I mean, Hervey by no means makes this hostility within the Royal family up. The other bitchy memoirist of the period, Walpole, backs him up there, with the one significant difference that Walpole claims Caroline sent a secret message to Fritz of Wales on her deathbed that she forgives him (so she could die in peace), but that she couldn't allow him in her presence because it would upset G2, whereas Hervey is insistent Caroline hated her eldest till her dying breath. And of course just as with the arguments between G1 and G2, the ones between FoW and his parents made it into various ambassadorial reports. Where I'm a tad sceptical is Hervey's analysis of his own motives, but not in the sense that he's consciously lying.
Now, FoW even when you assume bias was by no means fault-free, but it's the divergence between the rethoric employed - the authors of the "Hephaistion" essay point out Hervey's decriptions occasionally borrow from Tacitus on Tiberius and Nero - and what's actually there that is so startling. Rethoric aside, what FoW is guilty of:
- pre-marriage, having mistresses, as most bachalor (or married) princes, FW aside, did. Possibly also post marriage, depending on whether you think he and Lady Archivald Hamilton had a thing and kept carrying on. (BTW, her wiki entry lists her as his mistress, whereas her son's wiki entry is far more cautious and says "possible", as in: His mother was a favourite, and possibly a mistress, of the Prince of Wales and William grew up with his son George III, who would call him his "foster brother". (Citation given here, a biography of Sir William Hamilton.) (BTW, if you're wondering why G3 calling Sir William "foster brother" did not help Sir William's widow Emma many a year later, by then G3 had his second and lasting diagnosis of madness and was locked away.)
- feuding with his sister and parents about Handel, supporting a rival opera
- wanting a higher budget, like the one his father used to get as Prince of Wales
- drifting towards the parliamentary opposition, to the point where he tries to use Parliament to force his father to give him a higher budget
- not refering to the Queen in his letters to the King (classified as a sign of disrespect by his parents)
- pretending to respect and love his parents in publich when he does not.
- The stunt he pulled with Augusta in labor, inflicting the one and a half hour drive on her rather than let her give birth at Hampton Court.
Only the last one is truly terrible (imo, as always), and Augusta would have been the one with a right to complain and condemn, not the parents who spent the entire pregnancy doubting the baby was real. It's clearly a case of another catastrophic feedback loop, where Fritz of Wales after fourteen years of absence shows up a stranger, can't connect with a family who doesn't really want him to be there (though I doubt they hated him from the get go), and eventually gives up trying and becomes hostile in turn, which furthers everyone's aversion towards him.
Meanwhile, despite groving up in Hannover, he really did his best to fit in, to become English, using only this language when talking to Brits, not French, and during his friendship with Hervey co-writing a play in it. (A bad play, but that's besides the point). Later when he was a father he ensured that English was the children's first language (hence G3 being the first Hannover monarch who actually spoke English as his native language). The friends he chose were from Britain, not from the Germans at court. But that made his parents even more suspicious of him.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Re: Hervey's Memoirs: Who's the worst Fritz of them all?
Date: 2020-09-27 06:25 am (UTC)Now, FoW even when you assume bias was by no means fault-free, but it's the divergence between the rethoric employed - the authors of the "Hephaistion" essay point out Hervey's decriptions occasionally borrow from Tacitus on Tiberius and Nero - and what's actually there that is so startling. Rethoric aside, what FoW is guilty of:
- pre-marriage, having mistresses, as most bachalor (or married) princes, FW aside, did. Possibly also post marriage, depending on whether you think he and Lady Archivald Hamilton had a thing and kept carrying on. (BTW, her wiki entry lists her as his mistress, whereas her son's wiki entry is far more cautious and says "possible", as in: His mother was a favourite, and possibly a mistress, of the Prince of Wales and William grew up with his son George III, who would call him his "foster brother". (Citation given here, a biography of Sir William Hamilton.) (BTW, if you're wondering why G3 calling Sir William "foster brother" did not help Sir William's widow Emma many a year later, by then G3 had his second and lasting diagnosis of madness and was locked away.)
- feuding with his sister and parents about Handel, supporting a rival opera
- wanting a higher budget, like the one his father used to get as Prince of Wales
- drifting towards the parliamentary opposition, to the point where he tries to use Parliament to force his father to give him a higher budget
- not refering to the Queen in his letters to the King (classified as a sign of disrespect by his parents)
- pretending to respect and love his parents in publich when he does not.
- The stunt he pulled with Augusta in labor, inflicting the one and a half hour drive on her rather than let her give birth at Hampton Court.
Only the last one is truly terrible (imo, as always), and Augusta would have been the one with a right to complain and condemn, not the parents who spent the entire pregnancy doubting the baby was real. It's clearly a case of another catastrophic feedback loop, where Fritz of Wales after fourteen years of absence shows up a stranger, can't connect with a family who doesn't really want him to be there (though I doubt they hated him from the get go), and eventually gives up trying and becomes hostile in turn, which furthers everyone's aversion towards him.
Meanwhile, despite groving up in Hannover, he really did his best to fit in, to become English, using only this language when talking to Brits, not French, and during his friendship with Hervey co-writing a play in it. (A bad play, but that's besides the point). Later when he was a father he ensured that English was the children's first language (hence G3 being the first Hannover monarch who actually spoke English as his native language). The friends he chose were from Britain, not from the Germans at court. But that made his parents even more suspicious of him.