18th-Century Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 33

[cahn]

And, I mean, it doesn't have to be just 18th century characters, either!

(also, waiting for Yuletide!)

Comments

Re: Cornelia Naumann: Scherben des Glücks ("Shards of Happiness" - a novel about Wilhelmine)

[mildred_of_midgard]

like many a memoir, hers have her being inevitably right in her decisions and predictions (such as when she tells Katte to be careful etc.). Rare are the memoirs where someone declares "and then I completely fucked up when I should have known better".

Yes, this. While I'm willing to believe that like literally everyone except possibly Peter Keith, she did try to talk Fritz out of this on the obvious grounds that it was incredibly risky and also that he would be leaving her behind in hell, there is an air of "And of course I was the only one with any freaking common sense" in her memoirs that I've always side-eyed as very hindsight-y.

Also, as [personal profile] felis says, I'm not sure how it could have been done, logistically

Agreed. If Sonsine the English-marriage-supporter is on board, she might have been able to help smuggle Wilhelmine out in disguise? But as you say, she likely wouldn't have had the motivation to take all that risk, when

until April 1730, there was still the hope the English Marriage Project would finally work out

Even later than that: Hotham doesn't leave until July 12, and July 15 is when Fritz and FW set off for their tour of the other provinces. That's not a lot of time to plan a Wilhelmine escape!

In conclusion: God, those poor kids.