So Peter actually made Fritz (provisional?) godfather and then asked for acceptance afterward? Was that how it worked with royal godparents, you waited to see if it was going to survive, had them baptized with the royal's name in the register, and then asked to see if said royal would accept? Is that what Trenck did with Joseph?
On the one hand: if you think about it, it makes sense in that with the mail needing sometimes months to arrive unless you're a royal with a special courier of your own at hand, in an age with high children mortality and were you believe the child's soul is at stake, you want that baptizing done quickly. So I bet that's how Trenck did it, not just with Joseph but also Amalie, only asking after the fact, so to speak. Plus in the Peter and Fritz case, Fritz is at war, so who knows when the letter will find him.
On the other hand: a pregnancy takes nine months. You'd think it makes sense to ask potential high ranking godfatahers and -mothers before the kid is born during the seven or so months you know about the impending arrival?
I dimly seem to recall something about FW changing his mind with Ferdinand, not on the godfathers but which one the kid was to be called after in daily life, with him first being called August after August the Strong, and then Ferdinand after *mind blanks* But that doesn't say anything as to when permission was asked even among royals.
Oh, and Leopold is called Peter Leopold because MT in an effort to win Elizaveta over to the cause against Fritz and for Austria asked her to be godmother to Leopold, with the name "Peter" taken from Elizaveta's father since they hardly could call the kid "Elisabethus".
I'm glad Peter has such legible handwriting! And I have another, not that important queston. I'm just curious as to whether he ever found out he was suggested as a candidate for Prussian envoy in London and that Fritz rejected this idea?
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Re: Peter Keith in the archives!
Date: 2023-01-04 08:19 am (UTC)On the one hand: if you think about it, it makes sense in that with the mail needing sometimes months to arrive unless you're a royal with a special courier of your own at hand, in an age with high children mortality and were you believe the child's soul is at stake, you want that baptizing done quickly. So I bet that's how Trenck did it, not just with Joseph but also Amalie, only asking after the fact, so to speak. Plus in the Peter and Fritz case, Fritz is at war, so who knows when the letter will find him.
On the other hand: a pregnancy takes nine months. You'd think it makes sense to ask potential high ranking godfatahers and -mothers before the kid is born during the seven or so months you know about the impending arrival?
I dimly seem to recall something about FW changing his mind with Ferdinand, not on the godfathers but which one the kid was to be called after in daily life, with him first being called August after August the Strong, and then Ferdinand after *mind blanks* But that doesn't say anything as to when permission was asked even among royals.
Oh, and Leopold is called Peter Leopold because MT in an effort to win Elizaveta over to the cause against Fritz and for Austria asked her to be godmother to Leopold, with the name "Peter" taken from Elizaveta's father since they hardly could call the kid "Elisabethus".
I'm glad Peter has such legible handwriting! And I have another, not that important queston. I'm just curious as to whether he ever found out he was suggested as a candidate for Prussian envoy in London and that Fritz rejected this idea?