Sure, you're a rich noble who can afford the staff to take care of your kids, but you still have a great representative household and society life to manage, which you really don't have the time for, and that is what the wife of a grand political noble does.
This is very true! And someone has to manage the staff, and that's the wife. And those 13 Moltke kids probably needed a stepmother even if they had staff!
I still feel like it's not normal to remarry within 6 months, though, for nobles or royals, and everything I'm seeing about "The Danish people thought it was indecent not to have a mourning period and were unhappy" suggests it's not just me.
With Frederik, of an uncertain temper, alcolism and emotional instability, I very much doubt he was up to much of the representative side of being a monarch. (Hanging out in brothels does not count.)
So further research has revealed he did more representation than he gets credit for. He was an extravert, and he liked traveling and hanging out with people, and I suspect he did more representation than Fritz. His parents did almost no representation, and his deal was that starting on day 1 he made himself accessible to people. Like 'being accessible' was apparently his brand by which he differentiated himself.
There's actually one anecdote where he *didn't* attend a church opening, because the people had been complaining about the taxes needed to build the church, and having the monarch present at the opening would make the ceremony even more expensive, so they had a less lavish opening...and people complained that they felt insulted! So that tells me that he normally did handle the representative side of being a monarch. Although I suppose that could also be Louise.
However. Since he was an alcoholic, there's a chance he wasn't *reliable* about showing up on the day, vs. begging off with a hangover or being incapacitated. And maybe that's what Louise had been doing and what Juliana Maria was so desperately needed for.
Btw, I can't remember if we discussed this in salon, but I did at some point come up with the idea that one major reason Fritz kept EC around after 1740 was to handle representation. Unlike Frederik, he was *not* an extravert.
Which brings me back to the Danes: if Frederik doesn't remarry immediately - is his sister still around and available to hold court for him? Or his mother?
His mother is around and in fact outlives him*, but she and her husband were both introverts who alienated the population by never wanting to interact with people unless they had to. They would ride through a carriage with the windows closed, and there was a heavy iron chain on the palace doors. I think it was the palace, anyway, there was a chain. When sociable, extraverted, hard-partying, alcoholic Frederik became king, he immediately gained popularity by riding in an open carriage and waving at people, and ordering the chain taken down to signal that people could come in and meet him. And I think when he traveled he sometimes ate in public so people could see him, and that was good PR. (Eating in public and letting people see you was a big thing in France, cahn.)
* Her death is only when Struensee's in power, and, at least according to Barz, was the trigger for a scandal: Caroline Mathilde visited her mother-in-law's deathbed with Struensee at her side and acting like her consort, instead of Christian.
(I bet no one had complaints about Juliana Maria's ability to represent, btw.)
Re: Danish kings and their favorites: Frederik V and Moltke
This is very true! And someone has to manage the staff, and that's the wife. And those 13 Moltke kids probably needed a stepmother even if they had staff!
I still feel like it's not normal to remarry within 6 months, though, for nobles or royals, and everything I'm seeing about "The Danish people thought it was indecent not to have a mourning period and were unhappy" suggests it's not just me.
With Frederik, of an uncertain temper, alcolism and emotional instability, I very much doubt he was up to much of the representative side of being a monarch. (Hanging out in brothels does not count.)
So further research has revealed he did more representation than he gets credit for. He was an extravert, and he liked traveling and hanging out with people, and I suspect he did more representation than Fritz. His parents did almost no representation, and his deal was that starting on day 1 he made himself accessible to people. Like 'being accessible' was apparently his brand by which he differentiated himself.
There's actually one anecdote where he *didn't* attend a church opening, because the people had been complaining about the taxes needed to build the church, and having the monarch present at the opening would make the ceremony even more expensive, so they had a less lavish opening...and people complained that they felt insulted! So that tells me that he normally did handle the representative side of being a monarch. Although I suppose that could also be Louise.
However. Since he was an alcoholic, there's a chance he wasn't *reliable* about showing up on the day, vs. begging off with a hangover or being incapacitated. And maybe that's what Louise had been doing and what Juliana Maria was so desperately needed for.
Btw, I can't remember if we discussed this in salon, but I did at some point come up with the idea that one major reason Fritz kept EC around after 1740 was to handle representation. Unlike Frederik, he was *not* an extravert.
Which brings me back to the Danes: if Frederik doesn't remarry immediately - is his sister still around and available to hold court for him? Or his mother?
His mother is around and in fact outlives him*, but she and her husband were both introverts who alienated the population by never wanting to interact with people unless they had to. They would ride through a carriage with the windows closed, and there was a heavy iron chain on the palace doors. I think it was the palace, anyway, there was a chain. When sociable, extraverted, hard-partying, alcoholic Frederik became king, he immediately gained popularity by riding in an open carriage and waving at people, and ordering the chain taken down to signal that people could come in and meet him. And I think when he traveled he sometimes ate in public so people could see him, and that was good PR. (Eating in public and letting people see you was a big thing in France,
* Her death is only when Struensee's in power, and, at least according to Barz, was the trigger for a scandal: Caroline Mathilde visited her mother-in-law's deathbed with Struensee at her side and acting like her consort, instead of Christian.
(I bet no one had complaints about Juliana Maria's ability to represent, btw.)
I bet!