In looking at the Henricus Major 1745/1746 correspondence, I find that Fritz also declined to let *him* go to war, age approximately 19.
I think that might be a misunderstanding? Because von Krockow in his double biography/portrait says Heinrich already distinguished himself in the Second Silesian War at the conquest of Prague (16 September 1744), battle of Hohenfriedberg (4th June 1745), and in the battle of Soor (September 30th 1745, the very day Franz Stephan got crowned as Emperor in Frankfurt), where Heinrich alredy commanded an infantry brigade in the rank of "Generalmajor". However, once the war was over, in 1746, he wanted to go on a Grand Tour through Europe instead of still doing military (peacetime) duty and comamnding the garnison in Spandau. (Which was his unwanted post-Silesia job that he neglected so he'd be allowed to go; that was what the argument with AW quoted earlier about Heinrich's character was about.) Fritz seems to have responded with "You're younger me, of course you don't get to go on the Grand Tour!" Heinrich then tries to sell the Grand Tour as a military educational tour, he's totally just going to check out every army and fortress in Europe to further become a better soldier.
To this, Krockow quotes the following Fritz letter: Dear Brother! Indeed I had not expected to receive a letter from you. However, since you've managed to sulk for six months and live in the same house with me without looking at me or talking to me, nothing surprises me anymore. However, I wasn't prepared for the project you are suggesting. I'm not opposed to you educating yourself. But given the little interest you're currently showing in patriotic military service doesn't seem promising to me regarding your future career in the field. Moreover, the habits in foreign armies are so different from ours that I don't see what you could possibly learn.
(Heinrich: probably tries to decide whether fratricide is a valid method for making AW king)
how close were Ulrike and AW?
Good grief. He was her favourite brother. Now he seems to have been everyone's favourite brother, other than Wilhelmine's, and he certainly had become her second favourite before the end, but Ulrike was just two years older than AW, so he was the brother she'd grown up with most, and when she married - but I need to paint a larger picture here.
U: About time! I've been cast as Rokoko Alexis Carrington Colby here, with no mention of what I had to put up with, and I'm not talking about Gustav threatening to send me home to Prussia if I didn't publically declare his little bastard wasn't a bastard. Pray do me justice now!
So: Sweden was actually a parliamentary monarchy at that time, meaning the role of Swedish royalty was mainly to represent, whereas true power was in the hand of parliament, with both nobles and middle class representatives.
Swedish parliament: Prussia under its new king seems to be something we need to keep an eye on. On the other hand, we've got our eternal feud with the Russians, so... how about marrying our crown prince to one of your sisters, new Prussian King?
Fritz: You can have Amalie or Ulrike. I'd take Amalie, she's nicer.
Swedish Parliament: That clearly means Amalie would be his biddable spy. We're taking Ulrike. She seems to have a will of her own.
U: Dear beloved brother Wilhelm, my new husband is alright, but would you believe bloody Fritz hasn't seen it fit to pay me my dowry yet? Dad left 30 O00 Taler to me in his last will. That's my money. Please make him forward my money!
AW: Fritz says he's fighting the second Silesian War and has no money to spare. I'll keep trying, but in the meantime, if your husband is fine and is about to become King, surely there are no financial worries?
U: Ha. You know who runs the show here? Nobles and peasants in parliament. They're deciding the budget for our household, not the King. And they keep cutting it down, because for some reason, they think I'm arrogant. I'm thinking I need to buy me some noble support. Now, is Fritz more willing to give me my money? Over here, we hear he's building himself a new palace!
AW: Sorry, couldn't write for a while, had to write to Heinrich and Wilhelmine instead. There's some family drama going on. I, um, let's just say you can try for yourself with Fritz regarding the money, but if you like, I'd totally take up credit with the banks to lend you some.
U: You're sweet, and yes, let's. Now, nobles of Sweden: I know you're for some weird reason into this parliament system, but what makes you think that if you keep treating burghers as if they actually had the same rights as you in government, they won't end up treating you like they do us already? All representation, no power? Think long and hard.
*new party in Sweden with nobles sympathetic to the Queen, or so she thinks* developes.
*some years later*
U: Dearest darling brother Wilhelm, you won't believe what just happened. Parliament insisted on examining my oldest kid Gustav, age 10, for his education. And now they've decided to fire his teacher and take over the education of all my kids, appointing teachers of their own. Could you PLEASE tell Fritz I need money to overthrow parliament?
AW: That's truly rotten. I'm horrified. And worried for you. Don't you have anyone to speak for you in parliament? Am, as ever, willing to lend you some of my own money.
U: Don't talk to me of parliament, some ingrates I financed in the past have just turned their back on me. If I send you the crown jewels as well as my own personal jewelry, could you sell it for me? I'm thinking I need money to raise an army. This is clearly a Charles I and Crowmell situation. I'm not losing my head to the bloody peasants.
(She did use those historical examples.)
