First of all: when did Wilhelmine's one and only visit to Rheinsberg (which coincided with the last time Fritz was there as far as I recall, after he was King already) happen?
October 1740, so the same time as Voltaire, who was also disappointed that he didn't get an immediate summons and an offer like Algarotti.
So I think Fritz, very set on remaking himself in the eyes of the public as der Einzige König, wanted to make it absolutely clear that no, he was NOT going to be influenced or dominated by anyone, including his favourite sister.
That does make sense. I've always thought that was part of the same reason he kept Peter at a distance (beyond the timing: Peter only returned to Prussia at the time Fritz was busy planning the Silesia invasion): he didn't want Peter trying to parlay his sacrifice into power. I originally had him spelling this out in the fic, but after revisions there wasn't really a place for it, and so that whole exchange got condensed down to, "I don't have to worry about you making a power grab, I gather?"--the implication being that that had been on his mind.
Paranoid Fritz is paranoid Fritz, as you say. And beyond that, public opinion matters a lot to him.
The saying actually is "ich wünschte, die Tage hätten mehr als 24 Stunden". I suspect the editor slipped up and didn't catch some leftout words.
Ah. We have that saying too! (It's hard enough to read in German without words getting left out, lol. This is like the time I managed to struggle my way through two pages of blackletter font, except where half a letter didn't get printed and I guessed the wrong letter, which changed the whole meaning of the word.)
Herbal tea: commonly associated with curing cold. You get doused with it by your doctors. Very sensible, not-well-tasting and unerotic.
Ah, okay. I don't have those connotations with herbal teas. (Maybe other Americans do, idk.) That makes sense, thank you.
Note Fritz is casting Voltaire as his mistress there.
Yes, that I noticed! Later, of course, he will cast him as Aeneas and himself as Dido. And Voltaire will cast Fritz as Alcina. Look, even if that letter was totally faked, Voltaire, you're still gay-as-hell-for-Fritz. :P
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Re: Oster Wilhelmine readthrough - 1740s
October 1740, so the same time as Voltaire, who was also disappointed that he didn't get an immediate summons and an offer like Algarotti.
So I think Fritz, very set on remaking himself in the eyes of the public as der Einzige König, wanted to make it absolutely clear that no, he was NOT going to be influenced or dominated by anyone, including his favourite sister.
That does make sense. I've always thought that was part of the same reason he kept Peter at a distance (beyond the timing: Peter only returned to Prussia at the time Fritz was busy planning the Silesia invasion): he didn't want Peter trying to parlay his sacrifice into power. I originally had him spelling this out in the fic, but after revisions there wasn't really a place for it, and so that whole exchange got condensed down to, "I don't have to worry about you making a power grab, I gather?"--the implication being that that had been on his mind.
Paranoid Fritz is paranoid Fritz, as you say. And beyond that, public opinion matters a lot to him.
The saying actually is "ich wünschte, die Tage hätten mehr als 24 Stunden". I suspect the editor slipped up and didn't catch some leftout words.
Ah. We have that saying too! (It's hard enough to read in German without words getting left out, lol. This is like the time I managed to struggle my way through two pages of blackletter font, except where half a letter didn't get printed and I guessed the wrong letter, which changed the whole meaning of the word.)
Herbal tea: commonly associated with curing cold. You get doused with it by your doctors. Very sensible, not-well-tasting and unerotic.
Ah, okay. I don't have those connotations with herbal teas. (Maybe other Americans do, idk.) That makes sense, thank you.
Note Fritz is casting Voltaire as his mistress there.
Yes, that I noticed! Later, of course, he will cast him as Aeneas and himself as Dido. And Voltaire will cast Fritz as Alcina. Look, even if that letter was totally faked, Voltaire, you're still gay-as-hell-for-Fritz. :P