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.