Well, Fritz at 16, 17, 18 (depending on when the duel takes place) hasn't, imo, decided yet that women are not for him. In addition to the Orzelska affair, there's whatever he thought he was doing with Doris Ritter. (Even Fritz at 19 is wooing Madame de Wreech with poetry.) Plus, of course, there's always the possibility that there's a kernel of truth in the later "prostitutes/loose living = STD" stories. He's still in the experimenting stage, as we would put it today, and the English marriage would emphatically be not something symbolizing submitting to Dad. It's something he and Wilhelmine put so much emotional effort, pain and tears into that SD might not have to guilt trip him at all because he'd see the achievement of it as a must for himself (as Mildred would say, cost/sunk facility). It's the ultimate proof he won over Dad instead of submission! Also, it's actually not a bad match in terms of rank and strategy, but a superb one. The number of Protestant princesses in the correct age available to him are few. (Which is why in rl Fritz and his brothers marry distinctly below rank.) It doesn't get better than an English princess. And he really wants to see Wilhelmine as Queen of England (in rl, he still brings that idea up along with himself/MT in the plan for Grumbkow that I recently quoted, and when she gets engaged to BayreuthFriedrich, he's wistful about how "your beautiful qualities could shine properly" only as Queen of England. (This desire is of course the result of both SD and Wilhelmine herself - despite Wilhelmine's later denial - being massively invested in it.) So, while Fritz at 28 undoubtedly would remain unmarried and let a theoretically unmarried Wilhelmine stay unmarried, Fritz at 16-18 does get married, I think.
Re: What if: FW vs G2 duel goes go through, ends lethally
Plus, of course, there's always the possibility that there's a kernel of truth in the later "prostitutes/loose living = STD" stories.
His 1737 letter to Duhan about trying to make up for lost time wasted on pleasures in his youth, combined with Wilhelmine's frustration at 16-yo Fritz's dissolute life after Duhan left, suggest that *something* happened when he was young. Though for all we know it was along the lines of walks in the park with Doris Ritter.
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Re: What if: FW vs G2 duel goes go through, ends lethally
Re: What if: FW vs G2 duel goes go through, ends lethally
(as Mildred would say, cost/sunk facility).
Sunk cost fallacy. :)
Plus, of course, there's always the possibility that there's a kernel of truth in the later "prostitutes/loose living = STD" stories.
His 1737 letter to Duhan about trying to make up for lost time wasted on pleasures in his youth, combined with Wilhelmine's frustration at 16-yo Fritz's dissolute life after Duhan left, suggest that *something* happened when he was young. Though for all we know it was along the lines of walks in the park with Doris Ritter.