Can you *imagine* if he got his hands on his memoirs after she died?
Maximum angst. I mean, Wilhelmine's method of venting and self therapy - secretly writing memoirs and not secretly writing operas, complete with giving the one with a killed mother to Mom at her birthday - was definitely less damaging than Fritz' methods but those memoirs were a ticking time bomb. Though I can understand why she didn't go back to them for a rewrite post 1746/1747, when she was reconciled with Fritz and had made up with her husband. (They really end rather abruptly mid first visit with the new Würtemberg in-laws, just after Wilhelmine has deduced the Margrave is cheating on her with Marwitz, and there's no indication that this was a planned ending.) Best not go through that time again, etc; I'm also glad she didn't destroy them, because then where would we be? But it's a good, good thing Fritz never read them.
I can't stop thinking of Wilhelmine recording that she and their mother were the only thing that motivated Fritz to live after Katte's death. Now he's trying to use himself to motivate her to stay alive.
That's why I had them both remember in different stories that they promised each other to never ever die. Incidentally, Lehndorff, who didn't know Wilhelmine very well - just through her Berlin visits in the early 1750s - but of course had heard about her, reports the news of Hochkirch, EC's brother Franz' death, Keith's death and Wilhelmine's death arriving at EC's court pretty much all at once, and his entry offers a pen portrait/mini obituary for all of them from his pov:
Prince Franz, our Queen's brother, has remained on the Hochkirch field. She has been told the news by Count Finkck and is devastated. He was the youngest in her family and entered our - i.e. Prussia's - service early, since he was trained under the eyes of his cousin the Duke of Bevern in Stettin. He was with his regiment in Königsberg in der Mark. He was an able officer, dutiful in service and brave. Tall of figure, he had an ugly face marked by smallbox scars, and he stuttered so badly that you could hardly understand him. The greatest lost is that of Marshal Keith. He's entered our service ca. 1748 and received 10 000 Taler salary by the King. He had an arresting face, was interesting company and always got invited to the intimate suppers the King held. He didn't value splendor and magnificence very much and gave nearly all his income to his mistress, a Finnish woman named Eva. She had an excellent figure, a quick mind and graceful behaviour, and she fancied an expensive life style. While she used his horses and his cook, he used a public carriage and had his food brought to him from a small cookshop. In our army, he experienced some slights. He could only express himself badly in German, and he was accused of handling his operations too slowly. The late Prince of Prussia loved and appreciated him. His older brother, the Scottish marshal, who is a very different man, was wood into our service by him. That same evening, Princess Amalie received news of the death of the Margravine of Bayreuth via an express messenger. This princess had been sick for nearly a year, and not really healthy through the past decade; it was, Princess Amalie said, her willpower which had kept her alive. The war, her worries for the King and the loss of the Prince of Prussia used up her remaining life force. Of all the King's sisters, she was the one most like him in mind and heart. She felt only comfortable among famous people, loved magnificence, adored the theatre and composed operas herself. She always wore jewelry and used make up - Lehndorff writes "white and red", but that's what he means - despite denying that she did. Above all she was gracious and always kept her word. Her people did not love her much and claimed that she disliked the small principality and her husbands' subjects. This princess had been born for a throne, just not for the status of a Margravine of Bayreuth.
Re: One admiring reader comments
Maximum angst. I mean, Wilhelmine's method of venting and self therapy - secretly writing memoirs and not secretly writing operas, complete with giving the one with a killed mother to Mom at her birthday - was definitely less damaging than Fritz' methods but those memoirs were a ticking time bomb. Though I can understand why she didn't go back to them for a rewrite post 1746/1747, when she was reconciled with Fritz and had made up with her husband. (They really end rather abruptly mid first visit with the new Würtemberg in-laws, just after Wilhelmine has deduced the Margrave is cheating on her with Marwitz, and there's no indication that this was a planned ending.) Best not go through that time again, etc; I'm also glad she didn't destroy them, because then where would we be? But it's a good, good thing Fritz never read them.
I can't stop thinking of Wilhelmine recording that she and their mother were the only thing that motivated Fritz to live after Katte's death. Now he's trying to use himself to motivate her to stay alive.
That's why I had them both remember in different stories that they promised each other to never ever die. Incidentally, Lehndorff, who didn't know Wilhelmine very well - just through her Berlin visits in the early 1750s - but of course had heard about her, reports the news of Hochkirch, EC's brother Franz' death, Keith's death and Wilhelmine's death arriving at EC's court pretty much all at once, and his entry offers a pen portrait/mini obituary for all of them from his pov:
Prince Franz, our Queen's brother, has remained on the Hochkirch field. She has been told the news by Count Finkck and is devastated. He was the youngest in her family and entered our - i.e. Prussia's - service early, since he was trained under the eyes of his cousin the Duke of Bevern in Stettin. He was with his regiment in Königsberg in der Mark. He was an able officer, dutiful in service and brave. Tall of figure, he had an ugly face marked by smallbox scars, and he stuttered so badly that you could hardly understand him.
The greatest lost is that of Marshal Keith. He's entered our service ca. 1748 and received 10 000 Taler salary by the King. He had an arresting face, was interesting company and always got invited to the intimate suppers the King held. He didn't value splendor and magnificence very much and gave nearly all his income to his mistress, a Finnish woman named Eva. She had an excellent figure, a quick mind and graceful behaviour, and she fancied an expensive life style. While she used his horses and his cook, he used a public carriage and had his food brought to him from a small cookshop. In our army, he experienced some slights. He could only express himself badly in German, and he was accused of handling his operations too slowly. The late Prince of Prussia loved and appreciated him. His older brother, the Scottish marshal, who is a very different man, was wood into our service by him.
That same evening, Princess Amalie received news of the death of the Margravine of Bayreuth via an express messenger. This princess had been sick for nearly a year, and not really healthy through the past decade; it was, Princess Amalie said, her willpower which had kept her alive. The war, her worries for the King and the loss of the Prince of Prussia used up her remaining life force. Of all the King's sisters, she was the one most like him in mind and heart. She felt only comfortable among famous people, loved magnificence, adored the theatre and composed operas herself. She always wore jewelry and used make up - Lehndorff writes "white and red", but that's what he means - despite denying that she did. Above all she was gracious and always kept her word. Her people did not love her much and claimed that she disliked the small principality and her husbands' subjects. This princess had been born for a throne, just not for the status of a Margravine of Bayreuth.