cahn | Frederick the Great discussion post 11

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In our last installment, our heroes found that Henri de Catt's memoirs, a major source for current biographers of Frederick the Great, are not to be trusted!!

rheinsberg

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From:

selenak

Mitchell: No, Lord Bute did not say "His majesty's government isn't there to endlessly finance the King's of Prussia's wars", he just sort of hinted that maybe, in the light of the glorious new developments in Russia, some slight reduction of subsidies might be possible.

Podewils: No, King Friedrich totally did not call you a henpecked husband, adding a man without power has no purpose on this earth. That's all slander. Just - look, you really liked the salmon, right?

Valory: No, it's totally untrue the King called you the Margrave of Brandenburg and handed over all his correspondance with you to Madame de Pompadour. Also, the next time you're pinching my reader, be as good as to leave me out of the porn you're writing about him.

Seckendorff: In MY day, we didn't bother with denials. We faked smoking and getting drunk with the King instead and smuggled our books into Wusterhausen by using bible covers. And if we got accused of trying to poison the King or Queen, we just shrugged and ordered some more tall fellows from Wallachia. Young people these days...

From:

mildred_of_midgard

Podewils: No, King Friedrich totally did not call you a henpecked husband, adding a man without power has no purpose on this earth. That's all slander. Just - look, you really liked the salmon, right?

Oh, man, I'd forgotten what Fritz said about his own upcoming marriage, in 1732.

I shall be the master in my own house and my wife will have nothing to say in the matter, for women should have no role in government or in anything else either! I believe that a man who allows himself to be governed by women is the greatest poltroon in the world and unworthy to bear the honorable name of man.

I hope you enjoyed the salmon while it lasted, Franzl.

Just - look, you really liked the salmon, right?

Laughed SO hard.

Also, the next time you're pinching my reader, be as good as to leave me out of the porn you're writing about him.

And again!

Seckendorff: In MY day, we didn't bother with denials. We faked smoking

Hahaha.

cahn, did we tell you about the part where Seckendorff would attend FW's tobacco parliament and put his pipe between his lips and puff on it with every evidence of enjoyment, but he was really just faking smoking? (And breathing a lot of secondhand smoke in the bargain?) And we know about the book smuggling (at least from an unreliable source citing an unreliable source), and he actually did drink as much as he needed to, and apparently had a good head for it, but a *lot* of hangovers (if my sources can be trusted, sometimes his reports to Vienna would recount a long night and end with "I'm not up to writing more right now").

Seriously, this is why, when we were speculating about who tops and who bottoms, we concluded that Seckendorff would do whatever it took to advance the cause of Seckendorff.

Hmm, MacDonogh tells me Pöllnitz and the Alte Dessauer also did not enjoy smoking. The latter surprises me. I might have to look this up and see if his source actually says what he says it says.

Anyway, it's a rough life being an ambassador! Whether you're Prussian, British, French, or Austrian. And between Rothenburg desperately seeking his recall for years, and Suhm running away (with his family! according to one source) when FW threatened to hang him over those tall fellows...

Man. Hats off to you and all your underappreciated work, guys! Thanks for all the reports. You're fascinating in peace time and war time.

From:

cahn

Noooooo, you didn't, lol!

But totally agree with it being rough to be an ambassador!

From:

mildred_of_midgard

I didn't think we had, so I thought now was a good time to mention it!

From:

cahn

OMG this is GREAT, ohh these poor ambassadors!

in the light of the glorious new developments in Russia, some slight reduction of subsidies might be possible.

HAHAHAHAHA diplomacy, that is to say, "His majesty's government isn't there to endlessly finance the King of Prussia's wars," amirite?

look, you really liked the salmon, right?

Heeee, I laughed really hard :D

And if we got accused of trying to poison the King or Queen, we just shrugged and ordered some more tall fellows from Wallachia.

*chokes* I'd almost forgotten about that incident in Wilhelmine's memoirs! Ah, indeed, those were the days. :P