Am also reminded of the publication of Sylvia Plath's letters to her mother, which her mother Aurelia explicitly chose to prove that everything was fine between her and Sylvia, and Sylvia wasn't the vicious ingrate from the poems and "The Bell Jar" who offers a satiric negative mother portrait for all the world to read, Sylvia was a wonderful loving daughter who kept telling her mother how wonderful Aurelia was. And of course the publication only made that mother/daughter relationship come across neurotic and co-dependent in reviewer's minds.
Ohhhh I have not actually seen those letters, that sounds fascinating. But also, in my experience, people keep telling their mothers how wonderful they are when the mother demands that!
What I'm getting at: I bet Moltke included all those apology letters to show what a great guy Frederik was and how affectionate and great their relationship with the same mindset of Aurelia Plath, that the lashing-out King wasn't the "real" Frederik... little realizing that readers might wonder what Frederik is apologizing for, etc.
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Re: Danish kings and their favorites: Frederik V and Moltke
Ohhhh I have not actually seen those letters, that sounds fascinating.
But also, in my experience, people keep telling their mothers how wonderful they are when the mother demands that!
What I'm getting at: I bet Moltke included all those apology letters to show what a great guy Frederik was and how affectionate and great their relationship with the same mindset of Aurelia Plath, that the lashing-out King wasn't the "real" Frederik... little realizing that readers might wonder what Frederik is apologizing for, etc.
AHAHAHA yes what I was thinking.