I bet it was, and do instinctively suspect 19th century Hohenzollern censorship. I would say the survival of the Marwitz letters argues against that, but otoh technically these incriminate only Heinrich and Marwitz and Fritz' attitude could be written off as "he was just being sarcastic and trying to toughen Heinrich up". Whereas I bet this would not have been the case in letters between him and Caesarion.
But on the other hand, some of what Fritz writes to Camas seems a bit too much for just money troubles and the "it does not come from there, but from another part" made me think of the STD thing again. And then there's the question where his "tender and compassionate heart" and the "misfortunes of my friends" come in.
....I think Gröben is back as a suspect for spreading STD and getting into gambling debts as well, is what I think. (Not least because this reminds me a bit of the whole Reisewitz matter in the originally censored part of the Lehndorff diaries (i.e. those passages in volume 2 from 1752/1753 when Heinrich has just found out Reisewitz has been skeevy with his (Heinrich's money) and his emotional reaction as described by Lehndorff matches that of Fritz above; and he does cover Reisewitz' debts.) It would also explain why he was being cryptic with Wilhelmine as well, because I think if money had been the only problem, he'd have told her point blank.
I wonder if this was the crux of the matter, i.e. FW having too much interest in Fritz' sex life or lack thereof, plus, apparently, still rumours of changing the succession if there's no child. I see from the rest of the write-up that the Manteuffel talk about producing an heir takes place later in the same year, too.
Yes, and rumors about FW changing the succession in favor of AW would still go around as late as 1739 since they show up in Fritz' correspondence with Wilhelmine that year (where he tells her he's sure AW is on his side and is being honest, helping as much as he can and not scheming against him). Though again, if FW pushing him to produce an heir was the key cause of his January 1736 misery, I think he'd have been more explicit about it in his letters to Camas at least. Which I hadn't read yet, though the letters to Countess Camas were on my to do list for a while, so thank you for reading them!
I didn't realize FW kept doing that so late in the game.
(*looks at the date, December 25th* Talk about the ghost of Christmas Past!) FW: never skippping that power gesture if he can. After all, he did it to Fritz of Bayreuth as well, and he'd run out of successors to poor Grundling whom he could force to drink, plus I bet the goodwill Fritz earned by marrying in the first place was now being replaced by irritation of the lack of pregnancies, especially given FW, as ever, would apply his own experience to his children, which was that he and SD never had problems conceiving issue, even if the first few babies were either female or died. Wilhelmine also got pregnant almost immediately, and so did poor Friederike and Charlotte. I can see FW concluding that clearly, Fritz couldn't be trying very hard.
(Fritz of Wales, from overseas: At least he didn't accuse his son of being impotent and bent on substituting an anonymous baby as heir?)
Re: Fritz Mystery Affliction January 1736
But on the other hand, some of what Fritz writes to Camas seems a bit too much for just money troubles and the "it does not come from there, but from another part" made me think of the STD thing again. And then there's the question where his "tender and compassionate heart" and the "misfortunes of my friends" come in.
....I think Gröben is back as a suspect for spreading STD and getting into gambling debts as well, is what I think. (Not least because this reminds me a bit of the whole Reisewitz matter in the originally censored part of the Lehndorff diaries (i.e. those passages in volume 2 from 1752/1753 when Heinrich has just found out Reisewitz has been skeevy with his (Heinrich's money) and his emotional reaction as described by Lehndorff matches that of Fritz above; and he does cover Reisewitz' debts.) It would also explain why he was being cryptic with Wilhelmine as well, because I think if money had been the only problem, he'd have told her point blank.
I wonder if this was the crux of the matter, i.e. FW having too much interest in Fritz' sex life or lack thereof, plus, apparently, still rumours of changing the succession if there's no child. I see from the rest of the write-up that the Manteuffel talk about producing an heir takes place later in the same year, too.
Yes, and rumors about FW changing the succession in favor of AW would still go around as late as 1739 since they show up in Fritz' correspondence with Wilhelmine that year (where he tells her he's sure AW is on his side and is being honest, helping as much as he can and not scheming against him). Though again, if FW pushing him to produce an heir was the key cause of his January 1736 misery, I think he'd have been more explicit about it in his letters to Camas at least. Which I hadn't read yet, though the letters to Countess Camas were on my to do list for a while, so thank you for reading them!
I didn't realize FW kept doing that so late in the game.
(*looks at the date, December 25th* Talk about the ghost of Christmas Past!) FW: never skippping that power gesture if he can. After all, he did it to Fritz of Bayreuth as well, and he'd run out of successors to poor Grundling whom he could force to drink, plus I bet the goodwill Fritz earned by marrying in the first place was now being replaced by irritation of the lack of pregnancies, especially given FW, as ever, would apply his own experience to his children, which was that he and SD never had problems conceiving issue, even if the first few babies were either female or died. Wilhelmine also got pregnant almost immediately, and so did poor Friederike and Charlotte. I can see FW concluding that clearly, Fritz couldn't be trying very hard.
(Fritz of Wales, from overseas: At least he didn't accuse his son of being impotent and bent on substituting an anonymous baby as heir?)