Ha, I thought you might ask. Well, the two that come to mind are that he publicly fat-shamed her at one point, which of course is not cool, and then there was the whole using her as a catspaw to get money to cover his debts and then totally ditching her the moment he was king (I mean, ditching every European court that had ever intervened for him or given or loaned him money while he was prince the moment he became king was totally his MO, there was nothing personal there, but yeah, Fritz, sigh, you again).
Like, I would be totally down with the part where he just ignored his wife and kept her at arm's length his entire life, because he was forced into that marriage, and he did make everyone else treat her respectfully like a Queen, and he gave her a palace and money and avoided her (which I think we can all agree was doing her a favor), and she's super not his type (unintellectual, not a great conversationalist, very pious). So unlike most historians, his total ditching per se I will not even criticize. I will back him 100% on that. But the part where he used her first...yeah, it's a thing that abuse victims do; if you have *any* power in an ongoing abuse situation, you take it just for sheer survival's sake, I get it. But both using her and then ditching her, I'm sympathetic but only up to a point.
Oh, and one of the things that Fritz admitted to being very unforgiving of in his later years was other people being ungrateful for kindnesses he showed them. Which, Fritz, *cough*.
But everyone seems to get really up in arms about him blatantly not inviting her to parties where she should have been invited and making her take second place to people he liked better, and I'm like what is this, SEVENTH GRADE? (I mean, it's European royalty, so, yes, kind of. :P) Of course he didn't invite her to parties, he didn't like her! He didn't ask for this fucking marriage, he was (perhaps just to make a point) throwing around phrases like "I will kill myself if I have to go through with this" when he was 20, and then he let her stay queen and have at least some of the job perks, let him ignore her when he can, sheesh! I mean, yes, ideally divorce, but ideally no forced marriage in the first place, and there were political considerations, and I honestly don't think in the 18th century she would have been better off a divorced woman. I think she got the best outcome she was going to get, given the circumstances. So everyone lay off him a little, I say. :P (I'm infinitely more critical of him forcing political marriages on other people than trying to sidle out of his own.)
And then in the last month or so of his life, when his health was absolutely wretched and he had one foot in the grave, his last letter to her was this two-line note basically saying, "Thanks for your warm wishes regarding my health in your last note; unfortunately, my fever prevents me from replying to you at greater length," and people come DOWN on him for this, and I'm just like "I KEEL YOU, you fucking historians."
Unlike Mitford, I will not cut FW or Fritz slack for beating people up physically or verbally when they were having a bad health day and criticize other people for not giving them enough sympathy, but *even FW* I will cut all the slack in the world for any short but polite replies he may have written Fritz while in the grips of a fever with 18th century medical treatment, sheesh.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Re: Charlotte and sisters?
Date: 2019-09-16 04:33 am (UTC)Like, I would be totally down with the part where he just ignored his wife and kept her at arm's length his entire life, because he was forced into that marriage, and he did make everyone else treat her respectfully like a Queen, and he gave her a palace and money and avoided her (which I think we can all agree was doing her a favor), and she's super not his type (unintellectual, not a great conversationalist, very pious). So unlike most historians, his total ditching per se I will not even criticize. I will back him 100% on that. But the part where he used her first...yeah, it's a thing that abuse victims do; if you have *any* power in an ongoing abuse situation, you take it just for sheer survival's sake, I get it. But both using her and then ditching her, I'm sympathetic but only up to a point.
Oh, and one of the things that Fritz admitted to being very unforgiving of in his later years was other people being ungrateful for kindnesses he showed them. Which, Fritz, *cough*.
But everyone seems to get really up in arms about him blatantly not inviting her to parties where she should have been invited and making her take second place to people he liked better, and I'm like what is this, SEVENTH GRADE? (I mean, it's European royalty, so, yes, kind of. :P) Of course he didn't invite her to parties, he didn't like her! He didn't ask for this fucking marriage, he was (perhaps just to make a point) throwing around phrases like "I will kill myself if I have to go through with this" when he was 20, and then he let her stay queen and have at least some of the job perks, let him ignore her when he can, sheesh! I mean, yes, ideally divorce, but ideally no forced marriage in the first place, and there were political considerations, and I honestly don't think in the 18th century she would have been better off a divorced woman. I think she got the best outcome she was going to get, given the circumstances. So everyone lay off him a little, I say. :P (I'm infinitely more critical of him forcing political marriages on other people than trying to sidle out of his own.)
And then in the last month or so of his life, when his health was absolutely wretched and he had one foot in the grave, his last letter to her was this two-line note basically saying, "Thanks for your warm wishes regarding my health in your last note; unfortunately, my fever prevents me from replying to you at greater length," and people come DOWN on him for this, and I'm just like "I KEEL YOU, you fucking historians."
Unlike Mitford, I will not cut FW or Fritz slack for beating people up physically or verbally when they were having a bad health day and criticize other people for not giving them enough sympathy, but *even FW* I will cut all the slack in the world for any short but polite replies he may have written Fritz while in the grips of a fever with 18th century medical treatment, sheesh.