Starting a new thread, because the old ones were getting awfully difficult to read. cahn, I don't blame you for not continuing with the memoirs - honestly, I go directly to the correspondance, too, because it does contain what's up with Wilhelmine's life (well, some of it) but also is focused on the sibling relationship. You asked about the Fritz/Wilhelmine correspondance in English. Honestly, I have no idea. Now I did know the edition I have is a selected one, but what I didn't know before looking it up just now is that the complete letters were never published, simply because there are so many of them. (This, bear in mind, despite one single letter surviving from the pre Küstrin era, since Wilhelmine and SD burned the lot otherwise.) German translations of various highlights editions are available in print, audio and as an ebook, this I knew, but my new checking out online availability revealed that the Bayreuth website, bless them, has put, among others, the two "dog pov" letters Fritz and Wilhelmine wrote to each other online in the original French read out loud; if you want to tackle your spoken French, I can link you.
Even better, though not in English, is this website, a treasure trove I've just begun to explore. This has letters from and to Wilhelmine during her 1754/1755 journey through France and Italy, as well as a few letters about Wilhelmine, in the original French, in a German translation, and in a faksimile, so you can see what the actual letters look like. Fritz is the main other correspondant, but there are also three of her other siblings (August Wilhelm, Ulrike and Amalie), which is fascinating to me because for the first time, these give me a sense of what Wilhelmine's relations to the younger sibs might have been like, and there are few letters from her mother, not to Wilhelmine but to the other kids referring her.
Now, about that journey: Wilhelmine and her husband the Margrave - whose first name, btw, was Friedrich, which is just too confusing in this context, so I'll keep calling him the Margrave like she did - were travelling under the nome de plume "Count and Contess von Zollern" because if they'd travelled officially, it would have been a quasi royal state visit to to Wilhelmine being Fritz' sister, and more expensive both for them and their hosts. Wilhelmine was already sick (she only had a few more years to live) and traveled partly for the climate's sake, but wouldn't you know it, Europe collectively was suffering form one of the coldest years around, so it wasn't much warmer in France and only a bit in Italy. She also was a culture tourist, of course, and visiting France and Italy was fulfilling a life long dream. The Fritz letters show him both at his best and worst. Best: he's worried for her (justly so, as it turns out, like I said, she was already sick), tenderly concerned and smacking down any criticism from people back home complaining that this journey was too expensive to make and the late FW would never have permitted it. (Context: Wilhelmine actually had to ask Fritz for permission to leave Prussian ruled or allied territories because the 7 years war was just around the corner and neither France nor the Italian states, which were mostly Austrian ruled, were considered friendly at this point.) Worst: bear in mind that what was Wilhelmine was doing was actually filfilling a life long dream for both of them. And he never got to do it, and he never would. So a part of him must have found it impossible to let her enjoy it without him. He keeps lecturing her on the note of: "Of course, you can't possibly enjoy Italy because it's just like a stale old whore looking back on her young sexpot days, right? I mean, Caesar would hate it if he came back, right? And yeah, sure, so you have the chance to check out the new diggings at Pompeiji, the most sensational archaelogical discovery of the age, but you can't possibly enjoy it, can you, because surely those unworthy current day Italians suck so much? And as for seeing Michelangelo's statues and Caravaggio's paintings in the original, surely they have only second rate examples left in Italy, and anyway, did I mention my new gallery has some great paintings which are much better than anything you can possibly see in Italy?" And so on, and so forth. Here is a map from Wilhelmine's travel route, so you can see what she visited.
