THE CASTLE OF CELLE: THE APARTMENTS OF QUEEN MATILDA WERE IN THE TOWER.
I was last at Celle in 1902, and visited the castle especially to see the apartments occupied by the Queen of Denmark. The following notes written at the time may be of interest:—
The castle of Celle is a huge building, partly in late Gothic and partly in the Renaissance style. It is built round a quadrangle, and the apartments used by Queen Matilda occupy the whole of the south side. The largest room is a long gallery, where her household and guests were wont to assemble. This gallery is a long, low, handsome room, hung with pictures on one wall, and pierced by many windows on another. At one end of the gallery is the dining-room, at the other the Queen’s favourite sitting-room or boudoir. This is an octagon-shaped room in the south-west tower of the castle, and lighted by four large windows overlooking the beautiful schloss garden, and giving a glimpse through the trees of the silvery Aller. The walls of this room are lined with a sort of canvas, on which are painted bright birds of paradise and flowers. The castellan declared that the wall-covering and hangings were unchanged since the Queen’s day, and were put up by order of George III. for his sister. Before 1866 Matilda’s apartments were used by the Queen of Hanover; they are now occupied by the Regent of Brunswick on his rare visits to Celle. The octagon room leads to the Queen’s bedroom, a large apartment with walls lined with the same material, on which are painted bright flowers. The windows look over some noble beech-trees. From this a few wooden steps lead down to the garde-robe (dressing-room), and following the winding staircase down, we are confronted by a stout door. Opening this, we emerge directly on the western, or royal, gallery of the beautiful little chapel. In this gallery is the closed pew wherein Matilda used to sit during divine service—a pew not unlike an opera-box, cushioned and carpeted, and with diamond-paned glass windows. At the back is a fresco representing the denial of Christ by Peter. The pew directly faced the altar, and from it Matilda must often have gazed at the beautiful triptych painted by Martin Vos of Antwerp. The centre panel represents the Crucifixion, and George William, the last Duke of Celle, and his wife, Eléonore d’Olbreuse (not very saintly personages by the way), are painted in the wings of the triptych, kneeling on either side of the central panel in attitudes of adoration. Sometimes, to hear the preacher better, Matilda moved round to the south gallery, immediately facing the pulpit, where she also occupied a lattice-windowed pew. Here, on one of the panes, local tradition has it that she wrote with a diamond the following words in German: “The fear of God is over all things, and will guide me both in the present and in the future.” The writing may still be seen, scratched on the pane, but, unfortunately for the legend, it bears no resemblance to the well-known writing of the Queen, though it is always shown as hers.[76]
[76] This chapel (and indeed the whole castle) is full of memories of the great house of Guelph. It is a gem of its kind, exquisitely proportioned and richly decorated, and was restored by the late King of Hanover, George V., “the Blind King,” shortly before he was robbed of his kingdom by Prussia. A fresco, representing the King kneeling, in the armour of a Christian warrior, his hands clasped in prayer, and his beautiful face turned towards the altar, occupies the north wall of the chancel.
A few days after Queen Matilda arrived at Celle she received a visit from Keith, who had spent the summer in England. After reaching London and reporting himself at the foreign office, Keith was commanded to the palace, where the Sovereign gave him audience. He was about to kneel when George III. took him by both his hands, and said: “No, no, Keith; it is not thus we receive our friends,” and then expressed to him in the warmest terms his satisfaction at the way in which he had exerted himself on Queen Matilda’s behalf. He soon received well-deserved promotion from the King, who appointed him ambassador at Vienna, a post formerly filled by his father. Keith was now on his way to take up his duties at Vienna. In conformance with instructions, he travelled round by way of Celle to see the Queen in her new home, and report concerning her to the King.
Before Keith left England Lord Suffolk wrote him a private letter in which he said: “You cannot be too minute and ample on all points of your mission to Zell. A thousand little circumstances which would of course be passed over on other occasions will be interesting upon this, and I think I may venture to assure you that the more conformable your accounts are to this hint the better they will please.”[77]
[77] Letter of Lord Suffolk to Sir R. M. Keith, October 11, 1772.—Memoirs and Correspondence of Sir R. Murray Keith, vol. i. The italics are Suffolk’s.