This is the tv version of a 19th century play; the original title of the play was “Zopf und Schwert”, “Tail and Sword”, the title of the tv movie is is “The Prussian Marriage”, “Die Preußische Heirat”. There are several interesting things about it, to which historical fidelity definitely doesn’t belong. The director was the great Helmut Käutner, who is responsible for several deserved German classics, some of the best 20th century Germanmovies; I can only assume he was short of cash and needed the money in this case. The playwright was Karl Gutzkow, who was one of the rebellious 19th century Prussian folk ending up in exile. He had a very strict ultra religious Prussian Dad and a nervous breakdown from which he recuperated in Bayreuth, so I could see how he would empathize with Wilhelmine. Unfortunately, his empathy doesn’t express itself by writing her as a character with traits beyond “ingenue love interest”. And the story itself is, err, basically the Disney movie we joked about. Here’s a summary for you. Excuse the Terminator jokes, but I couldn’t resist.
Opening scene: cheerful court with dancing people and a fellow playing the flute, who is of course...
John Connor Crown Prince Fritz: BayreuthFriedrich, since you have to leave my exile court at Rheinsberg, here’s your mission: go back in time, save my sister by providing her with books and a French teacher I’m sending her. Also, here’s a miniature portrait of her owned by me. If you show her this, she’ll know she can trust you.
BayreuthFriedrich: Go back in time?
Fritz: Since we’re in Rheinsberg. The rest of the play is clearly meant to be set in 1731.
BayreuthFriedrich: Mission accepted!
Wusterhausen or PotsdamPalace, the film isn’t clear: Potsdam Giants are loudly exercising. Just a few, because a tv budget can’t finance more, and also this was made in the 1971, at which point no one West German was allowed to shoot in GDR territory, so who knows where they filmed.
Sonsine (a young woman): You bastards, do you have to do this so loudly this early in the morning? This wakes up the princess.
Potsdam Giant leader: That’s the point of the King’s orders. We’re supposed to wake her up because she’s been a bad Fritz supporting girl.
Wilhelmine: God, I’m depressed. I can barely use what little French I know to write to Fritz that I can’t accept this French teacher, or Dad will punish me even more.
(She really says “mein bißchen Französisch”)
Sonsine: Courage! Also, talk to your brother’s messenger, he’s hot.
BayreuthFriedrich: Sarah Connor, I mean, Wilhelmine, come with me if you want to live! For starters, accept the French teacher your brother sends you.
Wilhelmine: Let me give you my daily schedule organized by Dad so you see I have little time for French lessons, despite dearly needing and wanting them. If I meet strange men without his permission, it’ll be Küstrin time for me, too.
BayreuthFriedrich: I can’t believe a beautiful princess like you gets treated this way! Take heart, meet the secret French teacher.
Wilhelmine: ...Okay. *returns to her room; they had this conversation in the stairways*
BayreuthFriedrich: I’m in love!
Servant: You’re also summoned to the Queen.
SD: I’m talking with a weird accent that’s supposed to the the Hannover habit of pronouncing “spitz” and “stein” “s-pitz” and “s-tein” instead of “schpitz” and “schtein”, which is what the rest of Germany does. So, who are you again? Right, the Prince of Ansbach, or some other Franconian hell hole.
BayreuthFriedrich: Your daughter Friederike is already married to the Margrave of Ansbach.
SD: Not in this play and movie, she’s not. So, Ansbach Guy, is it true my darling son sent you?
BayreuthFriedrich: Yes; he even calls me Frederic, because we have the same first name, and he wants me to....
SD: ...help me marry my daughter to the Prince of Wales, undoubtedly. You’ve done the Grand Tour, so you must have some useful connections. Get on it! *dismisses him*
BayreuthFriedrich: That was weird. Off to see the King next.
