Yes, and it works both ways: when Kennedy was killed and for years became a shining idol, way more Americans recalled voting for him than ever did. Also, when I talked with my AP about the battle of Hochkirch he at first refused to believe everyone except for Fritz said making camp there was a terrible idea and that the Austrians would attack and cited just this phenomenon. My counter argument was that the early historians invested in the legend of Fritz the genius general had to resort to the story of the double agent spy giving Fritz false intel to explain his misjudgment there, and that it was far less popular to write "the King had made a mistake, and we pointed this out to him before the fact", not to mention risky in an absolute monarchy.
re: did Wilhelmine know more about the escape plan than she later admitted, given how it turned: FW certainly believed she did, and it would work with the need to destroy those letters and her giving Fritz jewelry to pawn. It would even work with the later "I sacrificed myself for his freedom" without mentioning Fritz told her not to re: the marriage, because while she can talk about the marriage, she wouldn't be able to talk about the earlier escape attempt, if she was involved - and if she helped him there, she certainly would have been willing to risk FW making her pay in the worst way for his, had Fritz succeeded, and it would have been a sacrifice. (Honestly, there's no way I can see FW allowing Wilhelmine to marry a Hannover afterwards. She'd have been extremely lucky if he married her to anyone at all, as opposed to do what he claimed he'd have done in the 1731 submission scene - shut her into into the worst prison he could find.)
This prospect is why I'm also not 100% sure she'd have done it. If she believed Fritz would otherwise die or commit suicide out of desperation over FW's treatment of him, then yes. But give up the brother who was her main source of affection, possibly forever, and face a future of becoming Dad's favourite punishment target, when there's still a chance that if Fritz holds out some years more, FW dies and Fritz becomes King? Not sure.
Re: why Katte remained in Berlin, Fontane is with you, as you might recall. He thinks Katte remained because of his knightly instincts and because he was just too busy to make a getaway in time.
Katte boasting of Fritz' favor: also ties with the part in his letter to his father about having had ambitions etc. Not to say this is what it was about for him with Fritz, but I doubt he was immune to the fact that this was the future King when they first became friends.
This prospect is why I'm also not 100% sure she'd have done it. If she believed Fritz would otherwise die or commit suicide out of desperation over FW's treatment of him, then yes. But give up the brother who was her main source of affection, possibly forever, and face a future of becoming Dad's favourite punishment target, when there's still a chance that if Fritz holds out some years more, FW dies and Fritz becomes King? Not sure.
Yeah, that's also why I'm not sure, and why I am sure she was a very reluctant conspirator. (I think I've said this before: his willingness to leave and her reluctance to let him go, I think *must* have fed into some kind of repressed and even subconscious mutual resentment after the fact, no matter how much they understood the other's motives.)
But as for dying: she does record that scene where Fritz tells her FW was trying to strangle him with a cord and had to be pried off him by (invisible and very brave) servants). So maybe?
Re: why Katte remained in Berlin, Fontane is with you, as you might recall. He thinks Katte remained because of his knightly instincts and because he was just too busy to make a getaway in time.
I absolutely remember. :) He was a victim of his knightly disposition. Fontane also thinks Mitchell's "on account of some girl he was fond of" can't be right, because it hasn't occurred to Fontane that "some girl" might be Wilhelmine. ;)
Katte boasting of Fritz' favor: also ties with the part in his letter to his father about having had ambitions etc.
Yep, I always connect those two things too. And while those letters can't be trusted, I have always believed, like you, that he was in no way immune to Fritz being the Crown Prince. Plus that other letter (the Puncta one, written by Müller), where Katte says Fritz had promised him great things someday when he was king (and thus Katte's death shows the vanity of human plans, etc., etc.).
Now, that letter *really* can't be trusted, but given who Katte's father and grandfather were, I imagine he would expect some kind of preferment as a matter of course, and that's not mutually exclusive with him having real feelings for Fritz. (Which I'm sure he did: the fact that he was repeatedly asking to talk to Fritz at Küstrin and was reassuring him that he didn't blame him tells me that, motives for religion and pleasing Dad and going to a "good death" aside, he actually cared about Fritz's feelings after his death.)
Btw, now that I've seen the exchanges between Fritz and AW in the 1730s, I'm more willing to believe in the existence of that letter that Peter Keith is supposed to have carried with him for 10 years, saying that Fritz will always be grateful and stating or implying that there will be rewards someday.
This is all fascinating! I do think Wilhelmine must have been a reluctant conspirator, if she was a conspirator. And I can totally see how, if she was, that could easily have turned into her memoir-as-therapy saying "It was totally a bad idea, see??"
