Oh, I'm sure Fritz was unhappy about her not being a queen and thought she married beneath her. I'm just not on board with the idea that he stopped caring about her because she wasn't going to be a queen, and he was only interested in queens.
Fritz gets told the King will be displeased if he doesn't keep a distance to Wilhelmine, and Wilhelmine gets told it's all due to Fritz and the King is really rooting for her.
Agreed, but then Fritz gets told not to be so cold toward her, by the same person (indirectly) who told him to set up boundaries. So if this account is correct, he's definitely getting mixed messages from above. I agree it's deliberate, my "make up your mind" was from Fritz's POV.
Because there's obviously been a lifelong policy of separating them, even predating Küstrin, and yes, that letter where he's to be told no one in Berlin cares just makes me so angry. As does Lavisse's, "The problem isn't FW, the problem is that Fritz doesn't actually care about anything except his future greatness! Which I, as a post-Franco-Prussian War Frenchman, have some Opinions about."
So: I think the best one can say is that Grumbkow & FW temporarily succeeded in that they did introduce some emotional enstrangement, but they never managed complete separation, and eventually the two found each other again.
Agreed. Those poor kids. :(
And then Fritz has to go and isolate his nephew in turn. Which I don't think is roleplaying à la forcing Heinrich to get married, but just straightforward control issues that happen to display a complete lack of empathy for someone being put through something that he should remember caused him pain.
Anna Amalia, Mom of the Year despite not having had one, you are kind of amazing.
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Re: Fritz and Wilhelmine
Fritz gets told the King will be displeased if he doesn't keep a distance to Wilhelmine, and Wilhelmine gets told it's all due to Fritz and the King is really rooting for her.
Agreed, but then Fritz gets told not to be so cold toward her, by the same person (indirectly) who told him to set up boundaries. So if this account is correct, he's definitely getting mixed messages from above. I agree it's deliberate, my "make up your mind" was from Fritz's POV.
Because there's obviously been a lifelong policy of separating them, even predating Küstrin, and yes, that letter where he's to be told no one in Berlin cares just makes me so angry. As does Lavisse's, "The problem isn't FW, the problem is that Fritz doesn't actually care about anything except his future greatness! Which I, as a post-Franco-Prussian War Frenchman, have some Opinions about."
So: I think the best one can say is that Grumbkow & FW temporarily succeeded in that they did introduce some emotional enstrangement, but they never managed complete separation, and eventually the two found each other again.
Agreed. Those poor kids. :(
And then Fritz has to go and isolate his nephew in turn. Which I don't think is roleplaying à la forcing Heinrich to get married, but just straightforward control issues that happen to display a complete lack of empathy for someone being put through something that he should remember caused him pain.
Anna Amalia, Mom of the Year despite not having had one, you are kind of amazing.