AW: Charles I and Cromwell, seriously? "Dearest sister, I should hope that your cause is more just than that of Charles, and that you are far from the tyrannical frame of mind of Cromwell, who under the name of protector became one of the worst tyrants England ever had." (Literal quote.) Look, it sucks, but you did marry into a freedom-loving nation, and honestly - (Literal non paraphrased quote follows again): "If I was a Swedish senator, I would give the King the power to do good, but I would also use the laws to limit his authority to stop him from committing injustices. I would wish he'd be the first servant of the state, the most useful man of the kingdom, and if he worked the hardest, then he would be rewarded accordingly." This is not at all a hint for your husband to be more like Fritz and work harder. But I am sorry for that bit with your kids' teachers, and I promise I'll pawn your jewels for you. Not the crown jewels, though. I just think this is a bad idea.
U: *sends jewels, which get duly pawned by Wilhelm for her, except it turns out some of the jewelry consists of fakes, and the jeweller goes public with this*
Sweden: Scandal! What is the Queen up to pawning her jewelry in Prussia? Could she want to raise an army against parliament? And aren't those our jewels anyway?
U: No, they're mine, given to me at the time of my marriage. Unlike my bloody dowry, Fritz! I hate you all. Except you, Wilhelm. You're a bit naive, but you've been my only sympathetic ear in all of this.
Seven Years War: *breaks out*
U: Dear Wilhelm, please tell Fritz that parliament decided to join the alliance against him, and that it would never have happened if only he'd given me the money to overthrow them and reintroduce absolute monarchy in Sweden, so it is all HIS FAULT.
(Some years later, son Gustav actually does manage a state coup reintroducing absolute monarchy in Sweden. It's the one time he truly makes his mother happy. But alas, there's a scandal on the way....
ETA: Ulrike's "where's my money and my support?" thing of course also provides context for Ulrike's needlings in Wilhelmine's direction. From her pov: Wilhelmine's house burns down? Fritz provides money and art. Wilhelmine wants to travel to France and Italy, the very thing Fritz didn't allow his brothers and which is also expensive? Wilhelmine gets to do it, with Fritzian support. Wilhelmine pisses off Fritz by meeting with his arch nemesis? She gets forgiven. Meanwhile, Ulrike is nominally a queen and thus should be the most important sister, but has to pawn her jewelry, and then it even turns out either her father or her brother had given her fake jewelry back in the day.
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Re: Heinrich the Younger, AW's son
Date: 2019-11-25 06:36 am (UTC)In looking at the Henricus Major 1745/1746 correspondence, I find that Fritz also declined to let *him* go to war, age approximately 19.
I think that might be a misunderstanding? Because von Krockow in his double biography/portrait says Heinrich already distinguished himself in the Second Silesian War at the conquest of Prague (16 September 1744), battle of Hohenfriedberg (4th June 1745), and in the battle of Soor (September 30th 1745, the very day Franz Stephan got crowned as Emperor in Frankfurt), where Heinrich alredy commanded an infantry brigade in the rank of "Generalmajor". However, once the war was over, in 1746, he wanted to go on a Grand Tour through Europe instead of still doing military (peacetime) duty and comamnding the garnison in Spandau. (Which was his unwanted post-Silesia job that he neglected so he'd be allowed to go; that was what the argument with AW quoted earlier about Heinrich's character was about.) Fritz seems to have responded with "You're younger me, of course you don't get to go on the Grand Tour!" Heinrich then tries to sell the Grand Tour as a military educational tour, he's totally just going to check out every army and fortress in Europe to further become a better soldier.
To this, Krockow quotes the following Fritz letter: Dear Brother! Indeed I had not expected to receive a letter from you. However, since you've managed to sulk for six months and live in the same house with me without looking at me or talking to me, nothing surprises me anymore. However, I wasn't prepared for the project you are suggesting. I'm not opposed to you educating yourself. But given the little interest you're currently showing in patriotic military service doesn't seem promising to me regarding your future career in the field. Moreover, the habits in foreign armies are so different from ours that I don't see what you could possibly learn.
(Heinrich: probably tries to decide whether fratricide is a valid method for making AW king)
how close were Ulrike and AW?
Good grief. He was her favourite brother. Now he seems to have been everyone's favourite brother, other than Wilhelmine's, and he certainly had become her second favourite before the end, but Ulrike was just two years older than AW, so he was the brother she'd grown up with most, and when she married - but I need to paint a larger picture here.
U: About time! I've been cast as Rokoko Alexis Carrington Colby here, with no mention of what I had to put up with, and I'm not talking about Gustav threatening to send me home to Prussia if I didn't publically declare his little bastard wasn't a bastard. Pray do me justice now!
So: Sweden was actually a parliamentary monarchy at that time, meaning the role of Swedish royalty was mainly to represent, whereas true power was in the hand of parliament, with both nobles and middle class representatives.
