The Spiegel being very sarcastic about both Helmut Kohl and the Hohenzollern before the ceremony, Deutschlandfunk - our most intellectual radio broadcast - reporting about the event afterwards (I linked the transcript). Both are in German, and too long for me to translate, so you'll have to employ google. In any event, the gist of it is that it's pointed out the last German chancellor who absolutely wanted a connection to Frederick the Great was you-know-who, and must we? Otoh, Deutschlandfunk also reports that amidst the - mild - protests in Berlin on the day the bodies of Fritz and FW were moved (only the last part of which, the actual solo reburial near midnight as requested was with the minimal attendance, the rest had lots of attending people watching as the coffins passed) , there were also some Fritz friendly people watching and commenting:
„Wir kommen aus Berlin. Wir sind Schwule und sind hierhergekommen, weil Friedrich ein Bruder von uns war, und da haben wir uns im Stil der Jahre zurecht gemacht.“ ("We're from Berlin. We're gay and came here because Friedrich was a brother, and that's why we got into gear the style of his era.")
ETA: In case you're wondering whose idea the entire reburial was, and also reburying FW, too, instead of leaving him where both bodies used to be, that would be Louis Ferdinand, who was lobbying for it since reunificationion. He was Wilhelm II's grandson and was prone to say stuff like "My house has never surrendered its claim to the throne". Very much in the style of Willy's "no descendant of Frederick the Great would ever...", which makes me conclude that dynasty never learns...
Re: different ways of mourning - I hear you. And chances are he didn't go to Bayreuth, either. It was a six days journey, and he'd have had to put up with socializing with his brother-in-law, which otherwise he appears to have dumped on August Wilhelm. (No longer available.) Also, there would have been inevitably celebrity voyeurs, since she's buried in a public church, and who knows whether he'd been able to do any private mourning. Much better to mourn her away from all that.
BTW: leaving aside the blatant playing to the audience, Voltaire actually seems to have liked her. After she died, he wrote an "Ode Sur La Mort De Son Altesse Royale Madame La Markgrave De Bareith" which he published in the first edition of his novel Candide.
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Re: speaking of musical relationships....
Date: 2019-10-14 04:44 pm (UTC)„Wir kommen aus Berlin. Wir sind Schwule und sind hierhergekommen, weil Friedrich ein Bruder von uns war, und da haben wir uns im Stil der Jahre zurecht gemacht.“ ("We're from Berlin. We're gay and came here because Friedrich was a brother, and that's why we got into gear the style of his era.")
ETA: In case you're wondering whose idea the entire reburial was, and also reburying FW, too, instead of leaving him where both bodies used to be, that would be Louis Ferdinand, who was lobbying for it since reunificationion. He was Wilhelm II's grandson and was prone to say stuff like "My house has never surrendered its claim to the throne". Very much in the style of Willy's "no descendant of Frederick the Great would ever...", which makes me conclude that dynasty never learns...
Re: different ways of mourning - I hear you. And chances are he didn't go to Bayreuth, either. It was a six days journey, and he'd have had to put up with socializing with his brother-in-law, which otherwise he appears to have dumped on August Wilhelm. (No longer available.) Also, there would have been inevitably celebrity voyeurs, since she's buried in a public church, and who knows whether he'd been able to do any private mourning. Much better to mourn her away from all that.
BTW: leaving aside the blatant playing to the audience, Voltaire actually seems to have liked her. After she died, he wrote an "Ode Sur La Mort De Son Altesse Royale Madame La Markgrave De Bareith" which he published in the first edition of his novel Candide.