Having browsed through it, it is incredibly detailed, includes stuff like the exact clothing dead Fritz was dressed in, or that his "thin grey hair" was combed and powdered into "loose curls", and the name of the servant who held him when he died. (I'll translate the passage for you.) The whole tone is legic and hyperpatriotic, and this means the author runs into an obvious problem, to wit, that the whole funeral arrangements and procedure which he describes in loving detail was something the "Hochseliger" as he refers to Fritz, the late King of blessed memory, would explicitly not have wanted. At which point our author commits a blatant falsehood and goes (paraphrased): "Dear readers, you may have heard the story that Fritz wanted to be buried in Sanssouci. Well, maybe the whim struck him on one of those lovely evenings sitting out there, and he made a remark to that effect to a visitor, but I can assure you it really was no more than that, no written instructions anyway, and so our noble new king, who just couldn't know for sure one way or the other, decided to bury him worthily in royal style!"
The only point where he says something critical about the funeral arrangements etc. at all is when in the memorial service they play a new composition with Latin text by Luccessini, and the author chides that it being in Latin means that most of the people assembled in the Garnisonskirche would have understood a word, and provides the text with German translation in an appendix. (It's basically "Who was the greatest? FRITZ! Fuck Yeah!" in Latin, in several verses, listing individual accomplishments - the land winning by river draining projects, Silesia, making his enemies quail in the 7 Years War, philosopher and writer.)
The death scene, starting on the evening: They say the King had asked about the time, and when he was told that it was 9 pm, he supposedly said then it was time for him to retire. There are a lot of other stories, the veracity of which I can't swear to, so I won't repeat them here. Finally, his breath became shorter and shorter, the moaning sound became softer and softer, as is the habit with a marusmus senilis, and at last, he took his last breath on Thursday morning at 2 am 19 minutes, leaning forwards to one side, with the head pressed against the body of the chamber servant ("Kammerlakei") Strizky.
Present during the death of this great monarch were, aside from the two royal chamber hussars, Mr. Neumann and Mr. Schöning, various other servants. His excellency the state and cabinet minister Baron von Herzberg, Generallieutenant Count von Görtz, and General Major and Master of the Horse Schwerin were situated in the side chambers next door. The royal physician, Dr. Selle, immediately called his excellency state and cabinet minister von Herzberg, who then signalled to the stableboy waiting at the ramp of Sanssouci that the King was dead, and the later immediately brought the news to his excellency Generallieutenant von Röddich and to the Prince of Prussia, now the current King's Majesty.
FW2 was in Sanssouci within hours. (And moved in one of the rooms for the next few days until everything administartive was transferred to the Berlin town palace, though he resided in one of the guest rooms; Fritz' chamber was sealed off.) Because Fritz had strictly forbidden an autopsy and an embalming (his mother had done the same thing; AW was the outlier with explicitly requesting an autopsy after his death), and it was August, the funeral really happened very quickly because of the threatening decay, and the death mask was also taken quickly for that reason. Otoh, the three coffins Fritz was put in were all openened again before they found their final place in case the body had been shaken and moved through the transport and had to be put back into dignified position.
Alas, no mentioning as to what became of the dogs in the entire text that I could see! (Though maybe I overlooked it, it was a very quick reading on my part.) I remember this was one of our old questions.
Re: Various questions from Mildred
The only point where he says something critical about the funeral arrangements etc. at all is when in the memorial service they play a new composition with Latin text by Luccessini, and the author chides that it being in Latin means that most of the people assembled in the Garnisonskirche would have understood a word, and provides the text with German translation in an appendix. (It's basically "Who was the greatest? FRITZ! Fuck Yeah!" in Latin, in several verses, listing individual accomplishments - the land winning by river draining projects, Silesia, making his enemies quail in the 7 Years War, philosopher and writer.)
The death scene, starting on the evening: They say the King had asked about the time, and when he was told that it was 9 pm, he supposedly said then it was time for him to retire. There are a lot of other stories, the veracity of which I can't swear to, so I won't repeat them here. Finally, his breath became shorter and shorter, the moaning sound became softer and softer, as is the habit with a marusmus senilis, and at last, he took his last breath on Thursday morning at 2 am 19 minutes, leaning forwards to one side, with the head pressed against the body of the chamber servant ("Kammerlakei") Strizky.
Present during the death of this great monarch were, aside from the two royal chamber hussars, Mr. Neumann and Mr. Schöning, various other servants. His excellency the state and cabinet minister Baron von Herzberg, Generallieutenant Count von Görtz, and General Major and Master of the Horse Schwerin were situated in the side chambers next door. The royal physician, Dr. Selle, immediately called his excellency state and cabinet minister von Herzberg, who then signalled to the stableboy waiting at the ramp of Sanssouci that the King was dead, and the later immediately brought the news to his excellency Generallieutenant von Röddich and to the Prince of Prussia, now the current King's Majesty.
FW2 was in Sanssouci within hours. (And moved in one of the rooms for the next few days until everything administartive was transferred to the Berlin town palace, though he resided in one of the guest rooms; Fritz' chamber was sealed off.) Because Fritz had strictly forbidden an autopsy and an embalming (his mother had done the same thing; AW was the outlier with explicitly requesting an autopsy after his death), and it was August, the funeral really happened very quickly because of the threatening decay, and the death mask was also taken quickly for that reason. Otoh, the three coffins Fritz was put in were all openened again before they found their final place in case the body had been shaken and moved through the transport and had to be put back into dignified position.
Alas, no mentioning as to what became of the dogs in the entire text that I could see! (Though maybe I overlooked it, it was a very quick reading on my part.) I remember this was one of our old questions.