The new suite of the queen was composed of a grand lady, two ladies-in-waiting, one chief chamberlain, a chamberlain, one page of the bed-chamber, two pages and a number of servants. After remaining for two days at Stade, she travelled with her suite, viâ Harburg, to the Château of Göhrde, thirty miles from Stade, where she intended to remain till the palace at Celle was restored for her reception. At Göhrde, Sir R. Keith took leave of her, and she received a visit from her eldest sister, the Hereditary Princess of Brunswick Wolfenbüttel and her husband.[43] These near relations, however, also belonged to the princely family from which Juliana Maria was descended, and in consequence, were rather suspicious friends for Caroline Matilda.

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.

There was in the queen's dress a noble simplicity which exhibited more taste than magnificence. As her mind had been cultivated by reading the most eminent writers of modern times, she read regularly for two hours before dinner with Fräulein Schülenburg, whatever her Majesty thought most conducive to her instruction or entertainment, in poetry and history, the ladies communicating their observations to each other with equal freedom and ingenuity. The queen improved the knowledge she had acquired of the German language, and had a selection of the best authors of that learned nation. As her manners were the most polished, graceful, and endearing, her court became the resort of persons of both sexes, celebrated for their love of the fine arts. The contracted state of her finances could not restrain the princely magnificence and liberal disposition which made her purse ever open to indigent merit and distressed virtue. Naturally cheerful and happy in the consciousness of her innocence, adored and revered by the circle of a court free from cabals and intrigues, even the dark cloud of adversity could not alter the sweetness and serenity of her temper. She was surrounded by faithful servants, who attended her, not from sordid motives of ambition, but from attachment and unfeigned regard.

Peace, content, and harmony dwelt under her Majesty's auspices, and her household was like a well-regulated family, superintended by a mistress who made her happiness consist in doing good to all those who implored her Majesty's compassion and benevolence. Banished with every circumstance of indignity from the throne of Denmark, her noble soul retained no sentiment of revenge or resentment against the wicked authors of her fall, or against the Danish people. Ambition, a passion from which she was singularly exempt, never disturbed her peace of mind; and she looked back to the diadem which had been torn from her brow with wondrous calmness and magnanimity.

It was not the crown Caroline Matilda regretted, for her children alone occupied all her care and solicitude; the feelings of the queen were absorbed in those of the mother; and if she ever manifested by tears her inward grief and perplexity, maternal fondness caused all these fears and agitations.[44]

In October of this year Sir R. Keith was requested by Lord Suffolk to visit Caroline Matilda, and send in a minute account of her position and feelings. How well the ambassador performed his task will be seen from his letter.

SIR R. M. KEITH TO LORD SUFFOLK.
Zell, November 2, 1772.

MY LORD,—

I arrived here on the 31st October, late in the evening, and the next day had the honour of delivering the king's letter to her Danish Majesty, whom I found in perfect health, and without any remains of pain from her late accident. In two very long audiences, which her Majesty was pleased to grant me, I endeavoured to execute, with the utmost punctuality, his Majesty's command, and shall now lay before your lordship all the lights those audiences afforded me, relative to the queen's wishes and intentions. I cannot enter upon that subject without previously assuring your lordship that the queen received those repeated proofs of his Majesty's fraternal affection and friendship, which my orders contained, with the warmest expressions of gratitude and sensibility; and that nothing could be more frank or explicit than her answers to a great number of questions, which she permitted me to ask upon any subject that arose.