Swedish parliament: Prussia under its new king seems to be something we need to keep an eye on. On the other hand, we've got our eternal feud with the Russians, so... how about marrying our crown prince to one of your sisters, new Prussian King?
Fritz: You can have Amalie or Ulrike. I'd take Amalie, she's nicer.
Swedish Parliament: That clearly means Amalie would be his biddable spy. We're taking Ulrike. She seems to have a will of her own.
U: Dear beloved brother Wilhelm, my new husband is alright, but would you believe bloody Fritz hasn't seen it fit to pay me my dowry yet? Dad left 30 O00 Taler to me in his last will. That's my money. Please make him forward my money!
AW: Fritz says he's fighting the second Silesian War and has no money to spare. I'll keep trying, but in the meantime, if your husband is fine and is about to become King, surely there are no financial worries?
U: Ha. You know who runs the show here? Nobles and peasants in parliament. They're deciding the budget for our household, not the King. And they keep cutting it down, because for some reason, they think I'm arrogant. I'm thinking I need to buy me some noble support. Now, is Fritz more willing to give me my money? Over here, we hear he's building himself a new palace!
AW: Sorry, couldn't write for a while, had to write to Heinrich and Wilhelmine instead. There's some family drama going on. I, um, let's just say you can try for yourself with Fritz regarding the money, but if you like, I'd totally take up credit with the banks to lend you some.
U: You're sweet, and yes, let's. Now, nobles of Sweden: I know you're for some weird reason into this parliament system, but what makes you think that if you keep treating burghers as if they actually had the same rights as you in government, they won't end up treating you like they do us already? All representation, no power? Think long and hard.
*new party in Sweden with nobles sympathetic to the Queen, or so she thinks* developes.
*some years later*
U: Dearest darling brother Wilhelm, you won't believe what just happened. Parliament insisted on examining my oldest kid Gustav, age 10, for his education. And now they've decided to fire his teacher and take over the education of all my kids, appointing teachers of their own. Could you PLEASE tell Fritz I need money
to overthrow parliament?AW: That's truly rotten. I'm horrified. And worried for you. Don't you have anyone to speak for you in parliament? Am, as ever, willing to lend you some of my own money.
U: Don't talk to me of parliament, some ingrates I financed in the past have just turned their back on me. If I send you the crown jewels as well as my own personal jewelry, could you sell it for me? I'm thinking I need money to raise an army. This is clearly a Charles I and Crowmell situation. I'm not losing my head to the bloody peasants.
(She did use those historical examples.)
AW: Charles I and Cromwell, seriously? "Dearest sister, I should hope that your cause is more just than that of Charles, and that you are far from the tyrannical frame of mind of Cromwell, who under the name of protector became one of the worst tyrants England ever had." (Literal quote.) Look, it sucks, but you did marry into a freedom-loving nation, and honestly - (Literal non paraphrased quote follows again): "If I was a Swedish senator, I would give the King the power to do good, but I would also use the laws to limit his authority to stop him from committing injustices. I would wish he'd be the first servant of the state, the most useful man of the kingdom, and if he worked the hardest, then he would be rewarded accordingly." This is not at all a hint for your husband to be more like Fritz and work harder. But I am sorry for that bit with your kids' teachers, and I promise I'll pawn your jewels for you. Not the crown jewels, though. I just think this is a bad idea.
U: *sends jewels, which get duly pawned by Wilhelm for her, except it turns out some of the jewelry consists of fakes, and the jeweller goes public with this*
Sweden: Scandal! What is the Queen up to pawning her jewelry in Prussia? Could she want to raise an army against parliament? And aren't those our jewels anyway?
U: No, they're mine, given to me at the time of my marriage. Unlike my bloody dowry, Fritz! I hate you all. Except you, Wilhelm. You're a bit naive, but you've been my only sympathetic ear in all of this.
Seven Years War: *breaks out*
U: Dear Wilhelm, please tell Fritz that parliament decided to join the alliance against him, and that it would never have happened if only he'd given me the money to overthrow them and reintroduce absolute monarchy in Sweden, so it is all HIS FAULT.
(Some years later, son Gustav actually does manage a state coup reintroducing absolute monarchy in Sweden. It's the one time he truly makes his mother happy. But alas, there's a scandal on the way....
ETA: Ulrike's "where's my money and my support?" thing of course also provides context for Ulrike's needlings in Wilhelmine's direction. From her pov: Wilhelmine's house burns down? Fritz provides money and art. Wilhelmine wants to travel to France and Italy, the very thing Fritz didn't allow his brothers and which is also expensive? Wilhelmine gets to do it, with Fritzian support. Wilhelmine pisses off Fritz by meeting with his arch nemesis? She gets forgiven. Meanwhile, Ulrike is nominally a queen and thus should be the most important sister, but has to pawn her jewelry, and then it even turns out either her father or her brother had given her fake jewelry back in the day.