Dynastic and diplomatic considerations played a central role in the choice of a husband or wife. The hope was that Caroline Matilda’s marriage would strengthen the relationship between England and Denmark. The king of England was keen to secure English Baltic Sea trade and maintain good relations with the country that bordered his Hanoverian homeland. There was also an expectation that the royal couple would produce an heir as soon as possible.
Caroline Matilda was well educated and spoke three languages – French, English and German. She did not get a say in her own destiny, however. It was always male guardians – her father or her brother – who decided the course her life would take.
Jean-Étienne Liotard
Pastel, 1754
Reproduction
Original: Royal Collection Trust (RCIN 400899)
Catherine Reed (attributed)
Pastel on paper, around 1764
Reproduction
Original: Royal Collection Trust /© King Charles III 2022 (RCIN 400904)
Mezzotint by J. Watsons
Based on a pastel portrait by Francis Cotes, 1766
Bomann Museum Celle
BGR 00773
Mezzotint by J.S. Negges, based on Francis Cotes
Bomann Museum Celle
BGR 00731
Johan Gotfred Bradt
Copperplate engraving based on a drawing by Nicolas-Henri Jardin, 1768
Bomann Museum Celle
V00778
F. Fortling
Lithograph, around 1770
Bomann Museum Celle
BGR00729
Bone, metal, silk, paper, 18th century
S.K.H. Ernst August, Hereditary Prince of Hanover
Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg
0767
Watercolour and gouache on ivory, around 1765
Bomann Museum Celle
Inv. no.: BM01224
Caroline Matilda is depicted as a water nymph, a popular motif designed to emphasise the erotic charms of a young princess. The miniature may have been produced for use in the marriage negotiations.
Johann Hendrik Wolff
Silver, 1766
Bomann Museum Celle
V00807
This medal commemorates the marriage that took place on 8 November 1766. There are bust portraits of the bridal couple on the front. The queen is wearing a tiara in her hair, the king a laurel wreath. Numerous copies of the medal were made, 20 in gold and 281 in silver.
Silver, 1768
Bomann Museum Celle
V01168
On the front we see the royal couple, on the back the figure of Aeternitas, the personification of eternity.
Silk satin, leather, 18th century (?)
S.K.H. Ernst August, Hereditary Prince of Hanover
Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg
1052
During the 19th century, these shoes “from the estate of Caroline Matilda” were passed to Caroline Hurtzig (1798-1869), daughter of the Celle chancery clerk Heinrich Philip Hurtzig, and then to the Welf Royal Family Museum.