You're very welcome. Re: teeth, don't know, Uwe Oster doesn't say; at a guess, they're at a state archive in Berlin or Potsdam, though. (Incidentally, the fact all these letters survived intense firebombings says something about determination to preserve history. (Would that such determination had been shown to saving one's Jewish neighbour, of course.) Most of the artifacts and letters were put into underground shelters. That the Fritz/Fredersdorff letters survived is a not so minor miracle, because for some reason Göring (who as Ministerpräsident of Prussia could get his paws on them) thought they'd make comfort reading to Hitler (waiting for his own Miracle of the House of Brandenburg).
(Must have gone something like this: G: Mein Führer, let me impress you on your birthday with a bunch of letters of our heroic Frederick the Great who proves that you can emerge from a three front war covered in glory and success.
H: Just what I've been saying, but alas, if these are in French again, I can't read them.
G: Not so! These are authentic Frederick the Great letters in German! Proving his touching utterly platonic regard for his loyal servant. May they inspire you in these dark days!
...yep, being in a fandom with them is the worst.
Katte souvenir hunters: haven't heard that, but would believe it, because yes, people do that, and did.
That was unknown to me. That's...some serious displeasure.
No kidding. Have now ordered Eva Ziebura's AW biography from the library (it doesn't have her Heinrich one, alas); the reviews of same mention that because he was FW's favourite son, he used to be the mediator between his father and the other siblings, so that was one family role he was used to. (But presumably did not expect having to take between Fritz and Wilhelmine. The age gap between AW and the oldest two practically ensured he didn't really relate to them until years later - he was, what, eight when Katte died?) In case you're wondering, Oster along with other biographers says FW's favourite daughter was Friederike Luise. He also liked Ulrike a lot, but Friederike Luise was the one getting letters a few months after her wedding like "My dearest darling Ickerle, I haven't written to you for such a long, long time and have gotten so many letters from you. My dearest daughter, do not forget your father who loves you with all his heart and soul. God be praised you are well" and so forth, signing off with "I am, keeping my dearest daughter in my heart until death, your faithful father FW". (So yes, he could write to girls.)
Friederike Luise, who was the first of the siblings to get married - and that her marriage to the Margrave of Ansbach got negotiated quickly and went with minimum fuss while the English marriage negotiations for Wilhelmine and Fritz were simultanously in an endless loop must have made the later all the more irritating for FW - gets one memorable scene in Wilhelmine's memoirs shortly before her wedding. Friederike Luise, as a reminder is 15, the sibling born after Fritz. Her marriage will be truly miserable and she'll sink into depression (she also developed symptoms of porphyria, supporting the theory that both FW and Fritz could have had it), but as of yet, she's a spirited girl who actually talks back at FW thusly:
"(The King) asked my sister whether she was looking forward to her marriage and how she planned on conducting her household. My sister had established a footing with him where she told him everything frankly, even hard truths, without him getting enraged by it. Thus, she replied with her usual frankness that she would offer a good and richly decorated table at meals, which, as she added, "Shall be better than yours; and when I get chldren, I will not maltreat them as you do, nor force them to eat things that disagree with them." "What do you mean by this," the King asked, "what is lacking at my table?" "It lacks," she said, "because one doesn't get full on it, and that the few things offered consist of heavy vegetables which we cannot stomach." The King was already indignant about the first reply, but the later caused him to explode, yet his entire fury fell on my brother and myself. First, he threw a plate in the direction of my brother's head who evaded the throw, and then he let one fly in my direction. I avoided it as well.These first hostilities were followed by a hailstorm of abuse."
That FW isn't angry with the child who actually backmouthed but his two older children demonstrates, among other things, that they've become his lightning rods at this time. (And btw, also worth noting that Fritz had to my knowledge a non-relationship - neither positive nor negative - with Friederike Luise, who was after all only as many years younger than him as Wilhelmine was older and in theory could have been close. Ansbach was next to Bayreuth, but he never visited her when visiting Wilhelmine. She was also not present at the wedding of Wilhelmine's daughter, which practically happened next door to her, but as Oster says, at this point she'd already succumed to depression and likely porphyria enough to become a total hermit.
