Rumor: it's in Ferdinand's German wiki entry, I think, but from what few mentions I could see in books, it doesn't seem to be based on more than widely shared dislike of his wife, love of gossip and the fact that Ferdinand post 7 Years War never lost the habit of appearing sickly in public. Lehndorff - who doesn't like Mrs. Ferdinand, repeatedly laments in volume 1 that marriage has changed Ferdinand, and much later suspects some of her kids being attentive to Heinrich because they're after the heritage - in the 1799 journal makes zero mention of this, and not in the previous journals, either. I'm assuming if he thought there was something to it he'd have mentioned it. Otoh, despite his dislike of Mrs. Ferdinand, he does mention she fusses over her husband and making sure he's always warm and comfortable when Lehndorff visits in the winter of early 1799, which is decades after they married, and Lehndorff isn't someone she'd want to impress at this point.
Karl Emils are doomed, clearly. At least when born into the Hohenzollern clan.
Well, Fritz as a star (making the others planets or comets?) is a far more flattering imagery than Fritz as an iron chain shackling involuntary laborers!
Re: No Pity for the Wives readthrough (cont) - post Seven Years' War
Thank you for the write-up of the (current) evidence for and against the Ferdinand rumors.
Well, Fritz as a star (making the others planets or comets?) is a far more flattering imagery than Fritz as an iron chain shackling involuntary laborers!
But is it more accurate, asks Heinrich. :P
Re: No Pity for the Wives readthrough (cont) - post Seven Years' War
I also thank you for the evidence writeup! Yet again Lehndorff is a treasure :D (I get the sense from your comments that a nontrivial part of his utility -- besides that he's so readable and engaging -- is that he really isn't someone that people feel the need to impress, I imagine particularly later on, so it's possible to take his observations at face value rather than worry too much about whether there are other factors at play.
Though I suppose the flip side to that is that in many ways he's not super self-aware so one has to filter through that, e.g. MESSALINA :) But that's better, I suppose, than having to filter through whether he's making up stories about his exes :P )
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Re: No Pity for the Wives readthrough (cont) - post Seven Years' War
Karl Emils are doomed, clearly. At least when born into the Hohenzollern clan.
Well, Fritz as a star (making the others planets or comets?) is a far more flattering imagery than Fritz as an iron chain shackling involuntary laborers!
Re: No Pity for the Wives readthrough (cont) - post Seven Years' War
Well, Fritz as a star (making the others planets or comets?) is a far more flattering imagery than Fritz as an iron chain shackling involuntary laborers!
But is it more accurate, asks Heinrich. :P
Re: No Pity for the Wives readthrough (cont) - post Seven Years' War
Though I suppose the flip side to that is that in many ways he's not super self-aware so one has to filter through that, e.g. MESSALINA :) But that's better, I suppose, than having to filter through whether he's making up stories about his exes :P )