Caroline Mathilde: Horsewoman, Freedom, Fall
A queen on the run from her own time. A saddle as a key object. The exhibition tells the story of a young woman who defied the norms – and paid the price.
A queen on the run from her own time. A saddle as a key object. The exhibition tells the story of a young woman who defied the norms – and paid the price.
Caroline Mathilde's saddle is one of the most exquisite objects in the collection in the Royal Stables at Christiansborg Palace. With the saddle as a central object, we tell the story of one of the best-known queens in Danish history.
Caroline Mathilde challenges her own time and becomes the subject of intense public criticism because she dresses and rides astride like a man. Why does she do this? And why does her behaviour spark such strong reactions? These are the questions we ask in the exhibition Caroline Mathilde: Horsewoman, Freedom, Fall.
Queen Caroline Mathilde's dramatic life has remained a source of fascination to this day. Along with her lover, J. F. Struensee, the royal physician, she is caught up in a dangerous game for power, plays for high stakes and loses everything.
The exhibition is a contemporary presentation of the story of Caroline Mathilde, created for the Royal Stables at Christiansborg Palace. This was where the young queen went to enjoy brief moments of freedom, away from her closely monitored life at the palace. In addition to the exquisite saddle, the display includes several historical horse-drawn coaches from the era, including Queen Juliane Marie’s magnificent gilded carriage. The exhibition design was created by production designer Simone Bartholin.
At just 15 years old, Queen Caroline Mathilde marries the mentally unstable Christian VII. The King is incapable of governing the country.
His frail mental state creates a vacuum at the centre of power. This presents an opportunity that is seized by his personal physician, J. F. Struensee, who becomes the Queen's lover and the King's confidant. Soon, Struensee becomes de facto ruler of Denmark. Using his influence, he convinces the King to carry out major reforms, including introducing freedom of the press in 1770, when censorship is abolished.
Caroline Mathilde and Struensee’s affair becomes public knowledge and the subject of widespread criticism and satire. On 17 January 1772, Christian VII, Queen Caroline Mathilde and Struensee attend a masked ball at the Court theatre above the Royal Stables. That same night, Struensee is arrested in his private apartments at Christiansborg Palace, and Caroline Mathilde is taken to Kronborg Castle and later exiled to the town of Celle, where she dies, in 1775.
The exhibition is staged in the Royal Stables and revolves around a single object: Caroline Mathilde's original saddle. It is the central exhibit in a sensuous and spectacular display created especially for the impressive vaulted stables, which were built as part of the first, original Christiansborg Palace.
Among the beautiful horse-drawn coaches dating from Caroline Mathilde’s time, you can experience the dramatic story and listen in on gossip about the young queen. Discover how she defies the norms of her time and challenges public opinion. At brief intervals, film projections sweep over the magnificent arched ceilings of the stable space, portraying her wild horseback rides and providing an impression of the fleeting moments of freedom that she sought outside the confines of the palace walls.
A Danish queen who rode astride
In the museum hall next to the exhibition, you can see saddles that belonged to other Danish kings and queens over the centuries. This includes Queen Ingrid's saddle from the mid-20th century, when it became commonplace for a Danish queen to be seen riding astride.
In addition to the exhibition in the Royal Stables, we present a smaller display of items related to Caroline Mathilde in HM The King's Reference Library at Christiansborg Palace. Here you can see books and manuscripts from her time as well as the many written texts that have sought to understand and interpret her fate over the subsequent 250 years. This includes lampoons and satirical songs, biographies and novels and, not least, a recently published three-volume graphic novel by the young award-winning comic-book artist Karoline Stjernfelt.
The perception of Caroline Mathilde and her fate has varied over the course of history – but how might she have viewed herself? You can reflect on this as you stand in front of a unique mirror from Struensee's private apartments at the palace. Caroline Mathilde probably looked in this mirror, as she considered what image she wanted to project through the way she dressed.
The exhibition marks the 250th anniversary of Caroline Mathilde's death.