On March 24th, FW allows Wilhelmine to come from Berlin to Potsdam but still under great restriction and without seeing her. Otoh, he does see his other daughters
At once when they arrived His Majesty ordered the fourth princess, Sophie, the bride of the Prince of Bayreuth and the youngest Princess Amalie to him, and when he saw the Princess Sophie, he was somwhat surprised at her size. Two months ago, she'd entered her thirteenth year, and has grown taller than her three older sisters, and so the King said to her: Sophie! What have you done to grow so tall, you grow taller than me, let me see your shoes. When he saw her shoes had heels of about two inches, the King said: Away with those! You don't need them anymore. On the next morning, the King visited the smallest prince, who is now nearly a year old, and took along the two above named princesses. When the King noticed that the Princess Sophie wasn't as tall anymore as the other day and saw with appreciation the flat shoes, he told her very sweet things.
And finally, Wilhelmine gets a break:
At last the royal decision regarding the oldest Princess has been made that she was allowed to receive communion at a service to be held in her chamber, which she'd wished to do in the cathedral with the rest of the people but has been refused to for unknown causes; when the second court preacher Steinberg this last Sunday held a service in the audience room of the princess, her royal highness, her stewardess Fr. v. Wittenhorst-Sonsfeld, the Queen's lady of honor Fr. v. Bodenbruch, and the Baroness de Joccourt, the governess of the three younger princesses, attended. One still hopes the Princess after having spent eight months in her retreat would be reconciled, but this hasn't happened yet, but it is expected to happen within the next four weeks and the arrival of the foreign dignitaries.
Again, I say the Baroness de Joccourt is Stratemann's likely source, not just for these but for all the stories featuring the kids.
More stories from Küstrin about how everyone, not just local nobility but French, Dutch, British and from the other German states keeps sending food and drink to Fritz but under incognito names and everyone is rooting for FW to release him.
Poor Gundling dies, and Stratemann gives a description of his ghastly funeral. Gundling's arch enemy and successor, Fassmann, who ridiculed him in a speech at said funeral quickly finds out what it means to be FW's new punching bag. He's sent fool garnments and refuses to wear them (Stratemann: But they were presents! How could he!). Flash foward to July, and Fassmann has had it, and we get a nasty reminder of 18th century antisemitism to boot:
Councillor Faßman who'd been appointed Court Fool has fled, because he does not want to be a Bouffon de la Cour, and it is said he has deserted to England. Most recently, he had a clash at Potsdam with a Jew named Marcus who has often been used by the court for such offices, and had to receive a slap in the face by the later, which the Jew had been licensed to do by a higher authority, whereupon (Fassmann) threw him on the ground and kicked him, and tore at his hair and strangled him so much that he'd have killed him if (Marcus) had not been saved by the surrounding officers. Faßmann then said to the King: he'd once had set the condition that he didn't want to be vexed by anyone, no matter how high ranking, much less by an infamous Jew, and thus he's left royal service and did not return.
Back to spring: May 31st: After the arrival of the Prince of Dessau at Potsdam on the 10th, the later along with the Duke of Bevern has had a long conversation with the King which mostly concerned the reconciliation with the Crown Prince and the oldest Princess. The King supposedly remained harsh and wasn't movable, but one still flatters oneself: that his Majesty will be moved by these two best of princes. If it comes to this, the Prince of Dessau will go to Küstrin himself and pick the Crown Prince up there. Regarding the oldest Princess, it's said that within a few days, her destiny will be cleared up. A few days ago, she has been visited by General and Secret Councillor of his Majesty v. Grumbkow as well as the General Leutnants v. Borck, v. Podewils and v. Thulemeier, all four arriving in a chaise without announcement at the palace, and spent over an hour with the Princess. The sisters of the Princess and their governesses as well as her stewardess v. Wittenhorst-Sonsfeld and two of the Queen's ladies had been present at first then suddenly all had retired from the room and some with them greatly upset so that they had to take the red powder by Stahl. Of the proposition which was made to the Princess by these ministers of the cabinet, there is much conflicting rumor. Some claim to guess that a new marriage has been proposed to the Princess, either with the ruling Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (i.e. BayreuthFriedrich's DAD) or with his Prince3 Heir who otherwise had been meant for the fourth Princess. But everything is still uncertain, and it's been covered up. But one thing is true; when the Princess came down to supper this evening, she wasn't, as she used to since allowed to supper, in a cheered up mood, but completely withdrawn in thoughts, and hardly spoke a word during the entire meal.
