Caroline Matilda hoped to be able to return to England with her children after the divorce. As a result of pressure from her brother, the king of England, she was ultimately allowed to leave Denmark. However, George III decreed that she was to live in the Electorate of Hanover, at Celle Castle, which had been unoccupied since 1705.
Upon her arrival in Celle, the Danish queen and her new Hanoverian court received an enthusiastic reception. The people of Celle hoped that the renewed presence of a court would bring economic prosperity to the area. Ostensibly, Caroline Matilda embraced her new life in Celle, but she did suffer from deep anxiety about her two children, who she had been forced to leave behind in Denmark. Just two and a half years later she died of an infectious disease and was buried in the ducal crypt at the church of St. Marien.
After her death, the combination of personal and political drama that had marked Caroline Matilda’s short life – she died at just 23 – inspired numerous legends, novels and films.