Oh, FS as a free mason is actually one of the few historical nods in this whole ahistorical soap. He became one during his Grand Tour. In 1731 he was initiated into freemasonry (Grand Lodge of England) by John Theophilus Desaguliers at a specially convened lodge in The Hague at the house of the British Ambassador, Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield. During a subsequent visit to England, FS was made a Master Mason at another specially convened lodge at Houghton Hall, the Norfolk estate of British Prime Minister Robert Walpole. (The one whose son was later making the “the most shameless robbers” crack about the Partitioning of Poland (but not the aquiring of India.) )
The idea of FS using the freemasons to secretly trade equipment to Prussia , the profit of which goes into supplying the Austrian army, and that this whole thing isn’t presented as amoral war profiteering but a clever scheme to get the Austrian army better equipped is still absolutely nuts,and as ooc as MT having a one night stand and rethinking her atititude to human sexuality and marital fidelity. She is presented as shocked when FS tells her he’s a freemason but that comes a second before he confesses to the supplying Fritz with army material, so the later gets the outburst. Which she’s presented as being in the wrong to be upset about. Like I said: the scriptwriter’s logic is not earth logic.
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Re: The Suhm Letters: Franz Stephan
Date: 2020-01-13 06:57 am (UTC)The idea of FS using the freemasons to secretly trade equipment to Prussia , the profit of which goes into supplying the Austrian army, and that this whole thing isn’t presented as amoral war profiteering but a clever scheme to get the Austrian army better equipped is still absolutely nuts,and as ooc as MT having a one night stand and rethinking her atititude to human sexuality and marital fidelity. She is presented as shocked when FS tells her he’s a freemason but that comes a second before he confesses to the supplying Fritz with army material, so the later gets the outburst. Which she’s presented as being in the wrong to be upset about. Like I said: the scriptwriter’s logic is not earth logic.