Maria Theresia had her big 300th anniversary in 2017, so there were quite a lot of articles, books, broadcasts etc., and thus I can after googling come up with a direct quote from the horse's mouth, after her death in 1780: "Basically, I have always had great admiration for her, even during our martial disagreements. I have never been her enemy."
WTF, Fritz, indeed. Can't imagine what Maria Theresia would have said to that one, or rather, I can, since she could be very robust as well. Then again, other than their shared sense of duty and hard working nature, you could not have designed a more perfect opposite to Friedrich II than Maria Theresia if you tried, seriously, you couldn't, starting with the basics (Woman/man) and moving on to every area of their lives: married for love and remained in love with husband of choice till death/married to get out of prison, stayed away from wife thereafter; traditional Catholic versus free spirit/likely atheist; sixteen Kids, famously married all over Europe, versus childless monarch; loving parents (the worst MT's father ever did to her was not to prepare her for the succession, as he hoped to get a male heir until basically five minutes before his death, so she had to learn on the job and quickly) and secure childhood versus, well, childhood a la Hohenzollern and Nightmare adolescence; and so forth.
(Sidenote to amuse you both: one now forgotten German politician called Angela Merkel "the Maria Theresia of the Uckermark", meaning this as a put down while casting himself as Fritz as the same time. To which the rest of the journalists snorted and said, you are no Friedrich, Peter Gauweiler. Our Chancellor just ignored him.)
Additional irony, cahn: Maria Theresia's son Joseph II (the "too many notes" one from Amadeus, for non-historians) was a great admirer of Fritz, consciously modelled himself on him (in terms of being a modern monarch reforming civil and religious laws and cultivating philosphers & musicians, not in terms of invading other countries, and also in terms of personal demeanour (wearing uniform, not fancy costumes etc.). He went as far as arranging a personal meeting with him under the nome de plume "Graf Falkenstein" (which he also used when visiting sister Marie Antoinette in Paris), which included a shared opera visit. As this happened when Maria Theresia was still alive, she was less than thrilled but eventually okayed it.
Re: Wilhelmine's memoirs
WTF, Fritz, indeed. Can't imagine what Maria Theresia would have said to that one, or rather, I can, since she could be very robust as well. Then again, other than their shared sense of duty and hard working nature, you could not have designed a more perfect opposite to Friedrich II than Maria Theresia if you tried, seriously, you couldn't, starting with the basics (Woman/man) and moving on to every area of their lives: married for love and remained in love with husband of choice till death/married to get out of prison, stayed away from wife thereafter; traditional Catholic versus free spirit/likely atheist; sixteen Kids, famously married all over Europe, versus childless monarch; loving parents (the worst MT's father ever did to her was not to prepare her for the succession, as he hoped to get a male heir until basically five minutes before his death, so she had to learn on the job and quickly) and secure childhood versus, well, childhood a la Hohenzollern and Nightmare adolescence; and so forth.
(Sidenote to amuse you both: one now forgotten German politician called Angela Merkel "the Maria Theresia of the Uckermark", meaning this as a put down while casting himself as Fritz as the same time. To which the rest of the journalists snorted and said, you are no Friedrich, Peter Gauweiler. Our Chancellor just ignored him.)
Additional irony,
ETA: A fanboy meets his Idol