With a royal household and a court of over 50 people, Caroline Matilda lived in accordance with her rank as queen. She often held “open tables” at court, where selected guests were allowed to watch the meal, and she had tents erected on the ramparts of the castle for little tea ceremonies.
The queen was at the centre of social life among the town’s aristocracy, which included the Celle town commander (governor) Prince Ernst of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Within Caroline Matilda’s circle, her closest confidantes were her former Chief Court Mistress from Copenhagen, Louise von Plessen, and her sister Augusta.
Her greatest concern was for her children, particularly the crown prince.
King of Great Britain and Ireland and Elector of Hanover
Painted after a work by Johann Zoffany, 1771
Oil on canvas, around 1775
Bomann Museum Celle / Stadt Celle
BM01255/ST
George intervened when his sister was to be sent to the remote castle of Aalborg in northern Jutland and proposed that she take up residence at Celle Castle instead. He and Caroline Matilda kept up a close correspondence until her death.
Oil on canvas, around 1775
Bomann Museum Celle
BM00130
The brother of the English queen Charlotte – the wife of George III – joined the army of the Electorate of Hanover as a young man. By 1762 he was commander of the infantry regiment stationed in Celle, and also governor of the town. In the gardens of the palace he built, a memorial stone which he laid in honour of his sister-in-law Caroline Matilda survives to this day.
Paper, ink, 11.08.1773
Bomann Museum Celle
0021358
In this letter, a landowner (?) from Bodenwerder (around 60 km south of Hanover) writes to the secretary of the Agricultural Society founded in Celle in 1763. He praises the quality of his fruit and asks the secretary to put him in contact with someone at Caroline Matilda’s court because he hopes to supply apples and dried fruits to the queen’s kitchen.
Printed silk, 1772
Bomann Museum Celle
TA03924, TA03925
Caroline Matilda received a hopeful welcome when she entered Celle. The people wore vivat bands with her monogram and the royal crown. Their dedications bear witness to the great joy that the arrival of a queen meant for the townspeople.
The texts read:
‘All of Zelle rejoices, the citizens sing: Hail to the Queen, who brings happiness and blessing!’
‘He who carries no withered sap in German veins, Whose heart still beats to the old test, He swears on George's shield: Long live Carolin, Mathilde!’
A few years after Caroline Matilda's death, the Regional Representation and the Knighthood of the former Electorate of Lüneburg commissioned a monument from the renowned sculptor and painter Adam Friedrich Oeser. It was intended for one of the queen's favourite places, the French Garden, where it was erected in 1784. The allegorical depiction shows the portrait of the queen on a decorated urn. The female figures symbolise the queen's innocence and the Hanoverian people's love for her.
Carl Daniel Voigts
Watercolour and gouache on ivory, 1773
Reproduction
© Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2024 | Royal Collection Trust (RCIN 420621)
(as Caroline Matilda with Crown Prince Frederick)
This miniature was produced during Caroline Matilda’s time in Celle. It is likely, therefore, that the child depicted here is Sophie von Bennigsen (1769–1850). The queen took on the little girl (the daughter of a widowed officer named Levin August von Bennigsen) as a foster child, and paid for her upkeep out of her own funds.
Carl Daniel Voigts
Watercolour and gouache on ivory, 1773
Bomann Museum Celle
BM00454
The Brunswick-born copperplate engraver and portrait painter Voigts worked in Celle between 1773 and 1777, during which time he painted several miniatures of the queen. The medallion shows a different section of the rectangular portrait with the upper body turned to the left. The queen’s head, hair ornaments and unusual choker necklace are almost identical in both depictions.
Paper, print, leather binding
Lüneburg, 1767
Landschaft des vormaligen Fürstentums Lüneburg (Regional representation of the former Electorate of Lüneburg)
0024506
According to an old entry, Caroline Matilda used this book in 1772 during her stay at Göhrde. On a page added in the 19th century, we find a handwritten entry to this effect.
‘Her Majesty, Queen Caroline Matilda of Denmark, marked with her own hand those verses of this book that gave her particular comfort and hope. The beautiful passages noted are a telling proof of the piety of the misjudged queen - may they also be regarded here by everyone as proof of her innocence!’