Looks like it, presumably to impress the kid. Mind you, it's also possible that he overheard something while he was dining and not saying anything at Broglie's, as Wiegand says one of the bits Volz cut from Broglie's report was him considering the possibility to provide Fritz with an "honor guard" that's supposed to keep him in one place until he's send word to Paris and heard what the hell he's supposed to do.
I take this to mean that Fritz/Algarotti sex wasn't on the agenda for the Straßburg trip.
Lol, this won't surprise you, but that was my reaction to that discovery too!
Naturally. :) Was that before or after Fritz heard about Algarotti's STD?
BTW, presumably Fritz learned from experience since his second incognito trip years later went much better. Perhaps only taking Glasow along instead of several husars guarding his rooms helped. :)
Something else: Wiegand says that the idea the botched Straßburg experience was the reasonw why Fritz insisted Broglie be replaced as French commander in Bohemia during the Silesian War somewhat later is pure slander, that it was solely because Broglie wasn't competent enough. Thoughts?
Looks like it, presumably to impress the kid. Mind you, it's also possible that he overheard something while he was dining and not saying anything at Broglie's, as Wiegand says one of the bits Volz cut from Broglie's report was him considering the possibility to provide Fritz with an "honor guard" that's supposed to keep him in one place until he's send word to Paris and heard what the hell he's supposed to do.
Yeah, that makes sense. Especially if Fritz sent word that they couldn't go to dinner that last night. AW might have taken that to mean that the authorities were detaining them in their inns. Either an exaggeration or a slight misunderstanding or both, is what it looks like.
This would also mean that Fritz did *not* whitewash it out of his account! (As he later would AW's entire presence.) We apologize, Fritz! (But we had reason to believe you were willing to rewrite history at will.)
Was that before or after Fritz heard about Algarotti's STD?
Before. This was August; STD was late November. This summer honeymoon is when I think it's most plausible for them to have had sex! (That and the Rheinsberg visit a year before.) But not in Strasbourg, apparently. ;) Maybe Fritz put Algarotti in a separate inn because he was afraid the two of them together were more likely to be recognized?
BTW, presumably Fritz learned from experience since his second incognito trip years later went much better. Perhaps only taking Glasow along instead of several husars guarding his rooms helped. :)
It definitely went better! Lack of husars surely a plus.
Insofar as Catt is reliable, we have a report that Fritz also took Colonel Balbi, and that Fritz was recognized toward the end of his trip and had to do some quick thinking:
The King started off at three o’clock in the morning for Arnheim, having learned from his valet do chambre that it was known that he was the King of Prussia, and that the magistrate awaited him at the town gate to make his compliment. He started off immediately, putting Colonel de Balbi in the leading carriage and himself in the baggage carriage that followed it.
When they arrived at the town gate, the magistrate approached the carriage, harangued Colonel Balbi, and finished this fine harangue by crying out in unison with those accompanying him: 'God be praised that we see the defender of the Protestant Religion.' His Majesty, in the open carriage, had great difficulty in not bursting out into laughter.
If this is true, he definitely learned something! And even if not, it appears to have been rather less eventful than the Strasbourg debacle.
Oh, according to Voltaire and Bielfeld, both of whom knew him personally at the time, Fritz was intending to go to Paris on that 1740 trip, but the Strasbourg debacle deterred him. I wonder if, if the France trip had gone better, he would have ever considered going to Italy?
Wiegand says that the idea the botched Straßburg experience was the reasonw why Fritz insisted Broglie be replaced as French commander in Bohemia during the Silesian War somewhat later is pure slander, that it was solely because Broglie wasn't competent enough. Thoughts?
