Peter. I imagine not just his wife but also any new friends would sooner or later ask, so, how come if the King and you were bffs once upon a time, you're not hanging out these days?
English manners: as it so happens, there's a corresponding passage where Lehndorff kindly illuminates for us what he means, because an Englishman says about Charlotte's two sons when they're visiting Berlin that they are "nice boys" - "nette Jungs" - which says Lehndorff only an Englishman would manage to pull off whithout coming across as insulting. So: informal. Remember, the Prussian court is still going by Ancien Regime France etiquette where what to us sounds just like a normal casual comment would simply not be made. (By courtiers. Of Course Fritz makes all kinds of comments all the time.) (So does Voltaire.) Seems the English court Comes across as way more relaxed.
I guess the 19th century provides a switcheroo, in that post revolution France, no matter whether Empire or Restoration or Republic, is now the informal court while the Brits have learned to make the stiff upper lip their national image.
(This is one of the many things striking if you study the Charles II in England - Louis XIV in France era. The Brits are the informal ones seen as unable to control their emo or hilarity. The French are the top of etiquette and of course political power. The stiff upper lip really is a relatively recent phenomenon in Britannia.)
Re: Peter Keith - aha!
Peter. I imagine not just his wife but also any new friends would sooner or later ask, so, how come if the King and you were bffs once upon a time, you're not hanging out these days?
English manners: as it so happens, there's a corresponding passage where Lehndorff kindly illuminates for us what he means, because an Englishman says about Charlotte's two sons when they're visiting Berlin that they are "nice boys" - "nette Jungs" - which says Lehndorff only an Englishman would manage to pull off whithout coming across as insulting. So: informal. Remember, the Prussian court is still going by Ancien Regime France etiquette where what to us sounds just like a normal casual comment would simply not be made. (By courtiers. Of Course Fritz makes all kinds of comments all the time.) (So does Voltaire.) Seems the English court Comes across as way more relaxed.
I guess the 19th century provides a switcheroo, in that post revolution France, no matter whether Empire or Restoration or Republic, is now the informal court while the Brits have learned to make the stiff upper lip their national image.
(This is one of the many things striking if you study the Charles II in England - Louis XIV in France era. The Brits are the informal ones seen as unable to control their emo or hilarity. The French are the top of etiquette and of course political power. The stiff upper lip really is a relatively recent phenomenon in Britannia.)