SIR ROBERT MURRAY KEITH, K.C.B.

Unfortunately, there exists no account of the first interview at Kronborg between Queen Matilda and Keith; the despatches which the English envoy wrote home at this time have all been destroyed. But we can imagine what it must have been. In the days when Struensee was in the ascendant, the young Queen was hardly permitted to see her brother’s representative—much less to have any conversation with him. She was taught to look on him rather as an enemy than a friend, and an enemy he undoubtedly was to Struensee and his administration. But, freed from that baneful influence, she realised that the Englishman was her only friend, and, if help came at all, it must come from England, her native land, which, in the days of her brief madness, she had forgotten. Now she clung to Keith as her friend and champion; she placed herself unreservedly in his hands; she spoke to him quite freely, and besought him to save her from the malice of her enemies. But it needed neither her tears nor her prayers to urge this brave soldier to fight for his King’s sister; indeed, in her defence he was more zealous than the King himself. He sent home a copy of the sentence against the Queen, and a full account of her trial, pointing out its obvious unfairness, the suborned and perjured nature of the evidence, and the way the Queen’s so-called confession had been extorted from her under false pretences. It is said that George III. had these papers submitted to some of the first law officers of the crown, and they reported that the evidence was insufficient to prove the Queen guilty, and, even where it might be believed, it was only of a presumptive and inconclusive nature. On the strength of this report George III. determined to give his sister the benefit of the doubt. Moved by the despatches in which Keith eloquently portrayed the young Queen’s privations and sufferings and the danger to which she was exposed from the fury and malice of her enemies, George III. sent instructions to his envoy to peremptorily demand that Matilda should be set at liberty forthwith, and handed over to his keeping.

On receipt of this despatch Keith lost no time in acquainting the Danish Government with its contents; but the Queen-Dowager and her adherents demurred. Every preparation had been made to remove the unfortunate young Queen to Aalborg—a lonely fortress on the extreme edge of Jutland, and to keep her there in perpetual imprisonment. And to Aalborg, they informed Keith, she would shortly be conducted. Matilda had a presentiment that if she once went to Aalborg she would never leave it alive. The only link that bound her to Denmark was her children; apart from them, she had nothing there, and her one wish was to leave it for ever, and return to the country which gave her birth. But, though Keith stormed and protested, the Danish Government showed no signs of yielding. Perhaps they trusted to the alleged lukewarmness of the King of England, and believed that he would not force matters to extremities. Keith wrote home a strongly worded despatch, saying that it was absolutely necessary for the English Government to take prompt and vigorous measures if this daughter of England were to be set free. He also pointed out the bad effect it would have upon British influence in Europe if, at such a moment, England did not show herself as good as her word. On receipt of this despatch, George III. no longer hesitated and took the vigorous measures he ought to have taken long before; his own honour and the honour of England alike demanded that the Queen should not be abandoned to her fate. He commanded Keith to inform the Danish Government that, unless they at once agreed to deliver the Queen to his keeping, the English minister would present his letters of recall, a state of war would be declared between England and Denmark, and a fleet would be despatched to bombard Copenhagen. And, in order to follow up his words with action, orders were sent to the Admiralty for the fitting out of a strong fleet, and though no directions were given as to where it was to sail, it was universally thought to be destined for Denmark. The Danish envoy in London thought so too, for he wrote to Copenhagen in great alarm. He said that the King of England was really roused at last, he referred to his well-known obstinacy, and urged the Danish Government to yield to his demands.

In England the fate of the Queen of Denmark, which for so many months had hung in the balance, was followed with close attention, and when rumours came of the fitting out of the fleet, the public excitement was wrought to the highest pitch. The Opposition, which had first championed the cause of Matilda with more zeal than discretion, now turned against her, and denounced the Government in the strongest terms for bringing about a war between two friendly nations for a worthless woman. The vilest pamphlets suddenly flooded the streets. To quote a journal of the day: “Yesterday, in some parts of the city, men were crying about printed papers, containing the most scandalous rumours, and impudent reflections on the Queen of Denmark. The worst prostitute that ever Covent Garden produced could not have had more gross abuse bestowed on her.”[63]

[63] General Evening Post, April 30, 1772.

