18th-Century Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 37

[cahn]

More diaries of our favorite 18th-century Prussian diary-keeper have been unearthed and have been synopsized!

January 18th: Blessed be thou to me! Under your light, my Prince Heinrich was born!

Comments

[selenak]

I remember the Gunning sisters from your earlier write-up! And yes, if someone is noticed wearing much make up in this (pre-revolutionary) century where everyone puts a lot of powder on their faces anyway, they really must have laid it on thickly. (To the detriment of their health, alas.)

Mildred told you already why Lehndorff as a Prussian noble couldn’t just quit and go to London with Hotham without royal permission. Incidentally, there’s also a question of finances. Lehndorff at this point of his life was a younger brother without any income of his own if he quit his office as chamberlain and gets cut off by his older brother from the estate revenues (which said older brother would have had to do if he didn’t want to risk royal disgrace himself. Now, since Lehndorff, who is handicaped due to a lame foot, isn’t part of the army, he doesn’t risk the death penalty if he leaves without permission, but he certainly risks finding himself broke abroad and utterly dependent on his lover. Who is all of 21 and presumably also dependent on a father or uncle for his income.

Heinrich’s personality is in many ways that of his oldest brother, i.e. Fritz, which is why the two clash so often. There are some differences, too, of course, partly through their different life circumstances - first crown prince, then King vs 13th and last-but-one child of a large royal brood - and partly because Fritz is a warning example, but they do have a lot of eerie similarities. They’re both gay, loving music and (French) literature with more than avarage-for-a-noble passion, both start out hating the dullness of military drill (but not being in the military isn’t an option anymore for a Prussian prince once their father has changed the Prussian mentality in his image) and the hierarchic soldier life, and end up as superb generals anyway; they’re both sharp tongued, believe themselves immune to flattery but are anything but; and then there’s the part where Fritz deliberately has the 14 years younger Heinrich recreate parts of his life, which alas includes forcing him to marry as a disciplinary measure just as their father has forced him, but also includes giving him Rheinsberg, his favorite place to be, with the caveat that Heinrich isn’t actually allowed to live there until he’s submitted properly by marrying. Both Fritz and Heinrich were also terrible husbands to their unwanted wives, being constitutionally incapable of seeing the actual woman as opposed as a symbol of their humiliation and the tight hold Dad/Big Brother has on them.

Key differences include the part where Heinrich could actually delegate (like I said, Fritz is a warning example), and also the part where while contemporaries and historians never stopped debating how much or little sex Fritz actually had, hardly anyone thought or thinks Heinrich’s relationships with his (male) favourites were platonic. They were also different types of general, which was really lucky for Prussia in the 7 Years War. Fritz excelled at ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK, winning against the odds but with incredibly high losses of life; Heinrich was good at exhausting and tricking his enemies before there ever was a battle, and for being able to choose the ground he wanted (because he could run the usually superior enemy ragged first).

Emotional support is definitely something Lehndorff offered through the decades, and it’s probably not a coincidence that while they had known each other for two years already at that point, with Lehndorff friends of all three of Fritz’ younger brothers, Heinrich becoming closer to him and him falling in love with Heinrich happened in the year of Heinrich’s marriage. (Like I said, two years after they’ve met, so, not a case of love on sight.) And that’s when the accolades in the diary start. Of course, this was an emo age and flattering royalty was what courtiers did, but even within that caveat, Lehndorff well and truly stands out in his smitten-ness. He later notes down Heinrich’s less flattering traits as well (though his worst trait in Lehndorff’s eyes will always be falling for the wrong men), but as the entry quoted in this post shows, never entirely loses the part where you feel he’d have drawn sparkly hearts around Heinrich’s name if that had already been an option in the 18th century.

[luzula]

Thanks for the write-up re: personalities! And it's interesting that it wasn't love at first sight for Lehndorff...