Editor Richard Wolff: the Margravine gives one of her typical exaggarated descriptions of this meeting in her memoirs of these four gentlemen trying to "bully" her into marriage.
And lo, it's public submission time for Wilhelmine:
Before the arrival of the King, the oldest, the fourth and the sixth Princess (and the first one after an encounter with the Queen) positioned themselves in his Majesty's rooms and received the King; when the oldest Princess threw herself at the King's feet and pleaded with his Majesty: to forgive her with what she has angered her merciful Papa; and squeezed out some tears while saying this, at which the King, too has cried a bit, and thus this Princess, after a retreat to her room of nine months, has not only been received again with grace but has now been put in new circumstances; but what will happen next and whose bride she shall be, time will show. The Queen has been received by the above named three princesses and Her Majesty had been very glad to find the oldest Princess, whom she hasn't seen for four months, reconciled with the King, for we all know that this Princess above all others has been close to the Queen's heart. And now the only thing lacking is that the Crown Prince, too, will be released into Freedom, to make everyone's joy complete.
In fairness, as of this point, anyone would have said Wilhelmine had been SD's favourite daughter and confidant, given not just SD pushing the English marriage for her. Still, the contrast between SD resenting the hell out of Wilhelmine's accepting the Bayreuth marriage in rl (and in younger Seckendorff's description when Wilhelmine is already married, so we don't have to rely on Wilhelmine's own word about this) and Stratemann's description is striking.
One hadn't believe the affair at first; but since the oldest Princess has submitted herself completely to the King's will, she's been gifted with much rich clothing, a purse and other precious triflings; and thus there can be no doubt (as to the reconciliation). Princess Ulrike, who since a year has been the King's greatest favourite and had been preferred to her older sister Sophie, has now been degraded due to a minor mistake. Despite her being only eleven years of Age, she still possess a great mind and thus a noble spirit; and thus she's very touchy about this and torments herself: at the King's demand, the Queen has taken the diamond earrings which the Queen of Sweden had given (Ulrike) some years ago away, and then she had to sit at the table with her youngest sister Princess (Amalie) despite having been allowed to sit for a year at the King's table.
On June 5th, Wilhelmine's engagement to Bayreuth Friedrich officially takes place. Stratemann thinks Bayreuth Friedrich only learned at the last minute he wouldn't get Sophie but Wilhelmine. To truly appreciate his description of the engagement party, bear in mind SD hated Bayreuth Friedrich's guts. (Or rather, hated that he married her daughter, making him the symbol of her defeat in the marital battle.)
The noble engaged couple sat at the high point of the table, and the King's pleasure was above measure. His highness the Duke of Würtemberg emptied a large cup while toasting the health of the engaged couple. After supper, the groom led his bride to the ballroom, but the King at once took her from him and started the dance with her; then he danced with the Princess Bride of Bevern (i.e. Charlotte, and then with Princess Sophie. The first two were warmly embraced by the King, and they kissed his Majesty's hands, which was repeated twice or thrice. When the two youngest princesses saw that the King had not asked them to dance, they, too, kissed his hands, and thus the King has danced with his five princess daughters en suite. The noble groom had been told by the King to ask the Queen to dance, but when her Majesty excused herself, the Prince Heir shrugged; but when the King tried again by telling her that the King asked her to do this, she no more refused but danced with the Heir Prince, whereupon Her Majesty did the same thing with the Duke of Würtemberg and the Duke of Bevern, and finally with the King himself, who held both of her hands, during the dance itself, too. He kept kissing her hand, and the ball ended only at three in the morning.
Meanwhile ,the British envoy: Wilhelmine looked pale and if she'd faint the entire time, and the Queen was upset and almost in tears, and the King glowered. Taking the British bias into acccount, I suppose the truth was somewhere in between, but Stratemann's polyanna-ness is still striking. Mind you, FW able to dance with all five of his daughters is not a picture one usually has of him.
Wilhelmine gets supportive poetry (in German) too, on the occasion of her engagement. An anonymous poem is making the rounds according to Stratemann:
One sees the secretly circulating verses that an adroit poet has made on the occasion of the oldest Princess' future departure for Bayreuth, and which go thusly:
Geh, Englische Prinzeß! nach deinem werthen Francken, Gott und die Nach-Welt wird dir deine Treue dancken, Indeßen bleibt dein Ruhm der ganzen Welt bekandt: Denn wo Du lebst, da ist das rechte Engelland.
