Speaking of heights, I just recalled we actually have a statement from Fritz re: EC's height, in his March 1732 letter to Wilhelmine describing her after their first few encounters, and what he says is:
The princess has a very pretty face, but deep set eyes and a very ugly mouth. She walks like a peasant and has a way of looking up from below like that of little Marschall*, an unpleasant laugh, moves like a duck, has bad teeth, is very badly dressed, fearful in conversation and almost always mute. That aside, she has a beautiful complexion, beautiful breasts, a beautiful figure in your size, pretty hands, blond hair, a good heart. She is not capricious but polite but always too much or too little, very modest, very badly educated and without the slightest savoir vivre. Given this portrait, dearest sister, you can guess that she is not to my taste at all and that I'm very angry about this marriage. One can predict that it will be a very bad marriage.
That often hurts me, but what you can't change has to be accepted. My consolation is that I have another one and a half years first. Everyone holds the picture drawn here for true; I can assure you it is impartial. I don't even respect her and I'm very afraid I never will.
Quite. This letter is not at Trier, I don't think (or rather not the uncensored version - I think Trier, which is to the the Preuss mid 19th century edition, has somewhat less detailed - no breasts!, more bland "do not want" statement), but it's both in the Volz edition of their correspondance and in "Solange wir zu zweit sind". Now, since I only know the letter in German (from Volz), I can't say what phrase Fritz uses originally in French, but in German he says "eine schöne Figur in deiner Größe", which can both mean EC and Wilhelmine have the same type of body shape, or it can mean they're the same height. In any case, Wilhelmine wasn't tall. Though she could have had a few centimetres on Fritz for all I know. In any case, he seems to list this as on of EC's few positive attributes, not a negative, and since he's so harsh about much of everything else, I don't think he's being coy.
*Volz thinks "little Marschall" is the daughter of future cabinet minister Samuel vn Marschall
Sophie is now the favourite, but only because she's so different from her married sisters.
My translation says "but only under the condition she's to be different than her married sisters" (since Sophie is not yet married but soon will be, to the ghastly Schwedt cousin; Wilhelmine's letter referencing the news hence uses "so poor Sophie is to be sacrificed" as a way to describe it.
Wilhelmine met James Keith in August 1735 already, when the Russians moved through Bayreuth.
*looks it up* You're right! That means she met him before Fritz did. And had a very positive impression of him, too.
Or worse, given that his experience in Bayreuth might have been a lot better than in Frankfurt...
One would hope Wilhelmine would have found a way to get that book back from him which didn't involve arresting him. Place your bets, though: would he have handed it over, if she asked nicely, or would at he very least a break-in have been necessary?
Re: Holes in the moon and magic castles, or: odds and ends in the Wilhelmine-Fritz correspondence
Speaking of heights, I just recalled we actually have a statement from Fritz re: EC's height, in his March 1732 letter to Wilhelmine describing her after their first few encounters, and what he says is:
The princess has a very pretty face, but deep set eyes and a very ugly mouth. She walks like a peasant and has a way of looking up from below like that of little Marschall*, an unpleasant laugh, moves like a duck, has bad teeth, is very badly dressed, fearful in conversation and almost always mute. That aside, she has a beautiful complexion, beautiful breasts, a beautiful figure in your size, pretty hands, blond hair, a good heart. She is not capricious but polite but always too much or too little, very modest, very badly educated and without the slightest savoir vivre. Given this portrait, dearest sister, you can guess that she is not to my taste at all and that I'm very angry about this marriage. One can predict that it will be a very bad marriage.
That often hurts me, but what you can't change has to be accepted. My consolation is that I have another one and a half years first. Everyone holds the picture drawn here for true; I can assure you it is impartial. I don't even respect her and I'm very afraid I never will.
Quite. This letter is not at Trier, I don't think (or rather not the uncensored version - I think Trier, which is to the the Preuss mid 19th century edition, has somewhat less detailed - no breasts!, more bland "do not want" statement), but it's both in the Volz edition of their correspondance and in "Solange wir zu zweit sind". Now, since I only know the letter in German (from Volz), I can't say what phrase Fritz uses originally in French, but in German he says "eine schöne Figur in deiner Größe", which can both mean EC and Wilhelmine have the same type of body shape, or it can mean they're the same height. In any case, Wilhelmine wasn't tall. Though she could have had a few centimetres on Fritz for all I know. In any case, he seems to list this as on of EC's few positive attributes, not a negative, and since he's so harsh about much of everything else, I don't think he's being coy.
*Volz thinks "little Marschall" is the daughter of future cabinet minister Samuel vn Marschall
Sophie is now the favourite, but only because she's so different from her married sisters.
My translation says "but only under the condition she's to be different than her married sisters" (since Sophie is not yet married but soon will be, to the ghastly Schwedt cousin; Wilhelmine's letter referencing the news hence uses "so poor Sophie is to be sacrificed" as a way to describe it.
Wilhelmine met James Keith in August 1735 already, when the Russians moved through Bayreuth.
*looks it up* You're right! That means she met him before Fritz did. And had a very positive impression of him, too.
Or worse, given that his experience in Bayreuth might have been a lot better than in Frankfurt...
One would hope Wilhelmine would have found a way to get that book back from him which didn't involve arresting him. Place your bets, though: would he have handed it over, if she asked nicely, or would at he very least a break-in have been necessary?