"I'm exempting you from the usual rule of putting me and my wars first!" That's some true sibling love right there.
Indeed, and since we've quoted ample examples of his other tendencies, I thought it only fair to include this. He really did love her above and beyond.
Voltaire: quite. In the spirit of fairness as well, he did write an ode to her after her death he included in the first edition of Candide, and got tearful with Fritz years later about her; I don't think it was just because of what her brother might still do for him. Speaking of Voltaire and dead women, his remark about Madame de Pompadour after her death in a letter to a friend also sound genuine: : "I am very sad at the death of Madame de Pompadour. I was indebted to her and I mourn her out of gratitude. It seems absurd that while an ancient pen-pusher like me, hardly able to walk, should still be alive, a beautiful woman, in the midst of a splendid career, should die at the age of forty-two."
ETA: Forgot, about future Margrave of Bayreuth going through the same hunt + having to empty a big cup of beer experience with FW, Oster frustratingly doesn't provide a literal quote, just a paraphrase, but he does make it sound as if FW had decided to give this son-in-law the (almost) full Fritz treatment. Re: the regiment, when marrying Bayreuth Friedrich had asked for a Prussian one in order to please his future father-in-law and his father at the same time (remember, Bayreuth was a small principality).
Oster: "(The drink) didn't agree with (Bayreuth Friedrich), which must have confirmed the King's opinion of him, especially since the drunken prince did not hold back with his opinion on the King's behavior. Friedrich Wilhelm then took to refering to his son-in-law as an "ass and simpleton". He said he would "educate him in his own style, or he wouldn't be FW". Openly, he demanded the officers of Friedrich's regiment should mock and taunt their superior. That was too much even for the Queen who otherwise didn't think much of her unwanted son-in-law, but now spiritedly made it clear to her husband that everything had its limits. "I tremble," Wilhelmine wrote on January 13th 1733 to her brother, "that he treats him the way he has treated you. I don't know what he holds against him." Nothing, one might add, though Wilhelmine wasn't wrong in her fear: The King wanted to break his son-in-law the same way he'd broken his son. Every bit of pride, every will power was to be eliminated. But Wilhelmine's husband hadn't gone through Friedrich's childhood. He faced his father-in-law's behavior with utter disbelief. He had no intention of being broken and being censored."
(Future Margrave: WTF? What did I marry into? WTF is going on here????)
Re: Sibling Correspondance - II
(Must have gone something like this: G: Mein Führer, let me impress you on your birthday with a bunch of letters of our heroic Frederick the Great who proves that you can emerge from a three front war covered in glory and success.
H: Just what I've been saying, but alas, if these are in French again, I can't read them.
G: Not so! These are authentic Frederick the Great letters in German! Proving his touching utterly platonic regard for his loyal servant. May they inspire you in these dark days!
...yep, being in a fandom with them is the worst.
Katte souvenir hunters: haven't heard that, but would believe it, because yes, people do that, and did.
That was unknown to me. That's...some serious displeasure.
No kidding. Have now ordered Eva Ziebura's AW biography from the library (it doesn't have her Heinrich one, alas); the reviews of same mention that because he was FW's favourite son, he used to be the mediator between his father and the other siblings, so that was one family role he was used to. (But presumably did not expect having to take between Fritz and Wilhelmine. The age gap between AW and the oldest two practically ensured he didn't really relate to them until years later - he was, what, eight when Katte died?) In case you're wondering, Oster along with other biographers says FW's favourite daughter was Friederike Luise. He also liked Ulrike a lot, but Friederike Luise was the one getting letters a few months after her wedding like "My dearest darling Ickerle, I haven't written to you for such a long, long time and have gotten so many letters from you. My dearest daughter, do not forget your father who loves you with all his heart and soul. God be praised you are well" and so forth, signing off with "I am, keeping my dearest daughter in my heart until death, your faithful father FW". (So yes, he could write to girls.)
