On October 20, the queen made her entrance into Celle, and took up her abode in the royal château. This old residence of the former Dukes of Lüneburg was at this time a fortified castle surrounded by moats and walls. Although the apartments were spacious and habitable, and well furnished, the exterior of the castle resembled a prison rather than a palace. But the queen soon gained the hearts of all the inhabitants by her amiability and resignation, and thus converted the unfriendly asylum into an abode of peace and consolation. She frequently attended at church, was fond of conversing on religious topics, and gave rich gifts to the poor, both with her own hands and through the clergy of the town. Treating all gracefully who approached her presence, she more especially gave children an opportunity of telling their parents, with delight, that they had been spoken to by the queen. If, at night, she fancied she had not been so friendly as usual to any one during the day, she reproached herself for it. Judging all persons indulgently, she could not endure that absent persons should be harshly condemned in her presence, and, in truth, she ruled her court, not alone by her rank, but even more through the lovingness of her noble heart. But, whenever she was obliged to act the queen, she did so, on the other hand, with a dignified demeanour and with majesty. Although Caroline Matilda excelled in all the exercises befitting her sex, birth, and station, and danced the first minuet in the Danish court, she never again indulged in this polite amusement, of which she had been extremely fond, after the masked ball the conclusion of which had been so fatal and disgraceful to her Majesty. As one of her pretended crimes had been the delight she took in riding, and the uncommon address and spirit with which she managed her horse, she also renounced this innocent recreation, for fear of giving the least occasion to the blame and malice of the censorious and the ignorant. Her Majesty had an exquisite taste for music, and devoted much of her time to the harpsichord, accompanied by the melodious voice of a lady of her court.