There are about 80 letters Wilhelmine/Fritz letters in that collection (to and from), versus ca. 11 to brother August Wilhelm (he also got some from her husband and wrote back to both her and her husband, but only the letters to her husband are preserved). These are more affectionate (though he's only her cher frère whereas Fritz is tres cher frère) than I'd have thought, even taking into account the style of the day (after all, FW had been mon cher père as well); August Wilhelm gets just about the only landscape descriptions (whereas Fritz gets antiques, the people she's met, and concert descriptions) in addition to some chit-chat about the people she meets (btw, she doesn't copy the descriptions from her Fritz letters into her August Wilhelm letters, each brother gets different descriptions, i.e. she took the time to write individual letters, which, if you consider how long writing by hand took, and hers weren't dictated, they're in her handwriting, says something about her emotions for them, too), and she keeps asking about Heinrich and Amelie, and reminds him to give them her love, begging forgiveness for basically writing to the three of them together). At one point, August Wilhelm has reported that Fritz has had a riding accident, knocking out two teeths, and Wilhelmine basically writes back: "OMG! Thank God he's okay! You know, you sound so honestly concerned in your letter that you should allow me to let Fritz read it, because it would improve relations between you two. He likes you, I swear he does, he just needs reminding you care for him, too. I told you he's just sooo sensitive!" ("I have always told you the King is very sensitive" is the literal quote.)
(Speaking of Fritz the sensitive, Wilhelmine did visit Voltaire en route and gives his love to Fritz, swearing Voltaire is sorry for every none to swell behaviour, honest he is, and missing Fritz dreadfully.)
Ulrike (mother of Gustavo/Riccardo of Verdi opera fame) comes across as something of a scheming minx, writing to their mother first that surely, it's not true Wilhelmine is off to France, surely Fritz would see that as gross betrayal, right, and need consoling from his other sisters, and later "so I figure Wilhelmine surely will visit you on her way back, she won't be as hard-hearted as neglecting the chance to see her poor old mother again, I surely wouldn't!". Wilhelmine writes one time to say she'll write to Ulrike when she gets back but she's so overwhelmed with correspondance already that she can't during the journey. Otoh, Wilhelmine's letter to Ulrike when she IS back is actually informative and contains something the boys don't get, i.e. a gender-related observation about the French. Not surprisingly, she's found the French countryside and the villages are very poor (there's a revolution brewing, after all) and most of the culture is absolutely Paris focused. Surprisingly, though, Wihelmine tells Ulrike that what cultured people are in Avignon and other non-Paris towns she's visited are much better acknowledging women have brains and carrying conversations with them whereas the male Parisians are patronising idiots to women and only take other men seriously.
Prussian sibling correspondance
Even better, though not in English, is this website, a treasure trove I've just begun to explore. This has letters from and to Wilhelmine during her 1754/1755 journey through France and Italy, as well as a few letters about Wilhelmine, in the original French, in a German translation, and in a faksimile, so you can see what the actual letters look like. Fritz is the main other correspondant, but there are also three of her other siblings (August Wilhelm, Ulrike and Amalie), which is fascinating to me because for the first time, these give me a sense of what Wilhelmine's relations to the younger sibs might have been like, and there are few letters from her mother, not to Wilhelmine but to the other kids referring her.
Now, about that journey: Wilhelmine and her husband the Margrave - whose first name, btw, was Friedrich, which is just too confusing in this context, so I'll keep calling him the Margrave like she did - were travelling under the nome de plume "Count and Contess von Zollern" because if they'd travelled officially, it would have been a quasi royal state visit to to Wilhelmine being Fritz' sister, and more expensive both for them and their hosts. Wilhelmine was already sick (she only had a few more years to live) and traveled partly for the climate's sake, but wouldn't you know it, Europe collectively was suffering form one of the coldest years around, so it wasn't much warmer in France and only a bit in Italy. She also was a culture tourist, of course, and visiting France and Italy was fulfilling a life long dream.
