The Grumbkow File
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rheinsbergGoing through the various letters and documents found in the appendices of various 19th century biographers - Preuss, Förster et al - has produced a great many interesting and character-illuminating quotes, several of which are to be found in the letters exchanged between Crown Prince Friedrich and Grumbkow. (To recapitulate: Grumbkow was a minister of war (and other departments) in FW's cabinet, as close a friend as FW ever had, ally to Imperial envoy Seckendorff, enemy to Queen Sophia Dorothea. Pre 1730, he contributed his share to the increasingly toxic situation between FW and his son, mostly due to representing Imperial interests against British interests as pushed by Sophia Dorothea. However, Grumbkow was also a pragmatist who saw young Fritz as still the best candidate for the succession, and starting with running interference between father and son during the Küstrin year started to cultivate Fritz politically and socially. Whether he'd have fared as badly as Seckendorff would under the rule of Friedrich II, we'll never know; he died in 1739. Fritz, in a private letter to Wilhelmine, was entirely unmoved, if not somewhat delighted. Theirs had been an entirely pragmatic "let's be mutually useful to each other" relationship, mutual assurances of affection not withstanding. One early document, from the August of 1731, has Grumbkow providing guidelines for Friedrich's future behaviour which Fritz seems to have listened to. Not that he had much choice; this was the month in which FW visited Küstrin, father and son saw each other again for the first time in a year, and Fritz made his official submission to his father, complete with literally kissing his feet, plea of forgiveness and promise to do whatever his father wanted in the future.
A brief summary of the suggestions would be: "Don't give your father the impression you're secretly mocking him; being respectful and loving to your mother is okay, as long as you don't rub it in how much more you like her than you like your Dad; you and Wilhelmine have no boundaries with each other, so put up some quickly; be nice to your brothers and show some interest in how they're doing. As for your brothers in law, don't single one out but be polite to them all, and always remind them that Dad now should come first in their lives."
(Oh, and Grumbkow uses "Princess Royal" - Princesse Royale, this letter of instruction is written in French -, for Wilhelmine.)
Or, in the original rokoko language:
If the King seeks the opinion of Crown Prince, or his feelings on something, and he foresees, that this opinion does not conform to the King's ideas or principles, it will be necessary to use this phrase: If your majesty does me the honor of asking, I must say my feeling, it is such and such, I may well be wrong, however, and my little experience can make me err easily. It is important to avoid all spirited mocking and all mischievous expressions towards the King, which would cause disadvantages to even the least of the servants, but on the other hand, do get rid of any austere air, reservedness or brooding, which the King has so often complained about. (...)
As to Her Majesty the Queen: I believe that the tenderness and the deep respect that your highness naturally has for
this worthy Princess, does not need to be regulated and governed. However, everything must be done with beautiful
discernment; there is surely no need to recommend to show no preference in what is said to the King; past experience must have taught his royal highness that the suspicions we had in this arena caused much grief to the illustrious mother and the
beloved son.
Whatever tenderness, trust and friendship, the incomparable Princess Royal has the right to claim, and which are due to her in a thousand remarkable places, I still believe that in the beginning it will be necessary to put up certain boundaries. As to the princes, your royal highnesses brothers, you need to show a tender and natural friendship and show your joy when they do their duty well.
As to your royal highness' brothers in law. I believe you will have to treat them on an equal footing without distinction, with
friendship, civility and politeness, accompanied in this with a little seriousness, and in conversation with them, always preach to attach themselves solely to the King and to expect all their advantage and happiness from him.
Now, here's the thing: I previously put Wilhelmine's impression of Fritz when she sees him for the first time post-Katte during her wedding due to them being observed and his having had the year of hell behind him. (Which is also the explanation she has at the time, but her 1740s self wonders whether it starts here.) Especially since the next time they are physically together, they're back to their old footing. And similarly, I put the fact that in his first preserved "regular" letter in the Trier archive, in 1732, he tells her to disregard any impression he's gone cold on her and how can she believe this due to Wilhelmine (like him) having no chill. But here's Grumbkow giving this very pointed advice, and given FW did have a hang up about the affection between his two oldest long post Küstrin - hence him not permitting Fritz to visit Bayreuth when Fritz is en route to Philippsburg, for example, and the need for the two to arrange a secret rendezvous when Fritz is en route back but technically does not stop in Bayreuth (just, as later MT, on the outskirts). So I now think Wilhelmine might not have been just hypernervous and needy in the aftermath of the big catastrophe plus a year and confused PTDSD (without any P in this traumatic stress) with Fritz emotionally withdrawing from her. Maybe he did at least try to provide Dad, Grumbkow and everyone else with the impression he was, in fact, putting boundaries between them. (Made easier by the fact he was traumatized as hell and so was she, in a different way, and they had no real chance to be together at length and talk until the post marriage family visit from hell.)
Förster also has the protocol of the big feet-kissing public submission from that same August of 1731, which was written by Grumbkow for Seckendorff. This one is in German, and seems to be quite close to the real event given FW keeps switching between the formal second person plural and the "Du" when adressing Fritz. (Including, btw, in the "Did you seduce Katte or did he seduce you?" question - that's a "Du" question.) This protocol includes the "what I've done to your mother and sister and Hannover if you'd succeeded" which Mildred has mentioned repeatedly.
"Now listen to the consequences! Your mother would have fallen into the greatest unhappiness, for I would naturally have treated her as if she'd known everything. And your sister I'd have locked up for the rest of her life at a place where she'd never seen the sun or moon again. I'd have gone to Hannover territory with my army, and would have burned everything down, even if I had lost my country, my people and my life for it!"
