![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Historical Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 47
We haven't had a new post since before December 25, so obligatory Yuletide link to this hilarious story of Frederick the Great babysitting his bratty little brother, with bonus Fritz/Fredersdorf!
Re: Philippe le Grenouille
Something that Baudrillart reports that I didn't remember from Kamen is that word got out to the general populace, and a lot of people thought it would be a great idea if the mentally ill king were allowed to retire. Only the queen and courtiers who benefited from this arrangement thought it was imperative that Philip remain king.
This situation SUCKS.
That's true. Mind you, I can understand why Isabella didn't want to be a retired King's wife again, either. She was younger and in her prime, political activity was the one compensation for seeing after a mentally unstable man she had, and giving this up in favour of her offspring with nothing to look forward to but decades (due to her age) of a life of first nursing and caring Philippe and after his death prayer, well...
It was awful for everyone.
Philip V: No alternating Protestants and Catholics for Holy Roman Emperor!
[Mildred: Has he heard rumors about Fritz as a candidate?]
He may have, or he was suspicious re: the durability of August III's conversion? But after August the Strong had become Catholic, there was really no question who the leading Protestant German noble house was, so more likely, he heard rumors about Fritz.
Re: Philippe le Grenouille
Oh, definitely! And as I recounted last time, there were good political reasons for his ministers not wanting him to do that again:
1. He already did that, and it ended badly. (His son died after just 7 months, putting him back on the throne.) Incidentally, that's one reason Philip the Frog so badly wants off the throne: he formally renounced it, and he thinks he's violating his oath and offending God by remaining king. And it's why he refuses to speak to his ministers except through his wife: if he doesn't act like a king, at least he's not violating his oath nearly as badly!
2. When he was retired, he was backseat driving from his country palace like crazy, telling his son what to do. Nobody wants two masters again.
3. Since his oldest son died, his next oldest son is a minor, so there would have to be a regency. Isabella, the normal candidate, would have to follow her husband into retirement. Philip doesn't have any brothers. His closest male-line relative is the king of France. And we know how it goes when there's discussion of uniting France and Spain: war!
Even if we manage to avoid a Europe-wide war, nobody wants the plotting and counterplotting within Spain over who gets to be regent.
4. Since (unlike in the reign of Philip's equally mentally ill so later in the century), there is a queen to act as point of contact, and she's willing and able to do the job, there's some continuity in leadership if we keep Philip locked in his room and Isabella acting as spokesperson for his opinions about politics.
And that's how it ended up awful for everyone. :/
Re: Philippe le Grenouille
Ohhhh. That... makes a certain amount of twisted sense.
Re: Philippe le Grenouille
...This guy needed lots of help, and lots less power.
Btw, I notice a typo in what you replied to: in "unlike in the reign of Philip's equally mentally ill so later in the century," that should read "mentally ill son."
Re: Philippe le Grenouille