Fortunately, for all concerned, the crisis was averted. When Keith, on receipt of the King of England’s orders, presented himself at the Christiansborg Palace and delivered his ultimatum, panic struck the hearts of the Queen-Dowager and her adherents, and this panic was heightened by the news, conveyed to them by the Danish envoy in London, that a fleet was fitted out and ready to sail. The Queen-Dowager did not yield her victim without a struggle, she hated Matilda more than Struensee and all his accomplices put together, but she was overborne by the remonstrances of the rest, who knew that to precipitate a conflict with England at this juncture would assuredly prove their ruin. Whatever the issue of the struggle (and there was not much doubt about that), the Danish people would never forgive the Government for involving them in a ruinous war on such a pretext. Moreover, there was a revulsion of feeling in favour of the young Queen, and, since the death of Struensee, sympathy with her had been gaining ground daily. It really would be safer, urged some, to get her out of the country than to keep her shut up at Aalborg, for her adherents would always be plotting to obtain her release. These considerations weighed even with Juliana Maria, and made her see virtue in necessity. Keith, who had noted these signs of weakness and divided counsels, pushed his advantage, and with such success that he gained every point, and more than every point, that George III. demanded. Not only did the Danish Government agree to deliver Matilda to the King of England’s keeping, but they further promised that the sentence of divorce should not be officially published, that they would do all they could to hush up the scandal, that she should be permitted to retain her title of Queen, and that they would pay a yearly allowance towards her maintenance in another country. The Queen was not only to be set free, but to be set free with honour. On only one point they would not yield: they would not allow her to say good-bye to her son, or to take her daughter with her. By the finding of the judges the Princess was the King of Denmark’s child, and therefore he was her proper guardian.

As Keith had no instructions on this point, he was powerless to insist upon it; but it was with a glad heart that he sat down to write his despatch, which informed his King that every point had been gained—that his demands had been complied with, and war would be averted.

The English Government received Keith’s despatch with a great sense of relief. The King, now his blood was up, would undoubtedly have insisted upon the fleet sailing, and many complications would have ensued. The Government were by no means sure that they would have the nation at their back in declaring war on such a pretext. The whole story of the Queen of Denmark’s errors would have become common property; the King of Prussia, who was in close alliance with Denmark, and whose Queen was the sister of Juliana Maria, would probably have marched an army into Hanover if Copenhagen had been bombarded, and a new war would have been kindled in the north of Europe. Therefore, both the King and the Government had every reason to congratulate themselves that these difficulties had been avoided, and it was resolved to promote Keith as a reward for the successful way in which he had conducted the negotiations. Lord Suffolk wrote to Keith the following despatches:—

“St. James’s, May 1, 1772.

“Sir,

“Your despatches by King the messenger have already been acknowledged; those by Pearson were received on Wednesday afternoon, and I now answer both together.

“His Majesty’s entire approbation of your conduct continues to the last moment of your success, and his satisfaction has in no part of it been more complete than in the manner in which you have stated, urged and obtained the liberty of his sister, and the care you have taken to distinguish between a claim of right and the subjects of negotiation, and to prevent the mixture of stipulations with a demand is perfectly agreeable with your instructions.

“The national object of procuring the liberty of a daughter of England confined in Denmark after her connection with Denmark was dissolved is now obtained. For this alone an armament was prepared, and therefore, as soon as the acquiescence of the court of Copenhagen was known, the preparations were suspended, that the mercantile and marine interests of this kingdom might be affected no longer than was necessary by the expectation of a war.

“Instead of a hostile armament, two frigates and a sloop of war are now ordered to Elsinore. One of them is already in the Downs—the others will repair thither immediately: and, as soon as wind permits, they will proceed to their destination. I enclose to you an account of them, which you may transfer to Monsieur Ostein [Count Osten] ministerially, referring at the same time to the assurance of these pacific proceedings.

“The compliance of the Danish court with his Majesty’s demand, however forced, is still a compliance. Their continuing, unasked, the style of Queen and other concessions, and the attainment of the national object, accompanying each other, his Majesty would think it improper to interrupt the national intercourse from any personal or domestic consideration. You will therefore inform Monsieur Ostein that his Majesty intends to have a minister at the court of Copenhagen, the explanation you may give of this suspension of former directions and his determinations being left to your own discretion.

“You will not be that minister. His Majesty will have occasion for your services in a more eligible situation, and, as soon as you have discharged your duty to the Queen of Denmark by attending her to Stade, you will return home, either on board his Majesty’s ship which conveyed you thither, or, if the passage by sea is disagreeable to you, by land, with the least possible delay.

“I am, with great truth and regard, Sir,

“Your most obedient and humble servant,

“Suffolk.”[64]