LOL, but you know, his older brother, her first son had died as an infant. There are a couple of heartrendering letters from a young Liselotte while this happens (i.e. her oldest kid falling sick, then dying) to her former governess, Frau von Harling, who was still working for Aunt Sophie of Hannover (only not yet of Hannover - they're living in Osnabrück still), now as governess of Sophie Charlotte "Figuelotte", future mother of FW.
St. Cloud, 14th September 1775 (kid is sick, but not dead yet):
(...)But I have gone sour on all these divertisments, for this evening when I returned, I found my oldest son deathly ill, he had a terrible fever, horrible dysentry, and everything he was fed, he threw up again. You can, my dearest Frau von Harding, imagine how I felt. I took this so to heart that I've nearly gone sick myself. "Oh," I said to Monsieur, "If only I were lord and master here, I knew what I would do." "What?" he said. I replied: "I would send my two children to Osnabrück to be raised there and would plead for Frau von Harling, who was governess to me and now is for my aunt's children, that she should care for them, then I would know with certainty my children would remain alive." For tell you the truth; I don't trust in the local method of raising children at all,; but it is my misfortune that I can't do what I want there, which will make me cry a lot more. Today my boy is, thank be to God a little bit better. I beg you, tell me what you think of this, for there is no human being alive knowing more about children than you do.
Her oldest dies on March 16th 1776, and she writes to Frau von Harling again:
(...) Regarding my great misfortune, I knew you would be sad on my account and have to admit that I can hardly stomach it, for it has been too much for me. You are of probably right, my dearest Frau von Harling, when you say that the older one gets the more one experiences the world's misfortunes one is subjected to, for even now, when I haven't recovered from this misery, Monsieur is with the army and has scared me a thousand times, for as I've been told by everyone, he has been so daring during the two sieges of Condé and later of Bouchain which he has started and thankfully finished in a short while most happily. And now I have another worry: we've learned that many people in the army have fallen sick, and as Monsieur tires himself out no less than all the others and often doesn't get off his horse for 24 hours and doesn't sleep, I'm afraid he will finally fall sick as well, for as they say the campaign will continue a good while longer, and the King doesn't consider a return yet. (...) I wish with all my heart we will soon get a good peace, for I am so thoroughly sick of the war as if I'd been fed it with spoons, as they say at home. (...) I wish I could send you my remaining boy de Chartre in a letter, for then I'd know he'd remain alive, but as it is I am nothing but afraid for him, and I wish I was one year older, or three, or four, so I could see this child weaned off completely, for in this country they just don't understand how to do it and don't want to be told and so they send a lot of children in the other world, so many that one can't tell and I don't know whether they do it because things are so crazy in this one that they want to spare the poor children the trouble to observe this world's misery; but I believe they act from sheer stupidity and neglect, for which I have a very strong example. Please give my compliment to your lady (Sophie) and my little goddaughter (Sophie Charlotte).
And that's the emotional background for Liselotte's embarassing Mom thing.
Re: Bourbon Brothers
St. Cloud, 14th September 1775 (kid is sick, but not dead yet):
(...)But I have gone sour on all these divertisments, for this evening when I returned, I found my oldest son deathly ill, he had a terrible fever, horrible dysentry, and everything he was fed, he threw up again. You can, my dearest Frau von Harding, imagine how I felt. I took this so to heart that I've nearly gone sick myself. "Oh," I said to Monsieur, "If only I were lord and master here, I knew what I would do." "What?" he said. I replied: "I would send my two children to Osnabrück to be raised there and would plead for Frau von Harling, who was governess to me and now is for my aunt's children, that she should care for them, then I would know with certainty my children would remain alive." For tell you the truth; I don't trust in the local method of raising children at all,; but it is my misfortune that I can't do what I want there, which will make me cry a lot more. Today my boy is, thank be to God a little bit better. I beg you, tell me what you think of this, for there is no human being alive knowing more about children than you do.
Her oldest dies on March 16th 1776, and she writes to Frau von Harling again:
(...) Regarding my great misfortune, I knew you would be sad on my account and have to admit that I can hardly stomach it, for it has been too much for me. You are of probably right, my dearest Frau von Harling, when you say that the older one gets the more one experiences the world's misfortunes one is subjected to, for even now, when I haven't recovered from this misery, Monsieur is with the army and has scared me a thousand times, for as I've been told by everyone, he has been so daring during the two sieges of Condé and later of Bouchain which he has started and thankfully finished in a short while most happily. And now I have another worry: we've learned that many people in the army have fallen sick, and as Monsieur tires himself out no less than all the others and often doesn't get off his horse for 24 hours and doesn't sleep, I'm afraid he will finally fall sick as well, for as they say the campaign will continue a good while longer, and the King doesn't consider a return yet. (...)
I wish with all my heart we will soon get a good peace, for I am so thoroughly sick of the war as if I'd been fed it with spoons, as they say at home. (...)
I wish I could send you my remaining boy de Chartre in a letter, for then I'd know he'd remain alive, but as it is I am nothing but afraid for him, and I wish I was one year older, or three, or four, so I could see this child weaned off completely, for in this country they just don't understand how to do it and don't want to be told and so they send a lot of children in the other world, so many that one can't tell and I don't know whether they do it because things are so crazy in this one that they want to spare the poor children the trouble to observe this world's misery; but I believe they act from sheer stupidity and neglect, for which I have a very strong example. Please give my compliment to your lady (Sophie) and my little goddaughter (Sophie Charlotte).
And that's the emotional background for Liselotte's embarassing Mom thing.