FW: *inspects tall fellows*
FW: *is played by Carl Raddatz, tall himself, former matinee idol, which even with a bit of a fat suit is a problem*
FW: *inspects his younger kids, who are standing straight like the Potsdam Giants, checks out whether they have clean nails and well combed hair*
Younger Kids: *are the wrong gender and age, i.e. two of the three boys are nearly identically old and the oldest, while all the girls are younger than the boys, and three of the girls are smaller than the youngest boy*
Grumbkow & Seckendorf: We’re the incredibly dumb evil stooges of this play. The clever evil schemer is someone else, to wit:
FW’s valet Eversmann: Me! I’m in league with G & S, and we’ve heard rumors about a British diplomat approaching. This means we need a countermove.
G, S, E: Sire, Archduke Leopold the future Emperor is asking for your daughter’s hand!
FW: Not impressed with the fact you’ve been making the Grand Tour for years while your little principality is practically broke and your father keeps building palaces, young man. Still, you probably learned how to throw a party for nobles during your travels. I’m putting you in charge of the festivities. Throw an engagement party for Wilhelmine and... the Prince of Wales, I guess.
“Lord” Henry (!) Hotham: *arrives*
Hotham: I’m the other smart schemer in this play, the good one. Hey, isn’t that BayreuthFriedrich, whom I know from his Grand Tour?
BayreuthFriedrich: Henry! Long time no see. Woe is me. I’m in love with Wilhelmine, whose marriage to Fritz of Wales you’re supposed to negotiate, and even if that falls through, she’ll be married to the future Emperor Leopold.
Hotham: Cheer up, let the master plan. Fact is: there’s one point in the English marriage offer that FW is bound to balk at if I emphasize it properly, to wit, that he’ll allow English exports into Prussia again. If he says no, your hour will come.
G, S, E: Your Majesty, we’ve heard there’s a French teacher in town, sent by Crown Prince Fritz to Wilhelmine, brought here by that Bayreuth fellow.
FW: WHAT. I hate all things French. Arrest the guy and kick him out of the country.
G, S, E: Which one?
FW: The French teacher. The Bayreuth prince leaves as well, but unarrested.
Wilhelmine: *gets French lesson from Frenchman clearly imitating the “Princess Catherine learns English” scene from “Henry V*
Potsdam Giants: Arrest French teacher, throw him out of the country
Wilhelmine: Woe!
BayreuthFriedrich: Let me be your replacement French teacher!
Wilhelmine: Okay?
BayreuthFriedrich: I LOVE YOU.
Wilhelmine: ...This is only our second meeting, but I love you, too.
Evermann: Oh, hi, BayreuthFriedrich. You’re unmasked as a smuggler of Fritz letters and French contraband. You’re also supposed to leave the country.
BayreuthFriedrich: OMG WHAT SHALL I DOOOO! HENRY!!!!
Hotham: Never fear, I’m on the case.
Wilhelmine, FW, SD, Hotham: *meet*
Hotham: reads out the marriage contract clauses
SD: *is indignant about the little dowry Wilhelmine gets*
Hotham: We’re cool with the little dowry, but we’d like you to import our stuff again.
FW: Never. I need to support our local trade. The marriage ist through.
Hotham: Well, that’s inconvenient, since the Prince of Wales is already in town.
SD: Yay!
FW: Not officially receiving him, but if he puts on a white domino (cloak), he won’t get arrested. Also, the marriage is still a no go.
BayreuthFriedrich, hearing about this: Henry, I don’t understand. Whose side are you on?
Hotham: Yours, of course. Listen, get yourself a Prussian uniform and a white domino, and all will be cool. Fritz of Wales is hunting boars in Scotland, don’t worry about him. This is all part of my cunning plan.
Potsdam Giants: *march in front of Wilhelmine’s room, deliver the message she’s supposed to stay put, learn passages of the bible by heart and knit socks for the children from the Berlin orphanage as punishment for the secret Fritz correspondence*
Sonsine: Hang on, one of you soldiers just gave me the eye. This has potential.
*flirts with Potsdam Giant*
Potsdam Giant Eckhof: I’m actually the son of actors who wanted to be an actor myself when I was forcibly recruited. I also play instruments.
Sonsine: Excellent. Play for us now, we have all of Fritz’ instruments hidden in Wilhelmine’s wardrobe.
Eckhof: Well, I can’t play the flute, but the violin will do.
