Crowning Wisdom: Caroline of Baden

This crown was made for Caroline of Baden, Queen of Bavaria, around 1806. Although the kingdom of which she was queen was staunchly Catholic, she retained her Protestant faith and was allowed her own Lutheran chaplain. Her funeral in 1841 attracted public protests for its lack of regal dignity; Lothar Anselm von Gebsattel, Archbishop of Munich, ordered his Catholic clergy to wear ordinary dress and barred protestant clergy from entering the cathedral, as an insult to the Lutheran Queen. Yet her reception in heaven, if a saved and forgiven woman she was, would have been far grander than anything that mean Archbishop could have arranged, even if he had been so inclined. The crown of glory spoken of by Peter in 1:5:3 will far outshine and outsparkle even the queenly crown of Bavaria. Whatever indignities and shames the world can throw at you, Christ will more than recompense.