Friederike Luise, who was the first of the siblings to get married - and that her marriage to the Margrave of Ansbach got negotiated quickly and went with minimum fuss while the English marriage negotiations for Wilhelmine and Fritz were simultanously in an endless loop must have made the later all the more irritating for FW - gets one memorable scene in Wilhelmine's memoirs shortly before her wedding. Friederike Luise, as a reminder is 15, the sibling born after Fritz. Her marriage will be truly miserable and she'll sink into depression (she also developed symptoms of porphyria, supporting the theory that both FW and Fritz could have had it), but as of yet, she's a spirited girl who actually talks back at FW thusly:
"(The King) asked my sister whether she was looking forward to her marriage and how she planned on conducting her household. My sister had established a footing with him where she told him everything frankly, even hard truths, without him getting enraged by it. Thus, she replied with her usual frankness that she would offer a good and richly decorated table at meals, which, as she added, "Shall be better than yours; and when I get chldren, I will not maltreat them as you do, nor force them to eat things that disagree with them." "What do you mean by this," the King asked, "what is lacking at my table?"
"It lacks," she said, "because one doesn't get full on it, and that the few things offered consist of heavy vegetables which we cannot stomach." The King was already indignant about the first reply, but the later caused him to explode, yet his entire fury fell on my brother and myself. First, he threw a plate in the direction of my brother's head who evaded the throw, and then he let one fly in my direction. I avoided it as well.These first hostilities were followed by a hailstorm of abuse."
That FW isn't angry with the child who actually backmouthed but his two older children demonstrates, among other things, that they've become his lightning rods at this time. (And btw, also worth noting that Fritz had to my knowledge a non-relationship - neither positive nor negative - with Friederike Luise, who was after all only as many years younger than him as Wilhelmine was older and in theory could have been close. Ansbach was next to Bayreuth, but he never visited her when visiting Wilhelmine. She was also not present at the wedding of Wilhelmine's daughter, which practically happened next door to her, but as Oster says, at this point she'd already succumed to depression and likely porphyria enough to become a total hermit.
"I'm exempting you from the usual rule of putting me and my wars first!" That's some true sibling love right there.
Indeed, and since we've quoted ample examples of his other tendencies, I thought it only fair to include this. He really did love her above and beyond.
Voltaire: quite. In the spirit of fairness as well, he did write an ode to her after her death he included in the first edition of Candide, and got tearful with Fritz years later about her; I don't think it was just because of what her brother might still do for him. Speaking of Voltaire and dead women, his remark about Madame de Pompadour after her death in a letter to a friend also sound genuine: : "I am very sad at the death of Madame de Pompadour. I was indebted to her and I mourn her out of gratitude. It seems absurd that while an ancient pen-pusher like me, hardly able to walk, should still be alive, a beautiful woman, in the midst of a splendid career, should die at the age of forty-two."
ETA: Forgot, about future Margrave of Bayreuth going through the same hunt + having to empty a big cup of beer experience with FW, Oster frustratingly doesn't provide a literal quote, just a paraphrase, but he does make it sound as if FW had decided to give this son-in-law the (almost) full Fritz treatment. Re: the regiment, when marrying Bayreuth Friedrich had asked for a Prussian one in order to please his future father-in-law and his father at the same time (remember, Bayreuth was a small principality).
Oster: "(The drink) didn't agree with (Bayreuth Friedrich), which must have confirmed the King's opinion of him, especially since the drunken prince did not hold back with his opinion on the King's behavior. Friedrich Wilhelm then took to refering to his son-in-law as an "ass and simpleton". He said he would "educate him in his own style, or he wouldn't be FW". Openly, he demanded the officers of Friedrich's regiment should mock and taunt their superior. That was too much even for the Queen who otherwise didn't think much of her unwanted son-in-law, but now spiritedly made it clear to her husband that everything had its limits. "I tremble," Wilhelmine wrote on January 13th 1733 to her brother, "that he treats him the way he has treated you. I don't know what he holds against him."
Nothing, one might add, though Wilhelmine wasn't wrong in her fear: The King wanted to break his son-in-law the same way he'd broken his son. Every bit of pride, every will power was to be eliminated. But Wilhelmine's husband hadn't gone through Friedrich's childhood. He faced his father-in-law's behavior with utter disbelief. He had no intention of being broken and being censored."
(Future Margrave: WTF? What did I marry into? WTF is going on here????)