Eckhof: *plays violin while Wilhelmine and Sonsine dance*
FW: *arrives unexpectedly, sees one of his Potsdam Giants play the violin while his daughter dances with her lady in waiting*
FW: What. Eckhof, you’re fired from the regiment. Clearly, you need punishment. Therefore, I order you to join the theatre troupe currently visiting Berlin as penance, thus signalling I’m good at heart and know what’s going on.
Eckhof: Yay! You’re the best, Sire. *exits Eckhof*
Sonsine: *exits at a signal from FW*
FW: So you’re hiding Fritz’ instruments and still go behind my back. Why don’t you children love me when I do everything for you! I wanted my family to prove that royal families can be just like burgher families, and you two keep counteracting me.
Wilhelmine: Sire...
FW: You used to call me Dad.
Wilhelmine: I still love you. But can’t I marry for love?
FW: No.
*exit FW*
Hotham: I’m here to officially take my leave, Sire. Despite efforts from minor evil stooge Grumbkow here, I shall now demonstrate how a true schemer plots. No hard feelings, FW, I’m about to return to Blighty, but I have a farewell present for you. I know this good looking tall young man who really really wants to join your army.
FW: Huh. I think I misjudged you. That’s a thoughtful farewell gift, which I’ll accept.
Hotham: I’ll introduce him to you later. Also, see, we Brits are all about the clubs. And I’ve heard the best club that ever clubbed meets in this very building, smoking, drinking beer and talking about all subjects, headed by the coolest host ever. There’s nothing I’d like more than get an invite for one evening.
FW: Wow, I really like you. Okay, you’re invited.
Eversmann, in an attempt to counterscheme: Sire, shall we roast him? We always need one fellow to mock anyway.
FW: Nah, I like him to much, but I have an idea whom to roast. Okay, Eversmann, if BayreuthFritz is still in Berlin, he is invited, too. We’ll make him our object of fun for the evening!
*later that evening* *Tobbacco Parliament*: assembles, with Hotham and BayreuthFritz as guests
Hotham: Remember, this is your one chance BayreuthFriedrich: *delivers zinger after zinger against Grumbkow, Seckendorf and Eversmann, impressing FW* FW: Okay, young man, ultimate test: Pretend you’re holding an obituary on me BayreuthFriedrich: *takes all his courage* Dear assembly, we’re here to mourn FW, great administrator and reformer and lousy Dad. We all know about the unfortunate affair with the Crown Prince, no need to say more. And not content with that, FW also wants to force his daughter into marriage, never wants asking her what her heart wants! The irony: I do think he loves his family. But he’s poisoned his relationships with them all by himself. So he’ll die respected but not loved, and then the young eagle, the rising sun will ascend and we’ll all root for him! Fritz Fuck Yeah!” Hotham: *for god’s sake, pretend to be drunk* BayreuthFriedrich: *pretends to be drunk* FW: Ooooookay. When you sober up, young man, let people tell you you and I drank together.
*still later that evening* SD: Party time, ladies! I’m hourly expecting the visit of my nephew the Prince of Wales and of my daughter whom I’ve broken out of her imprisonment by following Hotham’s advice and lending her a white domino to wear. *someone knocks at the door* Piano player: *starts to play British national anthem which as far as I know wasn’t yet the national anthem then, “God save the King”* SD: His highness, the Prince of Wales. FW: *enters in white domino* FW: Aha! So this is what you’re up to behind my back, Fieke! *someone knocks at the door* SD: Yes, and you can’t stop me! At last, here he is, his highness the Prince of Wales. Piano: Plays anthem Wilhelmine: *enters wearing a white domino* FW: WTF? *someone knocks at the door* SD: Okay, that’s gotta be him now. My future son in law. Piano: Plays British anthem Hotham and BayreuthFriedrich: *enter, wearing white dominos* FW: WTF? Hotham: Let me introduce your new recruit to you, Sire. *takes off white domino from BayreuthFriedrich, showing he wears a Prussian uniform underneath* FW: Hmmm. A German prince, eager to serve as a simple soldier in one of my regiments, was brave towards me, roasted the guys wanting to roast him... what say you, daughter? Wilhelmine: I LOVE HIM! FW: Okay, Fieke, I think we should let these two marry. SD: ....Only if I get to say the size of her dowry, you miser.
