Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-12-03
GEORGEIII'S SISTER
Caroline Matilda OF Denmark, Whose
<sSad Fate Was Repetition Of that of
Her Great-Grandmother,
Sophia Dorothea, Wife OF the Elector
or Hanover, Who Was Afterward
George l OF England.


to become the wife OF q continental prince says
The Cincinnati Gozets, and few years later
TO be thrown into prison, her guilt would
need TO be very heinous and very clear 10
prevent the most vigorous action on the part
of the British ministry. Were the cabinet
slow in acting, popular excitement would
stimulate their zeal. Should the Queen
choose for that daughters husband king
or grand duke who wss known TO have exc
cuted his frat wife, a still greater manifesto
ton of popular indignation would be made.
Yet, within little more than a century the
parallels OF both these supposed cases oc-
cnrred, and the m asses Of the English peo-
pie knew or thought little about them.
A book, now rare, though sometimes TO be
found at auction sales, is the English trans
lation of the report OF the CD aplain who at
tended Counts Slruensee and Brandt before
their execution, and that gossiping charsc-
ter, Sir r. w. Wraxall, has furnished
further facts in regard to the tragedy. Other
materials have recently come TO light, and
the whole story Of the unfortunate Caroline
Matilda of Denmark is we'll told in the
October number of the Westminster Review.
She was the sister of Gsorge III of England,
and was married when only sixteen, TO
Christian VII OF Denmark. He was a little
Older, but fearful debauchee, soon quit
ting the society OF his young wife for women
OF the lowest character. Nor was this
enough. He left home and visited the chief
czpfrai--~<-Enrope, where he INDUCED in
the grossest excuses. for his
eonfdant Struensee, originally a physiris.e-
and man OF SNOWY talents, utterly lacking
in principle aud irfeligious in the extreme.
Slruensee was abhorred by the Danes, but
gained the entire confidence of fee King,
and, .unhappily, also of the Queen. He was
raised to the highest authority, and, as
prime minister, made many innovations,
some good and some bad. The Queen made
him the confdsnt of her SORROWS and wrongs,
and, it is 10 be feared, suffered their intima-
cy TO go beyond the lines of propriety. She
had abundant provacstion on the part of
her husband, and of this Struensee is be-
lIeved to have taken INSCRIPTIONS advantage.
IheIr conduct aroused suspicion and indig-
nation. A cabal was arranged headed by
the queen mother and former associate of
Strueusae, the Kings jealousy was excited,
and Struensee and his most intimate friend
Brandt, were arrested aud condemned to
death. Both became very penitent.
Struensee abandoned the blatant ma
teriaiIsm of winch he had been
proud, and went iremblingfy 10.
the scsffold. Brandps courage did not de-
sert him. Caroline was condemned TO inn
prisonment in the Castle of Ahldep, where
she died 10 a few years. Her royal brothers
threats to King Christian perhaps saved her
from sharing the fate of her alleged para
mour, and procured for her better treatment
in prison than she would otherwise have
been allotted. Yet, in our own day popular
sentiment would have emphasized the far
greater delinquencies of her husband, and
demanded her restoration to liberty, though
perhaps not 10 society.
Her late was curious repetition of that
of her great-grsudmother Sophia Dorothea,
wife of the elector, who was afterward
George / Of England. She firted-perhaps
went further-with Count Konigsmarck, a
notorious woman killer. Her husband had
him assassiuated and his body burned. She
was then put into confinement, where she re-
maiued Tor many years until her death.
1t would seem that examples like these
would have been enough TO render George
III careful in the marriage of his daughters
He doubtless intended to be, for most of his
daughters died single, unless, as has been
claimed, several of them made private and
irregular matches with subjects. Still, in
1877, he married the princess royal, then
about twenty TO Prince Frede rick,
afterward king Of Wuertemberg, who was
fourteen years her senior. This was done in
spite OF the current report that he had
played the part of Blue Beard TO his fret
wife. The story, with some disguise of names
is told In Thackeray,s Barry London There
"Prince Victor" of an unnamed German
principally, having discovered that his wife
was too fond of courier, sends for
the public executioner OF s rssburg. On
his arrival be forces him TO behead
his guilty wife, who has become insane in the
prison into which he has cast her, after hav-
ing poisoned her supposed accomplic.. A
century ago German potentates could do
very much as they pleased, but one would
think that fond father would shrink from
intrusting his daughter to the whims of 20
merciless husband as Frederick wal re-
ported to be. The match could not be made
now. Parliament would not only refuse to
grant q marriage settlement, but the whole
English nation would unite in indignant
protest.
Old scandals, such as those we have de-
tcribed, may not be healthful subjects of
study in themselves, but they are useful in
other ways. They show clearly that what
ever may be the sins of our own day, the
responsibility once claimed by dignitaries
and conceded 10 them exists no longer. So
cieiy may not demand positive virtue. but it
frowns at gross wickedness and positive
criminality, and its displeasure is feared by
those who once deemed themselves above all
law