On the endearing side: early in the travel correspondance, Fritz sends a pineapple to Wilhelmine from Potsdam. Bear in mind that pineapples otherwise don't exist in Germany at this point, by and large; Fritz had some of the earliest grown for him in garden house, it was a rare and precious thing. He also after one visit left a poem he'd written for her decoratively hidden.
Both on the good and bad side, and to be fair to Fritz: Wilhelmine could be needy. This was the most intense emotional relationship she had with anyone in her life. (It's not that she didn't reconcile with her husband post Marwitz, but she didn't trust him again, and she hadn't been in love with him in the first place, so... Odd but true: FW had raised his kids to believe in marital fidelity. This fit very ill with marital fidelity.) Anyway, here's a letter from Wilhelmine to Fritz, not dated, when apparantly the mail was late. It's a rare critical outburst and at the same time a passionate love declaration:
"My dearest brother, I write today solely to scold you. You are unbearably lazy, and one has to kill oneself writing letters before you bother to reply. I already can guess what you will reply to this letter: that there is nothing new to report, that you were too busy and didn't have a moment to spare, and what other lousy excuses you can offer. If you wrote to me a thousand times, I love you, my sister, my sister, I love you, then I will be full of joy, and it will more than make up for any news which you could possibly tell me. As for my part, since I have the pleasure to tell you that I love you, I am not so scrupulous, and if you get bored by this - your problem, for I permit you to throw my letters away unread, as long as you leave me the satisfaction of writing them. Now who of us does love the other one more?"
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Re: Prussian sibling correspondance
Date: 2019-10-13 06:59 am (UTC)Both on the good and bad side, and to be fair to Fritz: Wilhelmine could be needy. This was the most intense emotional relationship she had with anyone in her life. (It's not that she didn't reconcile with her husband post Marwitz, but she didn't trust him again, and she hadn't been in love with him in the first place, so... Odd but true: FW had raised his kids to believe in marital fidelity. This fit very ill with marital fidelity.) Anyway, here's a letter from Wilhelmine to Fritz, not dated, when apparantly the mail was late. It's a rare critical outburst and at the same time a passionate love declaration:
"My dearest brother, I write today solely to scold you. You are unbearably lazy, and one has to kill oneself writing letters before you bother to reply. I already can guess what you will reply to this letter: that there is nothing new to report, that you were too busy and didn't have a moment to spare, and what other lousy excuses you can offer. If you wrote to me a thousand times, I love you, my sister, my sister, I love you, then I will be full of joy, and it will more than make up for any news which you could possibly tell me. As for my part, since I have the pleasure to tell you that I love you, I am not so scrupulous, and if you get bored by this - your problem, for I permit you to throw my letters away unread, as long as you leave me the satisfaction of writing them. Now who of us does love the other one more?"