Hotham: Happy ending!
Now, aside from everything else: presumably the one publication Gutzkow must have read when doing research for this are Wilhelmine's memoirs. Can you imagine reading them and coming up with this plot?
cahn, Leopold was the name of MT's dad's dad, who was emperor in the latter half of the 17th century (d. 1705). His two sons were Joseph and Charles (MT's dad). Joseph and Charles had only daughters (hence the War of the Austrian Succession).
Oh, Wikipedia tells me he had a son named Archduke Leopold, WHO DIED IN INFANCY IN 1684. (Oh, and each of Joseph and Charles had one Leopold, WHO DIED IN INFANCY.)
I don't even have time to touch the rest of the mind-boggling decisions. But thank you for allowing us to enjoy them! That was quite...something.
Wasn't it just? I would love to do screenshots as well, not least because Hotham, probably to signal he's the most sophisticated character, actually wears a big black Haarbeutel. But alas it's on Amazon Prime and nowhere else, and my attempts to take pics result in copyright protecting black screen again.
LEOPOLD WHO???? was my reaction as well. I mean, there's so much other stuff. But even a mid 19th century audience, for which this was originally written, must have been aware that if there'd been an Archduke Leopold around in 1731 for Wilhelmine to potentially marry, European history would have been different. (OTOH a 1970s West German tv audience could be relied upon to have forgotten that the non existence of a male archduke was kind of a key issue.)
A bit more seriously: of course, now I wonder. FW would never have allowed his sons to convert, save for my one AU. But his by default less important daughters? If one of them gets to be Empress Consort? On the one hand, it was common enough practice for Protestant princesses if a match to a superior in rank and power beckoned - see Liselotte and MT's mother both starting out as Protestant princesses and converting in order to marry Catholic princes. And FW's own mother would have been cool with converting if old Louis XIV had married her. On the other hand: FW was the outlier among 18th century Kings. So, what do you think?
ETA: Found three pictures from the film online; sadly, none show Hotham and his Haarbeutel. Here's Carl Raddatz as FW:
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timeasmymeasure
Die Preußische Heirat, or Hohenzollern: The RomCom
Date: 2021-03-01 11:10 am (UTC)Opening scene: cheerful court with dancing people and a fellow playing the flute, who is of course...
John ConnorCrown Prince Fritz: BayreuthFriedrich, since you have to leave my exile court at Rheinsberg, here’s your mission: go back in time, save my sister by providing her with books and a French teacher I’m sending her. Also, here’s a miniature portrait of her owned by me. If you show her this, she’ll know she can trust you.BayreuthFriedrich: Go back in time?
Fritz: Since we’re in Rheinsberg. The rest of the play is clearly meant to be set in 1731.
BayreuthFriedrich: Mission accepted!
Wusterhausen or PotsdamPalace, the film isn’t clear: Potsdam Giants are loudly exercising. Just a few, because a tv budget can’t finance more, and also this was made in the 1971, at which point no one West German was allowed to shoot in GDR territory, so who knows where they filmed.
Sonsine (a young woman): You bastards, do you have to do this so loudly this early in the morning? This wakes up the princess.
Potsdam Giant leader: That’s the point of the King’s orders. We’re supposed to wake her up because she’s been a bad Fritz supporting girl.
Wilhelmine: God, I’m depressed. I can barely use what little French I know to write to Fritz that I can’t accept this French teacher, or Dad will punish me even more.
(She really says “mein bißchen Französisch”)
Sonsine: Courage! Also, talk to your brother’s messenger, he’s hot.
BayreuthFriedrich: Sarah Connor, I mean, Wilhelmine, come with me if you want to live! For starters, accept the French teacher your brother sends you.
Wilhelmine: Let me give you my daily schedule organized by Dad so you see I have little time for French lessons, despite dearly needing and wanting them. If I meet strange men without his permission, it’ll be Küstrin time for me, too.
BayreuthFriedrich: I can’t believe a beautiful princess like you gets treated this way! Take heart, meet the secret French teacher.
Wilhelmine: ...Okay. *returns to her room; they had this conversation in the stairways*
BayreuthFriedrich: I’m in love!
