LIFE AND TIMES OF HER MAJESTY CAROLINE MATILDA. LIFE AND TIMES OF HER MAJESTY CAROLINE MATILDA, QUEEN OF DENMARK AND NORWAY, AND SISTER OF H. M. GEORGE III. OF ENGLAND, FROM FAMILY DOCUMENTS AND PRIVATE STATE ARCHIVES. BY SIR C. F. LASCELLES WRAXALL, BART. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: WM. H. ALLEN & CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE, S.W. 1864. [_All Rights reserved._] LEWIS AND SON, PRINTERS, SWAN BUILDINGS, MOORGATE STREET. TO HIS MAJESTY CHRISTIAN THE NINTH, KING OF DENMARK. INTRODUCTION. If there be a story which may be supposed to be thoroughly familiar to the reading public, it is surely that of the Queen of Denmark, who is believed to have loved not wisely but too well. The fate of Struensee has supplied the motive for countless works more or less historical, for novels, and even for an opera. Hence it might reasonably be assumed that the man who ventured on intruding on the English public another work on such a thoroughly worn-out topic, must be either very impudent or very foolish; and yet I have ventured to do so through neither of these failings, but for reasons which have been duly weighed, and which appear to my mind to convey their justification. The first of these motives is, that within a very recent period a perfectly new light has been thrown on the whole affair, by permission being granted to examine the privy archives of Copenhagen. From these I have been enabled to derive the hitherto unpublished documents and reports of the judges, and thus prove on what worthless evidence the divorce of the queen was passed. At the same time, a great deal of fresh matter has been rendered available about the two unhappy men who fell victims to a mistaken sense of justice. The late King of Denmark, who wisely thought that publicity was the best safeguard of thrones, also allowed the "Mémoires de mon Temps" of the Landgrave Charles of Hesse Cassel, brother-in-law of Christian VII., to be printed for private circulation. I have been enabled to procure a copy of this work through the kindness of Baron von JENSSEN TUSCH, who obtained it from the Prince of Augustenburg; and the many curious details of the Court of Denmark it contains have been woven largely into my text. Another work which has afforded me very material assistance is the "Memoirs of Reverdil, Secretary to Christian VII.," which appeared two or three years ago, but is little known in this country.