Like I said, unless I've forgotten a direct quote, I took this as Ziebura's personal interpretation of the situation, especially given how life turned out for either sister, rather than a stated intention of Heinrich's.
Mina's sister: Caroline, married AnhaltSophie's younger brother Friedrich August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst a year after Mina had married Heinrich (i.e. they married in 1753). Was terrorized by her mother-in-law Johanna and ill treated by her husband. When the 7 Years War started, Anhalt-Zerbst declared neutrality. Fritz said "I don't think so". Johanna was currently hosting the Marquis de Freigne who was indeed supposed to find out via her (who, remember, was the mother of future Catherine the Great) whether Russia was on board with the anti Prussia coalition. This was Fritz' official reason to send Major von Kleist to occupy the country. Johanna fled to Paris, Friedrich August to a couple of exile locations, and poor Caroline died in misery and I think childbed in 1759. Lehndorff does mention the Anhalt-Zerbst situation a couple of times, including that "the young princess" i.e. Caroline, got constantly tyrannized by "the old princess" i.e. Johanna and abused by her husband. He might have heared about it from Mina, who visited her sister a couple of times, and got visited by her, and up to Caroline's death (i.e. 1759) certainly would have considered herself as the more fortunate.
Friedrich August didn't bother to come back after the 7 Years War but mostly lived in Basel, Switzerland. He ruled his country via ministers who thoroughly exploited it, and to get some additional cash sold his regiments to the Brits in the American War of Independence. (Which several German princes did, including Carl Eugen, remember, I told you when we had one of our earliest Schiller conversations.) He also married again. Worthy of note: he wasn't welcome in Russia. From what I recall from my hasty browsing through the memoirs, Catherine's feelings for her brother were less than warm.
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Re: No Pity for the Wives readthrough - Intro
Date: 2020-09-12 08:01 am (UTC)Mina's sister: Caroline, married AnhaltSophie's younger brother Friedrich August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst a year after Mina had married Heinrich (i.e. they married in 1753). Was terrorized by her mother-in-law Johanna and ill treated by her husband. When the 7 Years War started, Anhalt-Zerbst declared neutrality. Fritz said "I don't think so". Johanna was currently hosting the Marquis de Freigne who was indeed supposed to find out via her (who, remember, was the mother of future Catherine the Great) whether Russia was on board with the anti Prussia coalition. This was Fritz' official reason to send Major von Kleist to occupy the country. Johanna fled to Paris, Friedrich August to a couple of exile locations, and poor Caroline died in misery and I think childbed in 1759. Lehndorff does mention the Anhalt-Zerbst situation a couple of times, including that "the young princess" i.e. Caroline, got constantly tyrannized by "the old princess" i.e. Johanna and abused by her husband. He might have heared about it from Mina, who visited her sister a couple of times, and got visited by her, and up to Caroline's death (i.e. 1759) certainly would have considered herself as the more fortunate.
Friedrich August didn't bother to come back after the 7 Years War but mostly lived in Basel, Switzerland. He ruled his country via ministers who thoroughly exploited it, and to get some additional cash sold his regiments to the Brits in the American War of Independence. (Which several German princes did, including Carl Eugen, remember, I told you when we had one of our earliest Schiller conversations.) He also married again. Worthy of note: he wasn't welcome in Russia. From what I recall from my hasty browsing through the memoirs, Catherine's feelings for her brother were less than warm.