It's fascinating that on the one hand we have a rumor that Fritz reacted badly to Peter's return this early, even though it is mixed with the demonstrably false reason that he came back without being asked to, and on the other hand he's supposed to have gotten a personal confidential audience. I'm with Mildred that maybe both are true, and Peter did get a personal audience but it didn't go as well as he expected
Well, the thing is, that's exactly what later sources claim. I'm blanking on whether there's a reliable one that says the had an unhappy first meeeting in person, as opposed to that one by nineteenth century editor of Thiebault's memoirs, in a passage particularly rife with mistakes, but I have seen this claim before.
Peter Keith's son, writing in 1820, has them exchanging letters in which they get more and more frustrated with each other, before Peter's return:
Mein Vater legte dem König vor Augen eine schriftliche Versprechung, die der König als Kronprinz ihm gegeben hatte, und die in starken Ausdrücken ausgefertigt war. Der König nahm dieses besonders übel, und das Resultat war, das mein Vater als Oberstleutnant und Stallmeister mit 1.200 RTl Pension nach Berlin zurückkam.
My father made the king aware of a written promise which the king as crown prince had given him and which was made out in strong terms. The king took this particularly badly, and the result was that my father came back to Berlin as a lieutenant colonel and stable master with 1,200 RTl pension.
I was never quite sure how much credence to give this, since 1820!son also thinks his father left Wesel because he was warned that Fritz had been arrested, when as we know, Fritz was arrested because Peter had left Wesel several days earlier.
But now that we have an extremely contemporary account of both an in-person meeting and a lack of favor on Fritz's part, I'm kind of inclined to think Peter *did* keep a letter from Fritz all those years, remind him of it (maybe even in person), and make a defensive Fritz double down on "I am not ruled by my favorites! I'll show everyone!"
If the first part of Keith son's account is correct, that they had argued by letter, that would be consistent with people realizing Peter wasn't in favor already by Oct 14, before the supposed in-person meeting. But then there's the question of why the meeting, if he's already out of favor?
Since right at this time, Wilhelmine comes to visit Rheinsberg and hardly gets to see him, and afterward Fritz writes a letter apologizing that he wasn't a very good host because he was sick, Fritz might have been both a) not in his best mood that week or two because sick, b) super defensive about his past Crown Prince self having been so influenced by the people around him, without it necessarily meaning he was displeased with the people in question. Just not giving them the kind of favor they expected. And then, of course, he was super busy with the invasion shortly thereafter.
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Re: News from 1740
Well, the thing is, that's exactly what later sources claim. I'm blanking on whether there's a reliable one that says the had an unhappy first meeeting in person, as opposed to that one by nineteenth century editor of Thiebault's memoirs, in a passage particularly rife with mistakes, but I have seen this claim before.
Peter Keith's son, writing in 1820, has them exchanging letters in which they get more and more frustrated with each other, before Peter's return:
Mein Vater legte dem König vor Augen eine schriftliche Versprechung, die der König als Kronprinz ihm gegeben hatte, und die in starken Ausdrücken ausgefertigt war. Der König nahm dieses besonders übel, und das Resultat war, das mein Vater als Oberstleutnant und Stallmeister mit 1.200 RTl Pension nach Berlin zurückkam.
My father made the king aware of a written promise which the king as crown prince had given him and which was made out in strong terms. The king took this particularly badly, and the result was that my father came back to Berlin as a lieutenant colonel and stable master with 1,200 RTl pension.
I was never quite sure how much credence to give this, since 1820!son also thinks his father left Wesel because he was warned that Fritz had been arrested, when as we know, Fritz was arrested because Peter had left Wesel several days earlier.
But now that we have an extremely contemporary account of both an in-person meeting and a lack of favor on Fritz's part, I'm kind of inclined to think Peter *did* keep a letter from Fritz all those years, remind him of it (maybe even in person), and make a defensive Fritz double down on "I am not ruled by my favorites! I'll show everyone!"
If the first part of Keith son's account is correct, that they had argued by letter, that would be consistent with people realizing Peter wasn't in favor already by Oct 14, before the supposed in-person meeting. But then there's the question of why the meeting, if he's already out of favor?
Since right at this time, Wilhelmine comes to visit Rheinsberg and hardly gets to see him, and afterward Fritz writes a letter apologizing that he wasn't a very good host because he was sick, Fritz might have been both a) not in his best mood that week or two because sick, b) super defensive about his past Crown Prince self having been so influenced by the people around him, without it necessarily meaning he was displeased with the people in question. Just not giving them the kind of favor they expected. And then, of course, he was super busy with the invasion shortly thereafter.
Re: News from 1740