Not to mention: unlike Katte, Peter has no useful connections in England or France, he doesn't know G1's former mistress or French Count Rottembourg. Involving Peter in the active planing at all also carries the risk of the mail to and from Wesel being read.
I meant to say, Wilhelmine, when trying to talk Fritz out of escaping in her memoirs, has Fritz say:
Katt is in my interest: he is attached to me, and will follow me to the farthest corner of the globe, if I chuse. Keith will also join me.
I've always imagined that one reason Fritz wants his boyfriends with him when he goes to England is not just because now they can have sex Katte has connections, but because he needs people around him he can trust. He'll be stranded in a foreign court where, family or no, everyone has their own agenda (and Parliament has a large say in things). I can't imagine he wouldn't want a trusted confidant with him, and even if he already has Katte, two trusted confidants for spying, message carrying, delegation, etc. would be even better.
But then there's this, which we've discussed: Peter probably wanted to get the fuck out of Prussia asap. There is no way he liked FW's Prussia. And, he was personal page! I imagine that was in no way a pleasant job, between the short temper and the close oversight (reading very difficult, must be done at night, very dangerous), etc. I imagine Peter was veeeery sympathetic to Fritz's desire to GTFO as long as he could go too. (I think that was another reason he jumped at the chance on August 6th.)
He seems to have enjoyed his 10 years outside of Prussia, though of course we have Formey's skewed toward the positive account. Still, the guy who wanted to be educated but wasn't, stayed up late at night reading in the Hague, spent a few years at Trinity in Dublin, hung out in learned circles in London, and then spent a lot of time in Portugal studying languages, and came back to join the Academy of Sciences, proooobably liked exile quite a bit better than being FW's page, or even being in the Prussian army in one of the least prestigious regiments.
So it's probable that Peter was the most gung-ho about the escape attempt, the only one in 1729 who wanted to go with Fritz as opposed to just help him out, and quite possibly even in 1730, the only one who Fritz could be sure *would* go, when Katte was evidently dragging his feet so much he had to be lied to.
So if I were Fritz, in July/August 1730, who'd probably spent all of 1729 talking with Peter about how great it was going to be in England together, I'd include Peter in the actual escape too. He's not only ideally situated (except for all the long-distance communication), but he's probably the only one who'll be disappointed if he doesn't get to desert with me!
This is my headcanon, and I'm sticking to it. Anyway, it seems to be close to canon that Peter was planning to go with Fritz in 1729, and it's likely that he was the only one at the time.
I'm glad you made it, Peter. <3 I'm sorry about literally everything else.
Re: The Escape Attempt (Nicolai Version)
I meant to say, Wilhelmine, when trying to talk Fritz out of escaping in her memoirs, has Fritz say:
Katt is in my interest: he is attached to me, and will follow me to the farthest corner of the globe, if I chuse. Keith will also join me.
I've always imagined that one reason Fritz wants his boyfriends with him when he goes to England is not just because
now they can have sexKatte has connections, but because he needs people around him he can trust. He'll be stranded in a foreign court where, family or no, everyone has their own agenda (and Parliament has a large say in things). I can't imagine he wouldn't want a trusted confidant with him, and even if he already has Katte, two trusted confidants for spying, message carrying, delegation, etc. would be even better.But then there's this, which we've discussed: Peter probably wanted to get the fuck out of Prussia asap. There is no way he liked FW's Prussia. And, he was personal page! I imagine that was in no way a pleasant job, between the short temper and the close oversight (reading very difficult, must be done at night, very dangerous), etc. I imagine Peter was veeeery sympathetic to Fritz's desire to GTFO as long as he could go too. (I think that was another reason he jumped at the chance on August 6th.)
He seems to have enjoyed his 10 years outside of Prussia, though of course we have Formey's skewed toward the positive account. Still, the guy who wanted to be educated but wasn't, stayed up late at night reading in the Hague, spent a few years at Trinity in Dublin, hung out in learned circles in London, and then spent a lot of time in Portugal studying languages, and came back to join the Academy of Sciences, proooobably liked exile quite a bit better than being FW's page, or even being in the Prussian army in one of the least prestigious regiments.
So it's probable that Peter was the most gung-ho about the escape attempt, the only one in 1729 who wanted to go with Fritz as opposed to just help him out, and quite possibly even in 1730, the only one who Fritz could be sure *would* go, when Katte was evidently dragging his feet so much he had to be lied to.
So if I were Fritz, in July/August 1730, who'd probably spent all of 1729 talking with Peter about how great it was going to be in England together, I'd include Peter in the actual escape too. He's not only ideally situated (except for all the long-distance communication), but he's probably the only one who'll be disappointed if he doesn't get to desert with me!
This is my headcanon, and I'm sticking to it. Anyway, it seems to be close to canon that Peter was planning to go with Fritz in 1729, and it's likely that he was the only one at the time.
I'm glad you made it, Peter. <3 I'm sorry about literally everything else.