The poem makes a pun between "Englisch" as in "English", and "Englisch" as in old fashioned German for "Engelhaft" in modern German, "Angelic". You might recall that Isabella makes a similar pun in a letter to Maria Christina. I'll try my hand regardless. First the literal translation:
Go, English/Angelic Princess! with your worthy Franconian, God and posterity will thank you for your loyalty, and in the meantime, your fame is known to the entire world, for where you live, that's where the true country of the English/Angels is. Verse:
Oh English Princess, go with your Franconian man, God knows your loyalty, and posterity will thank you then. Still, all the world knows of your fame: For where you live, that's Angelcountry all the same.
Now according to Stratemann, FW is hell bent on making Wilhelmine and future Margrave have sex and consumate the marriage before it's a marriage. Why? Because that would make it legal as a marriage, and rumor has it the Brits are making trouble by pointing to Fritz' of Wales' earlier claim to Wilhelmine's hand, which supposedly invalidates her current engagement. Mind you, having read Hervey's memoirs where the whole thing only gets half a sentence mention, I really doubt that, but I can see SD spreading such a rumor via her daughter's governesses, which, see above, I think were Stratemann's sources.
And then, come August, we get the big Fritz submission, of which Stratemann reports nothing new. That's as far as I got.
Re: The Braunschweig Perspective: On the Wings of an Angel
He's sent fool garnments and refuses to wear them (Stratemann: But they were presents! How could he!).
Ugh! Gundling is one of those (quite a few) things I will just never forgive FW for :( Though lol Stratemann :)
Editor Richard Wolff: the Margravine gives one of her typical exaggarated descriptions of this meeting in her memoirs of these four gentlemen trying to "bully" her into marriage.
*facepalm* Ugh, wow.
Meanwhile ,the British envoy: Wilhelmine looked pale and if she'd faint the entire time, and the Queen was upset and almost in tears, and the King glowered. Taking the British bias into acccount, I suppose the truth was somewhere in between, but Stratemann's polyanna-ness is still striking.
Poor Wilhelmine :(
Re: The Braunschweig Perspective: On the Wings of an Angel
More stories from Küstrin about how everyone, not just local nobility but French, Dutch, British and from the other German states keeps sending food and drink to Fritz but under incognito names and everyone is rooting for FW to release him.
I feel like this is a sign that nobody considers his current diet adequate! Though that could admittedly be an SD-type complaint about the appropriateness of the food rather than the amount.
He's sent fool garnments and refuses to wear them (Stratemann: But they were presents! How could he!).
SIGH.
and tore at his hair and strangled him so much that he'd have killed him if (Marcus) had not been saved by the surrounding officers.
SIGH.
SD resenting the hell out of Wilhelmine's accepting the Bayreuth marriage in rl (and in younger Seckendorff's description when Wilhelmine is already married, so we don't have to rely on Wilhelmine's own word about this)
Thank you for reminding me of this. It's good to know when Wilhelmine is backed by independent sources.
Meanwhile, the British envoy: Wilhelmine looked pale and if she'd faint the entire time, and the Queen was upset and almost in tears, and the King glowered. Taking the British bias into acccount, I suppose the truth was somewhere in between, but Stratemann's polyanna-ness is still striking.
Hah. It's so good to have multiple sources with differing biases.
You might recall that Isabella makes a similar pun in a letter to Maria Christina.
I had forgotten that, but will always remember the famous "Non Angli sed Angeli" quip attributed to Gregory the Great many centuries earlier.
FW is hell bent on making Wilhelmine and future Margrave have sex and consumate the marriage before it's a marriage. Why? Because that would make it legal as a marriage, and rumor has it the Brits are making trouble by pointing to Fritz' of Wales' earlier claim to Wilhelmine's hand, which supposedly invalidates her current engagement. Mind you, having read Hervey's memoirs where the whole thing only gets half a sentence mention, I really doubt that, but I can see SD spreading such a rumor via her daughter's governesses, which, see above, I think were Stratemann's sources.