Servant: You’re also summoned to the Queen.
SD: I’m talking with a weird accent that’s supposed to the the Hannover habit of pronouncing “spitz” and “stein” “s-pitz” and “s-tein” instead of “schpitz” and “schtein”, which is what the rest of Germany does. So, who are you again? Right, the Prince of Ansbach, or some other Franconian hell hole.
BayreuthFriedrich: Your daughter Friederike is already married to the Margrave of Ansbach.
SD: Not in this play and movie, she’s not. So, Ansbach Guy, is it true my darling son sent you?
BayreuthFriedrich: Yes; he even calls me Frederic, because we have the same first name, and he wants me to....
SD: ...help me marry my daughter to the Prince of Wales, undoubtedly. You’ve done the Grand Tour, so you must have some useful connections. Get on it! *dismisses him*
BayreuthFriedrich: That was weird. Off to see the King next.
FW: *inspects tall fellows*
FW: *is played by Carl Raddatz, tall himself, former matinee idol, which even with a bit of a fat suit is a problem*
FW: *inspects his younger kids, who are standing straight like the Potsdam Giants, checks out whether they have clean nails and well combed hair*
Younger Kids: *are the wrong gender and age, i.e. two of the three boys are nearly identically old and the oldest, while all the girls are younger than the boys, and three of the girls are smaller than the youngest boy*
Grumbkow & Seckendorf: We’re the incredibly dumb evil stooges of this play. The clever evil schemer is someone else, to wit:
FW’s valet Eversmann: Me! I’m in league with G & S, and we’ve heard rumors about a British diplomat approaching. This means we need a countermove.
G, S, E: Sire, Archduke Leopold the future Emperor is asking for your daughter’s hand!
FW: Hm.
FW: *receives BayreuthFriedrich*
FW: Not impressed with the fact you’ve been making the Grand Tour for years while your little principality is practically broke and your father keeps building palaces, young man. Still, you probably learned how to throw a party for nobles during your travels. I’m putting you in charge of the festivities. Throw an engagement party for Wilhelmine and... the Prince of Wales, I guess.
“Lord” Henry (!) Hotham: *arrives*
Hotham: I’m the other smart schemer in this play, the good one. Hey, isn’t that BayreuthFriedrich, whom I know from his Grand Tour?
BayreuthFriedrich: Henry! Long time no see. Woe is me. I’m in love with Wilhelmine, whose marriage to Fritz of Wales you’re supposed to negotiate, and even if that falls through, she’ll be married to the future Emperor Leopold.
Hotham: Cheer up, let the master plan. Fact is: there’s one point in the English marriage offer that FW is bound to balk at if I emphasize it properly, to wit, that he’ll allow English exports into Prussia again. If he says no, your hour will come.
G, S, E: Your Majesty, we’ve heard there’s a French teacher in town, sent by Crown Prince Fritz to Wilhelmine, brought here by that Bayreuth fellow.
FW: WHAT. I hate all things French. Arrest the guy and kick him out of the country.
G, S, E: Which one?
FW: The French teacher. The Bayreuth prince leaves as well, but unarrested.
Wilhelmine: *gets French lesson from Frenchman clearly imitating the “Princess Catherine learns English” scene from “Henry V*
Potsdam Giants: Arrest French teacher, throw him out of the country
Wilhelmine: Woe!
BayreuthFriedrich: Let me be your replacement French teacher!
Wilhelmine: Okay?
BayreuthFriedrich: I LOVE YOU.
Wilhelmine: ...This is only our second meeting, but I love you, too.
Evermann: Oh, hi, BayreuthFriedrich. You’re unmasked as a smuggler of Fritz letters and French contraband. You’re also supposed to leave the country.
BayreuthFriedrich: OMG WHAT SHALL I DOOOO! HENRY!!!!
Hotham: Never fear, I’m on the case.
Wilhelmine, FW, SD, Hotham: *meet*
Hotham: reads out the marriage contract clauses
SD: *is indignant about the little dowry Wilhelmine gets*
Hotham: We’re cool with the little dowry, but we’d like you to import our stuff again.
