, how on earth Fritz would have been satisfied with Heinrich buying him Meseberg as technically satisfying the terms of the conditions
Well, the basic idea of buying Meseberg (which wasn't just the palace but considerable estates) for Kaphengst according to Ziebura was to make him financially independent, which if Kaphengst had any idea about how to run an estate and any restraint whatsoever it would have done. I see the wiki footnote compares the gift to Fritz giving Fredersdorf Zernikow; that comparison shows of course how terrible Kaphengst was, because Meseberg is where Germany puts its foreign guests of state today; Zernikow was and is still a country house. And the estate was then considerably smaller. Yet Fredersdorf managed to make it thrive, big time.
The thing that makes *me* doubt is, as I've alluded to, Fritz taking Heinrich's defiance lying down
Just idly speculating here: as long as Heinrich keeps having these money spending boyfriends like Kaphengst, he'll also be dependent on Fritz. If 1774 is a correct date, Heinrich has in the last four years had great success in his Russia trips, proving that he's not just a good general, he's a good diplomat. He's got a good international reputation (see also the Poles considering him as King in 1764 and Catherine wanting him to become her satrap in Wallachia). And Fritz was paranoid about "princes of the blood" (read: his brothers) getting uppity already in his 1752 political testament, at a point when Heinrich hadn't done anything other than mouth off and was without any reputation abroad.
So maybe he had mixed feelings about the entire Kaphengst situation. On the one hand, the man is clearly no good for Heinrich on either the personal or the professional level, and a potential danger in case young not yet FW2 dies and so do his even younger children. On the other, the one thing marring Heinrich's general good reputation abroad is that he has these extravagant favourites (see Frau Bielke writing to Catherine in 1766 in her "pity he didn't marry you back then" letter about "the rumors darkening his fame", and the French courtiers who meet him when he finally makes it to Paris being surprised because they heard about the "dominated by his favourites" thing and didn't expect him to be smart and determined); and during their terse 1746 late "first you don't talk to me for six months, now you want me to let you go on the Grand Tour?" letter exchange Fritz wrote that the one thing Heinrich needs him for is to bail him out with his money spending romances. So the existence of Kaphengst also gives Fritz the upper hand over Heinrich, at least in his own mind.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Re: Not his type?
Date: 2020-07-20 07:09 am (UTC)Well, the basic idea of buying Meseberg (which wasn't just the palace but considerable estates) for Kaphengst according to Ziebura was to make him financially independent, which if Kaphengst had any idea about how to run an estate and any restraint whatsoever it would have done. I see the wiki footnote compares the gift to Fritz giving Fredersdorf Zernikow; that comparison shows of course how terrible Kaphengst was, because Meseberg is where Germany puts its foreign guests of state today; Zernikow was and is still a country house. And the estate was then considerably smaller. Yet Fredersdorf managed to make it thrive, big time.
The thing that makes *me* doubt is, as I've alluded to, Fritz taking Heinrich's defiance lying down
Just idly speculating here: as long as Heinrich keeps having these money spending boyfriends like Kaphengst, he'll also be dependent on Fritz. If 1774 is a correct date, Heinrich has in the last four years had great success in his Russia trips, proving that he's not just a good general, he's a good diplomat. He's got a good international reputation (see also the Poles considering him as King in 1764 and Catherine wanting him to become her satrap in Wallachia). And Fritz was paranoid about "princes of the blood" (read: his brothers) getting uppity already in his 1752 political testament, at a point when Heinrich hadn't done anything other than mouth off and was without any reputation abroad.
So maybe he had mixed feelings about the entire Kaphengst situation. On the one hand, the man is clearly no good for Heinrich on either the personal or the professional level, and a potential danger in case young not yet FW2 dies and so do his even younger children. On the other, the one thing marring Heinrich's general good reputation abroad is that he has these extravagant favourites (see Frau Bielke writing to Catherine in 1766 in her "pity he didn't marry you back then" letter about "the rumors darkening his fame", and the French courtiers who meet him when he finally makes it to Paris being surprised because they heard about the "dominated by his favourites" thing and didn't expect him to be smart and determined); and during their terse 1746 late "first you don't talk to me for six months, now you want me to let you go on the Grand Tour?" letter exchange Fritz wrote that the one thing Heinrich needs him for is to bail him out with his money spending romances. So the existence of Kaphengst also gives Fritz the upper hand over Heinrich, at least in his own mind.