Now, that letter *really* can't be trusted, but given who Katte's father and grandfather were, I imagine he would expect some kind of preferment as a matter of course, and that's not mutually exclusive with him having real feelings for Fritz.
Yeah, I mean, it's a pretty common thing with humans. It's hard or impossible to turn off what you know of someone's external situation, but you can fall in love with someone at the same time as you are perfectly aware that person is the Crown Prince and will someday be King.
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Re: Wilhelmine's Memoirs
re: did Wilhelmine know more about the escape plan than she later admitted, given how it turned: FW certainly believed she did, and it would work with the need to destroy those letters and her giving Fritz jewelry to pawn. It would even work with the later "I sacrificed myself for his freedom" without mentioning Fritz told her not to re: the marriage, because while she can talk about the marriage, she wouldn't be able to talk about the earlier escape attempt, if she was involved - and if she helped him there, she certainly would have been willing to risk FW making her pay in the worst way for his, had Fritz succeeded, and it would have been a sacrifice. (Honestly, there's no way I can see FW allowing Wilhelmine to marry a Hannover afterwards. She'd have been extremely lucky if he married her to anyone at all, as opposed to do what he claimed he'd have done in the 1731 submission scene - shut her into into the worst prison he could find.)
This prospect is why I'm also not 100% sure she'd have done it. If she believed Fritz would otherwise die or commit suicide out of desperation over FW's treatment of him, then yes. But give up the brother who was her main source of affection, possibly forever, and face a future of becoming Dad's favourite punishment target, when there's still a chance that if Fritz holds out some years more, FW dies and Fritz becomes King? Not sure.
Re: why Katte remained in Berlin, Fontane is with you, as you might recall. He thinks Katte remained because of his knightly instincts and because he was just too busy to make a getaway in time.
Katte boasting of Fritz' favor: also ties with the part in his letter to his father about having had ambitions etc. Not to say this is what it was about for him with Fritz, but I doubt he was immune to the fact that this was the future King when they first became friends.
Re: Wilhelmine's Memoirs
Yeah, that's also why I'm not sure, and why I am sure she was a very reluctant conspirator. (I think I've said this before: his willingness to leave and her reluctance to let him go, I think *must* have fed into some kind of repressed and even subconscious mutual resentment after the fact, no matter how much they understood the other's motives.)
But as for dying: she does record that scene where Fritz tells her FW was trying to strangle him with a cord and had to be pried off him by (invisible and very brave) servants). So maybe?
Re: why Katte remained in Berlin, Fontane is with you, as you might recall. He thinks Katte remained because of his knightly instincts and because he was just too busy to make a getaway in time.
I absolutely remember. :) He was a victim of his knightly disposition. Fontane also thinks Mitchell's "on account of some girl he was fond of" can't be right, because it hasn't occurred to Fontane that "some girl" might be Wilhelmine. ;)
Katte boasting of Fritz' favor: also ties with the part in his letter to his father about having had ambitions etc.
Yep, I always connect those two things too. And while those letters can't be trusted, I have always believed, like you, that he was in no way immune to Fritz being the Crown Prince. Plus that other letter (the Puncta one, written by Müller), where Katte says Fritz had promised him great things someday when he was king (and thus Katte's death shows the vanity of human plans, etc., etc.).
Now, that letter *really* can't be trusted, but given who Katte's father and grandfather were, I imagine he would expect some kind of preferment as a matter of course, and that's not mutually exclusive with him having real feelings for Fritz. (Which I'm sure he did: the fact that he was repeatedly asking to talk to Fritz at Küstrin and was reassuring him that he didn't blame him tells me that, motives for religion and pleasing Dad and going to a "good death" aside, he actually cared about Fritz's feelings after his death.)
Btw, now that I've seen the exchanges between Fritz and AW in the 1730s, I'm more willing to believe in the existence of that letter that Peter Keith is supposed to have carried with him for 10 years, saying that Fritz will always be grateful and stating or implying that there will be rewards someday.
Re: Wilhelmine's Memoirs
Now, that letter *really* can't be trusted, but given who Katte's father and grandfather were, I imagine he would expect some kind of preferment as a matter of course, and that's not mutually exclusive with him having real feelings for Fritz.
Yeah, I mean, it's a pretty common thing with humans. It's hard or impossible to turn off what you know of someone's external situation, but you can fall in love with someone at the same time as you are perfectly aware that person is the Crown Prince and will someday be King.