What occurs to me is that FW confronted Katte in person at his arrest, and started yelling and hitting him. I mean, I forget if that's from a reliable source, but I think it is?
I dimly recall this as well, but alas not the source.
Yes, I'm always struck by the fact that Katte's final priorities were wanting to visit Fritz the night before, wanting to reassure him of his blamelessness, and wanting to blow kisses at him. It's evidence relevant not just to the question of how much he repents, but also for the nature of his relationship to Fritz
Indeed, and I agree, while it's entirely plausible early on Katte, while truly liking Fritz, also imagined himself as the next King's right hand man or at least very much in his favor, by the time he died this part of it had become irrelevant. Mind you, I imagine back in 1729 he hoped for more than the (good) deal Hans Heinrich had gotten, because that involved working hard away from the royal presence. (Hans Heinrich wasn't actually with FW that often, was he? Given his governing in East Prussia.) If anyone from the previous generation, he might have seen himself as more Fritz' Grumbkow or Old Dessauer in years to come. But once he finally decided to go with the escape plan, he must have been ready to say goodbye to those dreams for at least the remainder of FW's life time, and be ready for the life of a penniless exile depending on the help of his family. (Both of them, assuming they'd have reached Britain, where in a best case scenario G2 would have supported Fritz' living expenses and Aunt Melusine those of Katte.) Unless they did a Eugene and offered their military service to another sovereign, earning their living that way, and since neither was keen on the army at this point, I'm assuming this hadn't been the plan. But Katte must have at least considered the possibility Uncle George would go "yeah, no" instead, and that Melusine and Petronella would have him as a guest only for a limited time, not forever. So at this point, affection certainly trumped ambition.
(Unless they really thought G2 would go "Fritz! You poor boy, marry Emily, have Hannover for your income, I'm looking forward to go mano a mano with your Dad AT LAST!" But surely Dickens told them this wasn't likely?)
Lavisse's take: it would be, and also with the way many an 18h century and 19th century writer interpreted King Fritz' own take on his past. I mean, even SECOND Chamberhussar calls him a model follower of the "Honor thy father" commandment in his memoirs. Voltaire is something of an outlier there with his "FW: an abusive fright" take in pamphlets and memoirs and letters, with no indication he thinks Crown Prince Fritz did anything wrong when rebelling and trying to escape, and even he doesn't claim this was Fritz' opinion (though it's clearly Voltaire's).
Re: Katte psychology examined
I dimly recall this as well, but alas not the source.
Yes, I'm always struck by the fact that Katte's final priorities were wanting to visit Fritz the night before, wanting to reassure him of his blamelessness, and wanting to blow kisses at him. It's evidence relevant not just to the question of how much he repents, but also for the nature of his relationship to Fritz
Indeed, and I agree, while it's entirely plausible early on Katte, while truly liking Fritz, also imagined himself as the next King's right hand man or at least very much in his favor, by the time he died this part of it had become irrelevant. Mind you, I imagine back in 1729 he hoped for more than the (good) deal Hans Heinrich had gotten, because that involved working hard away from the royal presence. (Hans Heinrich wasn't actually with FW that often, was he? Given his governing in East Prussia.) If anyone from the previous generation, he might have seen himself as more Fritz' Grumbkow or Old Dessauer in years to come. But once he finally decided to go with the escape plan, he must have been ready to say goodbye to those dreams for at least the remainder of FW's life time, and be ready for the life of a penniless exile depending on the help of his family. (Both of them, assuming they'd have reached Britain, where in a best case scenario G2 would have supported Fritz' living expenses and Aunt Melusine those of Katte.) Unless they did a Eugene and offered their military service to another sovereign, earning their living that way, and since neither was keen on the army at this point, I'm assuming this hadn't been the plan. But Katte must have at least considered the possibility Uncle George would go "yeah, no" instead, and that Melusine and Petronella would have him as a guest only for a limited time, not forever. So at this point, affection certainly trumped ambition.
(Unless they really thought G2 would go "Fritz! You poor boy, marry Emily, have Hannover for your income, I'm looking forward to go mano a mano with your Dad AT LAST!" But surely Dickens told them this wasn't likely?)
Lavisse's take: it would be, and also with the way many an 18h century and 19th century writer interpreted King Fritz' own take on his past. I mean, even SECOND Chamberhussar calls him a model follower of the "Honor thy father" commandment in his memoirs. Voltaire is something of an outlier there with his "FW: an abusive fright" take in pamphlets and memoirs and letters, with no indication he thinks Crown Prince Fritz did anything wrong when rebelling and trying to escape, and even he doesn't claim this was Fritz' opinion (though it's clearly Voltaire's).