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 Diaries: 1787 - No Job, No Money: Grrrr, Argh!

[cahn]

This meeting has to be deeply embarassing to both regarding what has happened between them twenty years ago.

Huh. Lehndorff, do you mean you actually believe Kalckreuth/Mina was a thing?

Aw, that sucks! (I kind of assume that if Lehndorff thinks that, a bunch of other people must think that...)

Prince Heinrich is sick as well and worried about a thousand things. I try as much as I can to calm him down, and he promises me to be content. But – I really don’t marvel at the belief of the ancient ones that there were two souls in every human’s breast, a good and a bad one. The later always destroys every good thing the first one creates. Thus, the good intention of keeping calm whatever happens are destroyed in the moment one is tested and has to show one’s equanimity. I muse about this, thinking about myself as well as him.

Translation: neither Heinrich nor Lehndorff manage stoicism about the increasingly obvious truth they’re regarded as useless antiquities.

<3 :(

16h. I’m incapable of doing anything else. The thought of my son never leaves me. Several times a day, I hurry to him. I am satisfied with Dr. Richter, and also with the nursing done by Captain Boiton. His great weakness and his harsh breathing worry me continously. (…)

Oh, Lehndorff <3 This is (one of the many reasons) we love him <3333 (Mildred: thaaaaaank you for the note below that Karl lived!)

Cahn, the Princess Henriette Lehndorff is reminded of is Minette, Charles II’s sister.

Ah, as usual thank you for drawing the connection! (Because I've still got a very thin grasp of chronology -- one day I'll get it straight! -- I always assume now that it's probably someone else with the same name because EVERYONE HAS THE SAME NAME, ahem :P )

My pain is great. I’ve known her since forty years, and have been in her particular favor. She had very much esprit, but also many excentricities, and at any rate she had the mindset of a great princess, one can say, the Brandenburg mindset, which is very characteristic.

At such an opportunity, one can only exclaim: Vanity, vanity, all is vanity! This Princess, who had so many rich spiritual qualities, who had a great nature, a high flowing mind, she awoke the respect in everyone which her high birth alone would not have produced. There she lies stretched on a bed and regarded with melancholy by everyone.

Amalie! <3333 :(

This is a friendship which has lasted all my life. God knows when we will see each other again. He goes to France, and I shall withdraw into a corner of Prussia. That’s how things stand with us right now. If I look back, I feel so much happier than a hundred other people. But it would be different if I could look ahead.

<3333

As I write all of this with some bitterness, I still have to praise fate for giving me a happy life and an independent state still, which not many possess. I am healthy, and content, and I have an excellent („vortreffliche“) wife. That counts more than all the money I missed out on.

You know, I love that. I mean, everyone gets to complain once in a while, but he also does see what he does have, which is great.