I don't know enough about Broglie's military record to say, but given that Fritz promoted people he didn't personally like, including people like Derschau, there's a good chance that it wasn't primarily *because* of Strasbourg. At any rate, I believe that Fritz believed that he was incompetent. Did Fritz's personal feelings about Broglie skew his evaluation of his military career? Probably. Was it solely revenge? I doubt it. People rarely have only one reason for their actions.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: The Strassbourg Trip
Date: 2021-02-20 07:24 am (UTC)Looks like it, presumably to impress the kid. Mind you, it's also possible that he overheard something while he was dining and not saying anything at Broglie's, as Wiegand says one of the bits Volz cut from Broglie's report was him considering the possibility to provide Fritz with an "honor guard" that's supposed to keep him in one place until he's send word to Paris and heard what the hell he's supposed to do.
I take this to mean that Fritz/Algarotti sex wasn't on the agenda for the Straßburg trip.
Lol, this won't surprise you, but that was my reaction to that discovery too!
Naturally. :) Was that before or after Fritz heard about Algarotti's STD?
BTW, presumably Fritz learned from experience since his second incognito trip years later went much better. Perhaps only taking Glasow along instead of several husars guarding his rooms helped. :)
Something else: Wiegand says that the idea the botched Straßburg experience was the reasonw why Fritz insisted Broglie be replaced as French commander in Bohemia during the Silesian War somewhat later is pure slander, that it was solely because Broglie wasn't competent enough. Thoughts?
Re: The Strassbourg Trip
Date: 2021-02-20 01:19 pm (UTC)Yeah, that makes sense. Especially if Fritz sent word that they couldn't go to dinner that last night. AW might have taken that to mean that the authorities were detaining them in their inns. Either an exaggeration or a slight misunderstanding or both, is what it looks like.
This would also mean that Fritz did *not* whitewash it out of his account! (As he later would AW's entire presence.) We apologize, Fritz! (But we had reason to believe you were willing to rewrite history at will.)
Was that before or after Fritz heard about Algarotti's STD?
Before. This was August; STD was late November. This summer honeymoon is when I think it's most plausible for them to have had sex! (That and the Rheinsberg visit a year before.) But not in Strasbourg, apparently. ;) Maybe Fritz put Algarotti in a separate inn because he was afraid the two of them together were more likely to be recognized?
BTW, presumably Fritz learned from experience since his second incognito trip years later went much better. Perhaps only taking Glasow along instead of several husars guarding his rooms helped. :)
It definitely went better! Lack of husars surely a plus.
Insofar as Catt is reliable, we have a report that Fritz also took Colonel Balbi, and that Fritz was recognized toward the end of his trip and had to do some quick thinking:
The King started off at three o’clock in the morning for Arnheim, having learned from his valet do chambre that it was known that he was the King of Prussia, and that the magistrate awaited him at the town gate to make his compliment. He started off immediately, putting Colonel de Balbi in the leading carriage and himself in the baggage carriage that followed it.
When they arrived at the town gate, the magistrate approached the carriage, harangued Colonel Balbi, and finished this fine harangue by crying out in unison with those accompanying him: 'God be praised that we see the defender of the Protestant Religion.' His Majesty, in the open carriage, had great difficulty in not bursting out into laughter.
If this is true, he definitely learned something! And even if not, it appears to have been rather less eventful than the Strasbourg debacle.
Oh, according to Voltaire and Bielfeld, both of whom knew him personally at the time, Fritz was intending to go to Paris on that 1740 trip, but the Strasbourg debacle deterred him. I wonder if, if the France trip had gone better, he would have ever considered going to Italy?
Wiegand says that the idea the botched Straßburg experience was the reasonw why Fritz insisted Broglie be replaced as French commander in Bohemia during the Silesian War somewhat later is pure slander, that it was solely because Broglie wasn't competent enough. Thoughts?
I don't know enough about Broglie's military record to say, but given that Fritz promoted people he didn't personally like, including people like Derschau, there's a good chance that it wasn't primarily *because* of Strasbourg. At any rate, I believe that Fritz believed that he was incompetent. Did Fritz's personal feelings about Broglie skew his evaluation of his military career? Probably. Was it solely revenge? I doubt it. People rarely have only one reason for their actions.