Yep. In her memoirs, Wilhelmine has SD coming to her on the morning of her wedding and telling her, "Whatever you do, DON'T sleep with your husband. We need to be able to nullify this marriage later so you can fulfill your destiny of living the kind of life I wanted to live marry your cousin!"
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Braunschweig Perspective: On the Wings of an Angel
At once when they arrived His Majesty ordered the fourth princess, Sophie, the bride of the Prince of Bayreuth and the youngest Princess Amalie to him, and when he saw the Princess Sophie, he was somwhat surprised at her size. Two months ago, she'd entered her thirteenth year, and has grown taller than her three older sisters, and so the King said to her: Sophie! What have you done to grow so tall, you grow taller than me, let me see your shoes. When he saw her shoes had heels of about two inches, the King said: Away with those! You don't need them anymore. On the next morning, the King visited the smallest prince, who is now nearly a year old, and took along the two above named princesses. When the King noticed that the Princess Sophie wasn't as tall anymore as the other day and saw with appreciation the flat shoes, he told her very sweet things.
And finally, Wilhelmine gets a break:
At last the royal decision regarding the oldest Princess has been made that she was allowed to receive communion at a service to be held in her chamber, which she'd wished to do in the cathedral with the rest of the people but has been refused to for unknown causes; when the second court preacher Steinberg this last Sunday held a service in the audience room of the princess, her royal highness, her stewardess Fr. v. Wittenhorst-Sonsfeld, the Queen's lady of honor Fr. v. Bodenbruch, and the Baroness de Joccourt, the governess of the three younger princesses, attended. One still hopes the Princess after having spent eight months in her retreat would be reconciled, but this hasn't happened yet, but it is expected to happen within the next four weeks and the arrival of the foreign dignitaries.
Again, I say the Baroness de Joccourt is Stratemann's likely source, not just for these but for all the stories featuring the kids.
More stories from Küstrin about how everyone, not just local nobility but French, Dutch, British and from the other German states keeps sending food and drink to Fritz but under incognito names and everyone is rooting for FW to release him.
Poor Gundling dies, and Stratemann gives a description of his ghastly funeral. Gundling's arch enemy and successor, Fassmann, who ridiculed him in a speech at said funeral quickly finds out what it means to be FW's new punching bag. He's sent fool garnments and refuses to wear them (Stratemann: But they were presents! How could he!). Flash foward to July, and Fassmann has had it, and we get a nasty reminder of 18th century antisemitism to boot:
Councillor Faßman who'd been appointed Court Fool has fled, because he does not want to be a Bouffon de la Cour, and it is said he has deserted to England. Most recently, he had a clash at Potsdam with a Jew named Marcus who has often been used by the court for such offices, and had to receive a slap in the face by the later, which the Jew had been licensed to do by a higher authority, whereupon (Fassmann) threw him on the ground and kicked him, and tore at his hair and strangled him so much that he'd have killed him if (Marcus) had not been saved by the surrounding officers. Faßmann then said to the King: he'd once had set the condition that he didn't want to be vexed by anyone, no matter how high ranking, much less by an infamous Jew, and thus he's left royal service and did not return.
Back to spring:
May 31st: After the arrival of the Prince of Dessau at Potsdam on the 10th, the later along with the Duke of Bevern has had a long conversation with the King which mostly concerned the reconciliation with the Crown Prince and the oldest Princess. The King supposedly remained harsh and wasn't movable, but one still flatters oneself: that his Majesty will be moved by these two best of princes. If it comes to this, the Prince of Dessau will go to Küstrin himself and pick the Crown Prince up there. Regarding the oldest Princess, it's said that within a few days, her destiny will be cleared up. A few days ago, she has been visited by General and Secret Councillor of his Majesty v. Grumbkow as well as the General Leutnants v. Borck, v. Podewils and v. Thulemeier, all four arriving in a chaise without announcement at the palace, and spent over an hour with the Princess. The sisters of the Princess and their governesses as well as her stewardess v. Wittenhorst-Sonsfeld and two of the Queen's ladies had been present at first then suddenly all had retired from the room and some with them greatly upset so that they had to take the red powder by Stahl. Of the proposition which was made to the Princess by these ministers of the cabinet, there is much conflicting rumor. Some claim to guess that a new marriage has been proposed to the Princess, either with the ruling Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (i.e. BayreuthFriedrich's DAD) or with his Prince3 Heir who otherwise had been meant for the fourth Princess. But everything is still uncertain, and it's been covered up. But one thing is true; when the Princess came down to supper this evening, she wasn't, as she used to since allowed to supper, in a cheered up mood, but completely withdrawn in thoughts, and hardly spoke a word during the entire meal.