FW: Never. I need to support our local trade. The marriage ist through.
Hotham: Well, that’s inconvenient, since the Prince of Wales is already in town.
SD: Yay!
FW: Not officially receiving him, but if he puts on a white domino (cloak), he won’t get arrested. Also, the marriage is still a no go.
BayreuthFriedrich, hearing about this: Henry, I don’t understand. Whose side are you on?
Hotham: Yours, of course. Listen, get yourself a Prussian uniform and a white domino, and all will be cool. Fritz of Wales is hunting boars in Scotland, don’t worry about him. This is all part of my cunning plan.
Potsdam Giants: *march in front of Wilhelmine’s room, deliver the message she’s supposed to stay put, learn passages of the bible by heart and knit socks for the children from the Berlin orphanage as punishment for the secret Fritz correspondence*
Sonsine: Hang on, one of you soldiers just gave me the eye. This has potential.
*flirts with Potsdam Giant*
Potsdam Giant Eckhof: I’m actually the son of actors who wanted to be an actor myself when I was forcibly recruited. I also play instruments.
Sonsine: Excellent. Play for us now, we have all of Fritz’ instruments hidden in Wilhelmine’s wardrobe.
Eckhof: Well, I can’t play the flute, but the violin will do.
Eckhof: *plays violin while Wilhelmine and Sonsine dance*
FW: *arrives unexpectedly, sees one of his Potsdam Giants play the violin while his daughter dances with her lady in waiting*
FW: What. Eckhof, you’re fired from the regiment. Clearly, you need punishment. Therefore, I order you to join the theatre troupe currently visiting Berlin as penance, thus signalling I’m good at heart and know what’s going on.
Eckhof: Yay! You’re the best, Sire. *exits Eckhof*
Sonsine: *exits at a signal from FW*
FW: So you’re hiding Fritz’ instruments and still go behind my back. Why don’t you children love me when I do everything for you! I wanted my family to prove that royal families can be just like burgher families, and you two keep counteracting me.
Wilhelmine: Sire...
FW: You used to call me Dad.
Wilhelmine: I still love you. But can’t I marry for love?
FW: No.
*exit FW*
Hotham: I’m here to officially take my leave, Sire. Despite efforts from minor evil stooge Grumbkow here, I shall now demonstrate how a true schemer plots. No hard feelings, FW, I’m about to return to Blighty, but I have a farewell present for you. I know this good looking tall young man who really really wants to join your army.
FW: Huh. I think I misjudged you. That’s a thoughtful farewell gift, which I’ll accept.
Hotham: I’ll introduce him to you later. Also, see, we Brits are all about the clubs. And I’ve heard the best club that ever clubbed meets in this very building, smoking, drinking beer and talking about all subjects, headed by the coolest host ever. There’s nothing I’d like more than get an invite for one evening.
FW: Wow, I really like you. Okay, you’re invited.
Eversmann, in an attempt to counterscheme: Sire, shall we roast him? We always need one fellow to mock anyway.
FW: Nah, I like him to much, but I have an idea whom to roast. Okay, Eversmann, if BayreuthFritz is still in Berlin, he is invited, too. We’ll make him our object of fun for the evening!
*later that evening*
*Tobbacco Parliament*: assembles, with Hotham and BayreuthFritz as guests
Hotham: Remember, this is your one chance
BayreuthFriedrich: *delivers zinger after zinger against Grumbkow, Seckendorf and Eversmann, impressing FW*
FW: Okay, young man, ultimate test: Pretend you’re holding an obituary on me
BayreuthFriedrich: *takes all his courage* Dear assembly, we’re here to mourn FW, great administrator and reformer and lousy Dad. We all know about the unfortunate affair with the Crown Prince, no need to say more. And not content with that, FW also wants to force his daughter into marriage, never wants asking her what her heart wants! The irony: I do think he loves his family. But he’s poisoned his relationships with them all by himself. So he’ll die respected but not loved, and then the young eagle, the rising sun will ascend and we’ll all root for him! Fritz Fuck Yeah!”
Hotham: *for god’s sake, pretend to be drunk*
BayreuthFriedrich: *pretends to be drunk*
FW: Ooooookay. When you sober up, young man, let people tell you you and I drank together.
