1.) Plausible reason for Rothenbourg being recalled from Madrid other than ill health so he can be in the Alsace with Fritz while Fritz' presence is still kept a secret: Austrians (and Lorraine!) to the rescue!
I like it! I've also found another source saying that Rothenburg was sent *back* to Spain in late 1730 and arrived in early 1731. Supposedly after leaving in 1728. Now, if Kloosterhuis and his sources can be trusted, Katte was visiting Rothenburg in Madrid in early 1729. So either my other source is unreliable, or we don't need an AU to have him be in France in mid 1730. But I do still need an explanation, since Katte's expecting him to be in Madrid, and when he gets to Madrid, no one knows for sure why Rothenburg left, or whether he's even in France or not. So I can use your Lorraine idea. (You will get lots of credit in any author's notes, if this ever goes live. <3)
2.) Hmmmm, this is really tricky, because I don't think FW would marry her off if he still thinks Fritz is out there and could be blackmailed into coming back.
Yeah, I've been struggling with this too. That said, I have been assuming that with Fritz lying low, there are rumors of his death, and he might overtly fake it (with French help) in order to protect his mother and Wilhelmine from further repercussions. Thus leading FW to marry off Wilhelmine. Wilhelmine, believing her brother dead because he couldn't possibly be silent for that long (she has a point--I'm going to show that it's a huge struggle and goes against his nature, and is a sign of his love for her), must be sooo depressed. I was hoping to leave her Sonsine, and Sonsine talks her into the marriage as a prospect for a brighter future as opposed to nihilism.
Because everything needs to happen quickly, he's willing to let the marriage happen at the groom's place as opposed to letting the groom come to Berlin, as in rl. En route, it's escape time for Wilhelmine.
Nice! I was wondering if it was plausible at all for FW to let her get married in Bayreuth, so she could disappear en route, and I was hoping you would say it was. Wonderful!
ETA: have thought of someone who could switch places and clothing with Wilhelmine in 1731 to allow her escape, demonstrably a courageous person not afraid to go up against FW, and one with a shot of not getting executed for this by FW: Johanna von Pannewitz!
OMG, you're the best! I love this. Let's do it.
You probably don't want to enlarge your cast, but: how about Keyserlingk hightailing it out of Prussia, given that FW will look to throw blame at everyone within reach, and ending up chez R. as well, whom he presumably knowns from old Berlin times?
So, every time I try to write Crown Prince Fritz, I run up against a total mental block against writing Keyserlingk--but! I have an idea for something even more plausible that I *could* write.
In real life, when FW was punishing everyone in sight, who actually was banished (to East Prussia)? Fritz's tutor Duhan, who had helped him put together that huge secret library and taught him many illicit things. And Fritz couldn't get him recalled until he became king, so he was never one of the Rheinsberg crowd. Instead, Fritz used his pull as Crown Prince to get Duhan some income in exile from a third party, and wrote him letters promising better things once he was on the throne.
So Duhan can hightail it out of Prussia. Maybe get a job tutoring some family member of Rothenburg in Alsace (arranged by Rothenburg), and visit Fritz secretly. He's in practice giving Fritz secret education, after all!
Oh, and Sonsine better leaves pronto, too.
The plan has been not to let Wilhelmine and Sonsine get separated, ever. This is meant to be a fix-it fic! And with Wilhelmine thinking, however briefly, that her brother is dead, she's going to need major comforting.
Hmm, maybe she can find out sooner rather than later, agree to the marriage early on to get her out of Dad's reach, and then arrange her disappearance en route, changing clothes with Frau von Pannewitz (my hero). International rescue conspiracy!
Man, FW is going to be So. Mad. Does he actually invade Alsace? :P
Re: Count Rothenburg (the French one)
I like it! I've also found another source saying that Rothenburg was sent *back* to Spain in late 1730 and arrived in early 1731. Supposedly after leaving in 1728. Now, if Kloosterhuis and his sources can be trusted, Katte was visiting Rothenburg in Madrid in early 1729. So either my other source is unreliable, or we don't need an AU to have him be in France in mid 1730. But I do still need an explanation, since Katte's expecting him to be in Madrid, and when he gets to Madrid, no one knows for sure why Rothenburg left, or whether he's even in France or not. So I can use your Lorraine idea. (You will get lots of credit in any author's notes, if this ever goes live. <3)
2.) Hmmmm, this is really tricky, because I don't think FW would marry her off if he still thinks Fritz is out there and could be blackmailed into coming back.
Yeah, I've been struggling with this too. That said, I have been assuming that with Fritz lying low, there are rumors of his death, and he might overtly fake it (with French help) in order to protect his mother and Wilhelmine from further repercussions. Thus leading FW to marry off Wilhelmine. Wilhelmine, believing her brother dead because he couldn't possibly be silent for that long (she has a point--I'm going to show that it's a huge struggle and goes against his nature, and is a sign of his love for her), must be sooo depressed. I was hoping to leave her Sonsine, and Sonsine talks her into the marriage as a prospect for a brighter future as opposed to nihilism.
Because everything needs to happen quickly, he's willing to let the marriage happen at the groom's place as opposed to letting the groom come to Berlin, as in rl. En route, it's escape time for Wilhelmine.
Nice! I was wondering if it was plausible at all for FW to let her get married in Bayreuth, so she could disappear en route, and I was hoping you would say it was. Wonderful!
ETA: have thought of someone who could switch places and clothing with Wilhelmine in 1731 to allow her escape, demonstrably a courageous person not afraid to go up against FW, and one with a shot of not getting executed for this by FW: Johanna von Pannewitz!
OMG, you're the best! I love this. Let's do it.
You probably don't want to enlarge your cast, but: how about Keyserlingk hightailing it out of Prussia, given that FW will look to throw blame at everyone within reach, and ending up chez R. as well, whom he presumably knowns from old Berlin times?
So, every time I try to write Crown Prince Fritz, I run up against a total mental block against writing Keyserlingk--but! I have an idea for something even more plausible that I *could* write.
In real life, when FW was punishing everyone in sight, who actually was banished (to East Prussia)? Fritz's tutor Duhan, who had helped him put together that huge secret library and taught him many illicit things. And Fritz couldn't get him recalled until he became king, so he was never one of the Rheinsberg crowd. Instead, Fritz used his pull as Crown Prince to get Duhan some income in exile from a third party, and wrote him letters promising better things once he was on the throne.
So Duhan can hightail it out of Prussia. Maybe get a job tutoring some family member of Rothenburg in Alsace (arranged by Rothenburg), and visit Fritz secretly. He's in practice giving Fritz secret education, after all!
Oh, and Sonsine better leaves pronto, too.
The plan has been not to let Wilhelmine and Sonsine get separated, ever. This is meant to be a fix-it fic! And with Wilhelmine thinking, however briefly, that her brother is dead, she's going to need major comforting.
Hmm, maybe she can find out sooner rather than later, agree to the marriage early on to get her out of Dad's reach, and then arrange her disappearance en route, changing clothes with Frau von Pannewitz (my hero). International rescue conspiracy!
Man, FW is going to be So. Mad. Does he actually invade Alsace? :P
Unresolved thread: the aborted marriage. Judging by Wilhelmine's memoirs, she didn't want to break her sworn word to the future Margrave, *but*, she also didn't have a very good reason to do so (like "I can join not-dead-after-all Fritz in exile!"), and also, her fiancé seemed willing to let her off the hook rather than make her unhappy. So I think maybe we're okay there.
This is great, thanks! I think maybe with Lorraine, Duhan, and Frau von Pannewitz, I can do this!
(Okay, now I seriously have to leave the computer. More comments to come!)