1817.
|
+--George III., b. 1738, d. 1820, m. Charlotte Princess of
| Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and had issue among others
| |
| Edward Duke of Kent
| |
| Queen Victoria
| |
| King Edward VII.
|
+--Edward Duke of York, b. 1738, d. 1767, unmarried.
|
+--Elizabeth, b. 1739, d. 1759, unmarried.
|
+--William Henry Duke of Gloucester, b. 1743, d. 1805, m. Maria
| Countess Dowager Waldegrave, illegitimate dau. of Sir Edward
| Walpole, and had issue among others
| |
| William Frederick Duke of Gloucester, m. Mary, dau. of George
| III., no issue.
|
+--Henry Frederick Duke of Cumberland b. 1745, d. 1790, m. Anne,
| dau. of Lord Irnham, afterwards Earl of Carlhampton, and widow
| of Andrew Horton, no issue.
|
+--Louisa Anne, b. 1748, d. 1768, unmarried.
|
+--Frederick William, b. 1750, d. 1765, unmarried.
|
+--CAROLINE MATILDA, b. July 11, 1751, m. 1766, Christian VII., King
of Denmark, d. 1775, and had issue
|
Frederick VI., King of Denmark, d. 1839, and
Louise Augusta, Duchess of Augustenburg, d. 1843.