Editor Richard Wolff: the Margravine gives one of her typical exaggarated descriptions of this meeting in her memoirs of these four gentlemen trying to "bully" her into marriage.
And lo, it's public submission time for Wilhelmine:
Before the arrival of the King, the oldest, the fourth and the sixth Princess (and the first one after an encounter with the Queen) positioned themselves in his Majesty's rooms and received the King; when the oldest Princess threw herself at the King's feet and pleaded with his Majesty: to forgive her with what she has angered her merciful Papa; and squeezed out some tears while saying this, at which the King, too has cried a bit, and thus this Princess, after a retreat to her room of nine months, has not only been received again with grace but has now been put in new circumstances; but what will happen next and whose bride she shall be, time will show. The Queen has been received by the above named three princesses and Her Majesty had been very glad to find the oldest Princess, whom she hasn't seen for four months, reconciled with the King, for we all know that this Princess above all others has been close to the Queen's heart. And now the only thing lacking is that the Crown Prince, too, will be released into Freedom, to make everyone's joy complete.
In fairness, as of this point, anyone would have said Wilhelmine had been SD's favourite daughter and confidant, given not just SD pushing the English marriage for her. Still, the contrast between SD resenting the hell out of Wilhelmine's accepting the Bayreuth marriage in rl (and in younger Seckendorff's description when Wilhelmine is already married, so we don't have to rely on Wilhelmine's own word about this) and Stratemann's description is striking.
One hadn't believe the affair at first; but since the oldest Princess has submitted herself completely to the King's will, she's been gifted with much rich clothing, a purse and other precious triflings; and thus there can be no doubt (as to the reconciliation). Princess Ulrike, who since a year has been the King's greatest favourite and had been preferred to her older sister Sophie, has now been degraded due to a minor mistake. Despite her being only eleven years of Age, she still possess a great mind and thus a noble spirit; and thus she's very touchy about this and torments herself: at the King's demand, the Queen has taken the diamond earrings which the Queen of Sweden had given (Ulrike) some years ago away, and then she had to sit at the table with her youngest sister Princess (Amalie) despite having been allowed to sit for a year at the King's table.
On June 5th, Wilhelmine's engagement to Bayreuth Friedrich officially takes place. Stratemann thinks Bayreuth Friedrich only learned at the last minute he wouldn't get Sophie but Wilhelmine. To truly appreciate his description of the engagement party, bear in mind SD hated Bayreuth Friedrich's guts. (Or rather, hated that he married her daughter, making him the symbol of her defeat in the marital battle.)
The noble engaged couple sat at the high point of the table, and the King's pleasure was above measure. His highness the Duke of Würtemberg emptied a large cup while toasting the health of the engaged couple. After supper, the groom led his bride to the ballroom, but the King at once took her from him and started the dance with her; then he danced with the Princess Bride of Bevern (i.e. Charlotte, and then with Princess Sophie. The first two were warmly embraced by the King, and they kissed his Majesty's hands, which was repeated twice or thrice. When the two youngest princesses saw that the King had not asked them to dance, they, too, kissed his hands, and thus the King has danced with his five princess daughters en suite. The noble groom had been told by the King to ask the Queen to dance, but when her Majesty excused herself, the Prince Heir shrugged; but when the King tried again by telling her that the King asked her to do this, she no more refused but danced with the Heir Prince, whereupon Her Majesty did the same thing with the Duke of Würtemberg and the Duke of Bevern, and finally with the King himself, who held both of her hands, during the dance itself, too. He kept kissing her hand, and the ball ended only at three in the morning.
Meanwhile ,the British envoy: Wilhelmine looked pale and if she'd faint the entire time, and the Queen was upset and almost in tears, and the King glowered. Taking the British bias into acccount, I suppose the truth was somewhere in between, but Stratemann's polyanna-ness is still striking. Mind you, FW able to dance with all five of his daughters is not a picture one usually has of him.
