18th-Century Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 36

[cahn]

Starting a couple of comments earlier than usual to mention there are a couple of new salon fics! These probably both need canon knowledge.

felis ficlets on siblings!

Siblings (541 words) by felisnocturna
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: 18th Century CE RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great, Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf, August Wilhelm von Preußen | Augustus William of Prussia (1722-1758), Wilhelmine von Preußen | Wilhelmine of Prussia (1709-1758)
Summary:

Three Fills for the 2022 Three Sentence Ficathon.

Chapter One: Protective Action / Babysitting at Rheinsberg (Frederick/Fredersdorf, William+Henry+Ferdinand)
Chapter Two: Here Be Lions (Wilhelmine)

Unsent Letters fic by me:

Letters for a Dead King (1981 words) by raspberryhunter
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 18th Century CE RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great & Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen (1726-1802)
Characters: Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen | Henry of Prussia (1726-1802)
Additional Tags: Epistolary, Love/Hate, Talking To Dead People, Canonical Character Death, Dysfunctional Family
Summary:

Just because one's king and brother is dead doesn't mean one has to stop writing to him.

Comments

Re: Lehndorff

[selenak]

Schmidt-Lötzen: now you know why I had to edit them out of volume 1! If he'd written that stuff about our glorious King himself, that would have been different, but I just figured my potential readers of a courtier diary would want to primarily read about Fritz and would not care much about Lehndorff's gigantic crush on Prince Heinrich. Or about Lehndorff's two marriages, or children. Or his fiancee that never was Frau von Katte. How was I to know he was going to be such a hit with my readers that I keep publishing his diaries until I die?

if you know Heinrich, you can't help but love him

Fritz: At this point it should be glaringly obvious why I left this delusional young man with my wife and never gave him a position anywhere near me.


That line was without context in volume 2, so I had to track down the main entry in volume 1. Apparently, the embroidered red velvet bed that was used for the first lying-together (during a royal marriage) of the Prussian kings and princes was sold, and Lehndorff regrets losing a piece of history.

Hang on, though, given that the "Kings of Prussia" as of 1752 consist of a grand total of 3, and I can't see either FW or Fritz spring the cash for such a piece of furniture, are we talking about a bed F1 bought? And given F1 became King at a time where both his marriages were in the past, presumably that means only FW/SC and Fritz/EC can have had a lying in there.

....or is Lehndorff speaking inaccurately on a technical level but does mean some bed the Princes Elector of Prussia used already?

Re: Lehndorff

[mildred_of_midgard]

Fritz: At this point it should be glaringly obvious why I left this delusional young man with my wife and never gave him a position anywhere near me.

LOL!

Hang on, though, given that the "Kings of Prussia" as of 1752 consist of a grand total of 3

Well, given that he said "kings and princes," and given that he talked about it as this historical artifact and compared its value to a hypothetical bed that Cleopatra or Livia slept in, I was assuming it was at *least* as old as F1. Maybe older. The Great Elector counts as a prince!

As for Fritz, I was wondering if he and EC had slept in it. Their first lying-together would have been in Brunswick, but maybe there was a separate ritual once they got back to Berlin. (Would this have been witnessed like a French royal marriage?)

And given the timing, February 1753, and the fact that Lehndorff says "princes," I wouldn't be surprised if Fritz made Heinrich and Mina lie next to each other in June 1752, and then sold it off. Ferdinand who? :P

ETA: on rereading the passage, the bed has to be pretty old, as Lehndorff refers to it as a Denkmäler and says it's a witness to "the luxury and tastes of our ancestors." So F1 at least. No one ever accused FW of luxury!

Re: Lehndorff

[selenak]

And given the timing, February 1753, and the fact that Lehndorff says "princes," I wouldn't be surprised if Fritz made Heinrich and Mina lie next to each other in June 1752, and then sold it off. Ferdinand who? :

Headcanon accepted. This would definitely have been a Fritz thing to do.

Re: Lehndorff

[cahn]

Schmidt-Lötzen: now you know why I had to edit them out of volume 1! If he'd written that stuff about our glorious King himself, that would have been different, but I just figured my potential readers of a courtier diary would want to primarily read about Fritz and would not care much about Lehndorff's gigantic crush on Prince Heinrich. Or about Lehndorff's two marriages, or children. Or his fiancee that never was Frau von Katte. How was I to know he was going to be such a hit with my readers that I keep publishing his diaries until I die?

Again, I salute your readers for having such good sensationalist taste! :D

Fritz: At this point it should be glaringly obvious why I left this delusional young man with my wife and never gave him a position anywhere near me.

HAHAHAHAHA it's funny because it's true!