Life and Times of Her Majesty Caroline Matilda, Vol. 2 (of 3): Queen of Denmark and Norway, and Sister of H. M. George III. of EnglandWraxall, Lascelles, Sir
History
Life and Times of Her Majesty Caroline Matilda, Vol. 2 (of 3): Queen of Denmark and Norway, and Sister of H. M. George III. of England
Wraxall, Lascelles, Sir
Caroline Mathilde, Queen, consort of Christian VII, King of Denmark, 1751-1775; Denmark -- History -- Christian VII, 1766-1808
Among the charges brought against her Majesty, is the sanctity of
the duties imposed on her by her marriage with her royal husband: it
has been stated that the king's bed must remain unsullied, that his
own honour, and the honour and prosperity of the country, require
this. But these truths are so far from affecting the queen, that she
demands the strictest investigation ere she can believe that she has
acted contrariwise. The more important the duties she had to perform,
the more fearful are the consequences of any infraction of them,
and the more familiar the two parties were, the clearer must be the
evidence that her Majesty has really committed a fault. We may first
ask in which manner the honour of the king and his family will be best
promoted? By proving the queen guilty, or must it not be sought in her
innocence? Has her Majesty, perchance, never known and fulfilled what
she owed to herself, her husband, and his people; or will it not rather
be allowed that from the period when her accusation begins, she proved
herself a tender mother, an affectionate wife, and a worthy queen?
Can it be credited that her Majesty should so easily have forgotten
herself? And can she, who at that day sought her delight in modesty,
virtue, and the veneration and affection of the king and the country,
have banished all noble feelings from her heart in a single moment?
Advocate Bang produces, in the king's name, three varieties of
proofs against the queen: Count Struensee's statement, her Majesty's
confession, and, as he knew that neither was sufficient, the evidence
of witnesses.
Assuredly, Count Struensee, on February 17 and 25, as the documents
prove, made a statement of a most insulting nature to her Majesty. But
that he forgot the reverence due to the queen, that either through
unfounded alarm, confusion of mind, or the hope of saving himself, if
he could cause the queen to be regarded as interested in his affair,
or for other reasons he has made absurd allegations, can only injure
himself. For what belief can be given to the assurance that he, if
the queen thought him worthy of her confidence, should have been so
daring as to misuse it in so extreme a way, and that her Majesty should
have tolerated it? The honour of a private person, much more that of
a queen, could not be affected by it. And how improbable it is, that
such a thing should have gone on for two whole years at court, under
the eyes of the king, and in the presence of so many spies? They
are accusations made by a prisoner not on his oath, and are utterly
destitute of probability.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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