*still later that evening*
SD: Party time, ladies! I’m hourly expecting the visit of my nephew the Prince of Wales and of my daughter whom I’ve broken out of her imprisonment by following Hotham’s advice and lending her a white domino to wear.
*someone knocks at the door*
Piano player: *starts to play British national anthem which as far as I know wasn’t yet the national anthem then, “God save the King”*
SD: His highness, the Prince of Wales.
FW: *enters in white domino*
FW: Aha! So this is what you’re up to behind my back, Fieke!
*someone knocks at the door*
SD: Yes, and you can’t stop me! At last, here he is, his highness the Prince of Wales.
Piano: Plays anthem
Wilhelmine: *enters wearing a white domino*
FW: WTF?
*someone knocks at the door*
SD: Okay, that’s gotta be him now. My future son in law.
Piano: Plays British anthem
Hotham and BayreuthFriedrich: *enter, wearing white dominos*
FW: WTF?
Hotham: Let me introduce your new recruit to you, Sire. *takes off white domino from BayreuthFriedrich, showing he wears a Prussian uniform underneath*
FW: Hmmm. A German prince, eager to serve as a simple soldier in one of my regiments, was brave towards me, roasted the guys wanting to roast him... what say you, daughter?
Wilhelmine: I LOVE HIM!
FW: Okay, Fieke, I think we should let these two marry.
SD: ....Only if I get to say the size of her dowry, you miser.
Hotham: Happy ending!
Now, aside from everything else: presumably the one publication Gutzkow must have read when doing research for this are Wilhelmine's memoirs. Can you imagine reading them and coming up with this plot?
Re: Die Preußische Heirat, or Hohenzollern: The RomCom
Date: 2021-03-01 08:54 pm (UTC)*boggles*
I have SO MANY questions!
But the most important one is LEOPOLD WHO??
Oh, Wikipedia tells me he had a son named Archduke Leopold, WHO DIED IN INFANCY IN 1684. (Oh, and each of Joseph and Charles had one Leopold, WHO DIED IN INFANCY.)
I don't even have time to touch the rest of the mind-boggling decisions. But thank you for allowing us to enjoy them! That was quite...something.
Re: Die Preußische Heirat, or Hohenzollern: The RomCom
Date: 2021-03-02 07:03 am (UTC)LEOPOLD WHO???? was my reaction as well. I mean, there's so much other stuff. But even a mid 19th century audience, for which this was originally written, must have been aware that if there'd been an Archduke Leopold around in 1731 for Wilhelmine to potentially marry, European history would have been different. (OTOH a 1970s West German tv audience could be relied upon to have forgotten that the non existence of a male archduke was kind of a key issue.)
A bit more seriously: of course, now I wonder. FW would never have allowed his sons to convert, save for my one AU. But his by default less important daughters? If one of them gets to be Empress Consort? On the one hand, it was common enough practice for Protestant princesses if a match to a superior in rank and power beckoned - see Liselotte and MT's mother both starting out as Protestant princesses and converting in order to marry Catholic princes. And FW's own mother would have been cool with converting if old Louis XIV had married her. On the other hand: FW was the outlier among 18th century Kings. So, what do you think?
ETA: Found three pictures from the film online; sadly, none show Hotham and his Haarbeutel. Here's Carl Raddatz as FW:
Sonsine and Wilhelmine:
All the Potsdam Giants tv budget can afford:
Re: Die Preußische Heirat, or Hohenzollern: The RomCom
Date: 2021-03-03 12:44 am (UTC)I know, I was echoing you! I thought it was funny because, yeah, there *is* so much else going on...and yet.
On the other hand: FW was the outlier among 18th century Kings. So, what do you think?
Only if he gets Jülich and Berg. More seriously, I just don't know. It could go either way. At the very least, I bet he drags his feet on it.
OTOH, our Scheming Duo might be able to pull it off, who knows.
All the Potsdam Giants tv budget can afford
AHAHAHAHAAAAAA, I laughed so much. That's one low budget! That's...20 of them?
Thank you for sharing the hilarity. :D