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
I noticed that! Manger had a similar problem when describing the Sanssouci vault and Fritz' wish to be buried there, but was a bit less embellishing: It's possible that he changed his mind over time, or that one didn't think it necessary to follow his instruction.
Kletschke, by the way, is this guy, military and court chaplain, and also responsible for and invested in reforming the military schools and the military orphanage in Potsdam during Fritz' last years, continuing that under FWII.
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.
Yeah. FWIII wrote his own description of the day (which can be found in Vol. 3 of Volz' "Spiegel") - he was woken during the night, arrived shortly after his father, and mentions that two servants kept away the flies with green branches while Fritz' body was still in Sanssouci (the music room) and before he was washed with spirit alcohol. (No embalming, as we know, but they did make a couple of incisions to get rid of the water, and FWIII comments that if they could have done that when he was still alive, he might not have died.) Also: It has been said that the king probably never rested as gently as he does now that he is dead; for it must be remembered that the most blessed king lay on mattresses at all times during his lifetime and that the pillows in the coffin are extremely soft. No mention of the dogs from him either. Which is almost surprising, given that he spent so much time in Sanssouci that day, but I guess they were brought away pretty quickly after Fritz' death, as to not be underfoot during the proceedings.
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Re: Various questions from Mildred
Date: 2021-02-22 11:18 am (UTC)I noticed that! Manger had a similar problem when describing the Sanssouci vault and Fritz' wish to be buried there, but was a bit less embellishing: It's possible that he changed his mind over time, or that one didn't think it necessary to follow his instruction.
Kletschke, by the way, is this guy, military and court chaplain, and also responsible for and invested in reforming the military schools and the military orphanage in Potsdam during Fritz' last years, continuing that under FWII.
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.
Yeah. FWIII wrote his own description of the day (which can be found in Vol. 3 of Volz' "Spiegel") - he was woken during the night, arrived shortly after his father, and mentions that two servants kept away the flies with green branches while Fritz' body was still in Sanssouci (the music room) and before he was washed with spirit alcohol. (No embalming, as we know, but they did make a couple of incisions to get rid of the water, and FWIII comments that if they could have done that when he was still alive, he might not have died.) Also: It has been said that the king probably never rested as gently as he does now that he is dead; for it must be remembered that the most blessed king lay on mattresses at all times during his lifetime and that the pillows in the coffin are extremely soft.
No mention of the dogs from him either. Which is almost surprising, given that he spent so much time in Sanssouci that day, but I guess they were brought away pretty quickly after Fritz' death, as to not be underfoot during the proceedings.