Wilhelmine gets supportive poetry (in German) too, on the occasion of her engagement. An anonymous poem is making the rounds according to Stratemann:
One sees the secretly circulating verses that an adroit poet has made on the occasion of the oldest Princess' future departure for Bayreuth, and which go thusly:
Geh, Englische Prinzeß! nach deinem werthen Francken,
Gott und die Nach-Welt wird dir deine Treue dancken,
Indeßen bleibt dein Ruhm der ganzen Welt bekandt:
Denn wo Du lebst, da ist das rechte Engelland.
The poem makes a pun between "Englisch" as in "English", and "Englisch" as in old fashioned German for "Engelhaft" in modern German, "Angelic". You might recall that Isabella makes a similar pun in a letter to Maria Christina. I'll try my hand regardless. First the literal translation:
Go, English/Angelic Princess! with your worthy Franconian,
God and posterity will thank you for your loyalty,
and in the meantime, your fame is known to the entire world,
for where you live, that's where the true country of the English/Angels is.
Verse:
Oh English Princess, go with your Franconian man,
God knows your loyalty, and posterity will thank you then.
Still, all the world knows of your fame:
For where you live, that's Angelcountry all the same.
Now according to Stratemann, FW is hell bent on making Wilhelmine and future Margrave have sex and consumate the marriage before it's a marriage. Why? Because that would make it legal as a marriage, and rumor has it the Brits are making trouble by pointing to Fritz' of Wales' earlier claim to Wilhelmine's hand, which supposedly invalidates her current engagement. Mind you, having read Hervey's memoirs where the whole thing only gets half a sentence mention, I really doubt that, but I can see SD spreading such a rumor via her daughter's governesses, which, see above, I think were Stratemann's sources.
And then, come August, we get the big Fritz submission, of which Stratemann reports nothing new. That's as far as I got.
Re: The Braunschweig Perspective: On the Wings of an Angel
Ugh! Gundling is one of those (quite a few) things I will just never forgive FW for :( Though lol Stratemann :)
Editor Richard Wolff: the Margravine gives one of her typical exaggarated descriptions of this meeting in her memoirs of these four gentlemen trying to "bully" her into marriage.
*facepalm*
Ugh, wow.
Meanwhile ,the British envoy: Wilhelmine looked pale and if she'd faint the entire time, and the Queen was upset and almost in tears, and the King glowered. Taking the British bias into acccount, I suppose the truth was somewhere in between, but Stratemann's polyanna-ness is still striking.
Poor Wilhelmine :(
Re: The Braunschweig Perspective: On the Wings of an Angel
I feel like this is a sign that nobody considers his current diet adequate! Though that could admittedly be an SD-type complaint about the appropriateness of the food rather than the amount.
He's sent fool garnments and refuses to wear them (Stratemann: But they were presents! How could he!).
SIGH.
and tore at his hair and strangled him so much that he'd have killed him if (Marcus) had not been saved by the surrounding officers.
SIGH.
SD resenting the hell out of Wilhelmine's accepting the Bayreuth marriage in rl (and in younger Seckendorff's description when Wilhelmine is already married, so we don't have to rely on Wilhelmine's own word about this)
Thank you for reminding me of this. It's good to know when Wilhelmine is backed by independent sources.
Meanwhile, the British envoy: Wilhelmine looked pale and if she'd faint the entire time, and the Queen was upset and almost in tears, and the King glowered. Taking the British bias into acccount, I suppose the truth was somewhere in between, but Stratemann's polyanna-ness is still striking.
Hah. It's so good to have multiple sources with differing biases.
You might recall that Isabella makes a similar pun in a letter to Maria Christina.
I had forgotten that, but will always remember the famous "Non Angli sed Angeli" quip attributed to Gregory the Great many centuries earlier.
FW is hell bent on making Wilhelmine and future Margrave have sex and consumate the marriage before it's a marriage. Why? Because that would make it legal as a marriage, and rumor has it the Brits are making trouble by pointing to Fritz' of Wales' earlier claim to Wilhelmine's hand, which supposedly invalidates her current engagement. Mind you, having read Hervey's memoirs where the whole thing only gets half a sentence mention, I really doubt that, but I can see SD spreading such a rumor via her daughter's governesses, which, see above, I think were Stratemann's sources.
Yep. In her memoirs, Wilhelmine has SD coming to her on the morning of her wedding and telling her, "Whatever you do, DON'T sleep with your husband. We need to be able to nullify this marriage later so you can
fulfill your destiny of living the kind of life I wanted to livemarry your cousin!"