It was arranged that the Princess of Wales and her daughter should meet at Brunswick, and the ducal court made great preparations to receive the exalted guests worthily, but at the moment when the King and Queen of Denmark were expected, the grand marshal arrived with news that Queen Matilda was unwell and unable to travel. I can hardly think that her illness was of a very serious nature, or lasted any length of time. The court usually played cards at Traventhal till midnight, and were out riding by five in the morning, for the days seemed too short for pleasure. However this might be, the Princess of Wales would not be disappointed, and proposed a second meeting at Lüneburg, a town much nearer Denmark than Brunswick was. The King and Queen of Denmark arrived, their suite only consisting of Struensee and Warnstedt, who were seated in the carriage with them. They arrived late and tired; when the princess addressed her daughter in English, a language which Struensee did not understand, the queen pretended to have forgotten it. The conversation was cold and constrained; they retired to bed at an early hour, met again at eleven A.M., and parted again in the afternoon. Caroline Matilda did the civil thing by asking her mother and brother to pay a visit to Copenhagen, which was declined politely, and they never met again.[118] Horace Walpole, who reminds me greatly of Father Holt, in "Esmond," who wished to be supposed omniscient, but was every now and then detected in some jumbling details which destroyed his claim to authenticity, describes the interview between mother and daughter with as much circumstantiality as if he had been present. He says, that when the princess lamented the fall of Bernstorff, the old servant of the family, the Queen of Denmark said, "Pray, madam, allow me to govern my kingdom as I please." Unfortunately for the story, Bernstorff had not yet been overthrown. However, I dare say that some conversation did take place about the premier, and that Caroline Matilda showed her hand too openly.