The Fritz letters show him both at his best and worst. Best: he's worried for her (justly so, as it turns out, like I said, she was already sick), tenderly concerned and smacking down any criticism from people back home complaining that this journey was too expensive to make and the late FW would never have permitted it. (Context: Wilhelmine actually had to ask Fritz for permission to leave Prussian ruled or allied territories because the 7 years war was just around the corner and neither France nor the Italian states, which were mostly Austrian ruled, were considered friendly at this point.) Worst: bear in mind that what was Wilhelmine was doing was actually filfilling a life long dream for both of them. And he never got to do it, and he never would. So a part of him must have found it impossible to let her enjoy it without him. He keeps lecturing her on the note of: "Of course, you can't possibly enjoy Italy because it's just like a stale old whore looking back on her young sexpot days, right? I mean, Caesar would hate it if he came back, right? And yeah, sure, so you have the chance to check out the new diggings at Pompeiji, the most sensational archaelogical discovery of the age, but you can't possibly enjoy it, can you, because surely those unworthy current day Italians suck so much? And as for seeing Michelangelo's statues and Caravaggio's paintings in the original, surely they have only second rate examples left in Italy, and anyway, did I mention my new gallery has some great paintings which are much better than anything you can possibly see in Italy?" And so on, and so forth. Here is a map from Wilhelmine's travel route, so you can see what she visited.
There are about 80 letters Wilhelmine/Fritz letters in that collection (to and from), versus ca. 11 to brother August Wilhelm (he also got some from her husband and wrote back to both her and her husband, but only the letters to her husband are preserved). These are more affectionate (though he's only her cher frère whereas Fritz is tres cher frère) than I'd have thought, even taking into account the style of the day (after all, FW had been mon cher père as well); August Wilhelm gets just about the only landscape descriptions (whereas Fritz gets antiques, the people she's met, and concert descriptions) in addition to some chit-chat about the people she meets (btw, she doesn't copy the descriptions from her Fritz letters into her August Wilhelm letters, each brother gets different descriptions, i.e. she took the time to write individual letters, which, if you consider how long writing by hand took, and hers weren't dictated, they're in her handwriting, says something about her emotions for them, too), and she keeps asking about Heinrich and Amelie, and reminds him to give them her love, begging forgiveness for basically writing to the three of them together). At one point, August Wilhelm has reported that Fritz has had a riding accident, knocking out two teeths, and Wilhelmine basically writes back: "OMG! Thank God he's okay! You know, you sound so honestly concerned in your letter that you should allow me to let Fritz read it, because it would improve relations between you two. He likes you, I swear he does, he just needs reminding you care for him, too. I told you he's just sooo sensitive!" ("I have always told you the King is very sensitive" is the literal quote.)
(Speaking of Fritz the sensitive, Wilhelmine did visit Voltaire en route and gives his love to Fritz, swearing Voltaire is sorry for every none to swell behaviour, honest he is, and missing Fritz dreadfully.)
Ulrike (mother of Gustavo/Riccardo of Verdi opera fame) comes across as something of a scheming minx, writing to their mother first that surely, it's not true Wilhelmine is off to France, surely Fritz would see that as gross betrayal, right, and need consoling from his other sisters, and later "so I figure Wilhelmine surely will visit you on her way back, she won't be as hard-hearted as neglecting the chance to see her poor old mother again, I surely wouldn't!". Wilhelmine writes one time to say she'll write to Ulrike when she gets back but she's so overwhelmed with correspondance already that she can't during the journey. Otoh, Wilhelmine's letter to Ulrike when she IS back is actually informative and contains something the boys don't get, i.e. a gender-related observation about the French. Not surprisingly, she's found the French countryside and the villages are very poor (there's a revolution brewing, after all) and most of the culture is absolutely Paris focused. Surprisingly, though, Wihelmine tells Ulrike that what cultured people are in Avignon and other non-Paris towns she's visited are much better acknowledging women have brains and carrying conversations with them whereas the male Parisians are patronising idiots to women and only take other men seriously.
In the facsimiles, you can see that Sophia Dorothea has a distinctly different handwriting style to the entire younger generation. Here are samples from everyone's letters so you can have a look at the actual letters: Fritz to Wilhelmine, Wilhelmine to Fritz, Sophia Dorothea to her youngest son Ferdinand, August Wilhelm to his brother-in-law.