Fritz then submits and asks to be given the chance to prove himself and win back FW's esteem, FW then asks the Katte question and when Fritz replies "without hesitation" that "I seduced him", FW replies "It pleases me that you tell the truth for once."
Now, I have my doubts whether we'd have gotten a Prussian invasion of Hannover had Fritz managed to escape, because even enraged FW knows better than to start a war with the British Empire. But the SD and Wilhelmine threats would undoubtedly have been carried out. It's hostage taker logic at its most ruthless.
After looking in vain for a post-Küstrin Katte mention in letters from Fritz to people he actually cared for - Suhm, Algarotti, Wilhelmine, or, for that matter, Voltaire - , it was not a little startling to find a Katte reference by Fritz in a letter to Grumbkow, this one. The letter is dated October 29th, 1737. Context: FW seems to have shown dislike towards Mantteuffel, Saxon envoy, patron of Wolff the philosopher who is much resented by FW (though this will later change), part time Austrian spy instructed to get close to Fritz. Fritz in 1737 withdraws from Mantteuffel and writes to Dad's good friend Grumbkow:
It seems to me you have some doubts in regards to my political morals in regards to one's behaviour towards one's unfortunate friend. If an honorable man like yourself disapproved, I'd be sad, and this causes me to justify my point of view to you. (...) The respect I have towards the King my father seem to oblige me to not honor persons towards whom he shows disapproval. Such distinctions would damage Count Mantteuffel more than they would be of use to him. It is a fact I have not stopped regarding him as a friend after our correspondance came to an end; indeed I have avoided him out of friendship. You see for yourself how far the anger of the King of England goes when the Prince of Wales supports people who have caused the disapproval of the King. (Remember, the Hannover Georges were just as dysfunctional in their father/son relationships.) You can see how far he goes in his revenge, despite not being a despot and not nearly being as powerful as the King of Prussia. (...)
Incidentally, I cannot be accused of cowardice. If Count Mantteuffel was in any real danger, I'd have done anything for him one could for for a friend. You know, Field Marshal, and you are my witness to what I have done for Katte. You know: I did offer my life not once but a thousand times to save his. Despite my and his misfortune, I have never denied him, and while I could complain in some regards about him, I do not believe to have wronged him. I am the same now as I was then, and the sense of honor with which I was born will never leave me for as long as I shall live.
Well! Bearing in mind that this is budding Machiavellian!Fritz talking to arch Machiavellian!Grumbkow (whom he still needs but wont waste a tear on once the guy kicks it), how serious are we to take the Katte statement? Because on the one hand, it's liar writing to a liar, but on the other, that sound of "I did much more for X than X did for me, and I'm the one to feel sorry for!" sounds suspiciously familiar...
There's also the question of chronology: Fritz according to all sources did not learn about Katte's impending execution until the day it actually happened (November 6th 1730). At which point he did offer his life, his place in the succession, everything, but it was too late to write to Berlin. So was he speaking rethorically when he said "a thousand times"?
After debating various possibilities, more research unearthed none other than Grumbkow's buddy Seckendorff the older coming through for our antihero's claim. In addition to his official reports to the Emperor, Seckendorff also reported to Prince Eugene, and in a report to Eugene dated September 5th, 1730, he says: „The King has talked to me about the Crown Prince. He (FW) wished to make the Queen drink to the downfall of England at supper, which has caused many tears. When the Crown Prince has been interrogated, he pretended to be cheerful and in high spirits and even taunted the commission, asking whether there wasn‘t anything else they‘d like to know. All the Crown Prince asks for is this: that nothing should happen to Katte, for Katte be innocent, solely inspired to this deed by him.“
Mind you, with the caveat that Seckendorff's source for this is King Friedrich Wilhelm, and the official protocol of Friedrich's interrogation do not read like taunting, I can think of little more guaranteed to make FW inclined to kill Katte than for Fritz to plead for his life. But that's on FW. Fritz did, indeed, try.
For a discussion as to what Fritz could have meant by "I could complain in some regards about him", wait for Mildred's post.
Lastly, one more quote from a letter by Fritz to Grumbkow. It's the one right after the letter with the Katte reference, here, dated 1st November 1737. As far as both a pointed and shivery image for his relationship with his father goes, it can't be bettered, and it also contains more than a hint of future Friedrich II:
You were kind enough to come to my defense when the King talked about me. An artist never had as bad an opinion of his own creation as the King has of me. If this is artistic modesty, I must admit I find it goes a bit too far. I'd rather believe it's an old prejudice he's always had against me and which is too deeply rooted for him to abandon in age which makes him judge my character so badly. Who is to say one can't go to war against France just because one loves the good writers who have written in French and loves the witty and polite people this nation has produced?
A brief summary of the suggestions would be: "Don't give your father the impression you're secretly mocking him; being respectful and loving to your mother is okay, as long as you don't rub it in how much more you like her than you like your Dad; you and Wilhelmine have no boundaries with each other, so put up some quickly; be nice to your brothers and show some interest in how they're doing. As for your brothers in law, don't single one out but be polite to them all, and always remind them that Dad now should come first in their lives."
(Oh, and Grumbkow uses "Princess Royal" - Princesse Royale, this letter of instruction is written in French -, for Wilhelmine.)
Or, in the original rokoko language:
If the King seeks the opinion of Crown Prince, or his feelings on something, and he foresees, that this opinion does not conform to the King's ideas or principles, it will be necessary to use this phrase: If your majesty does me the honor of asking, I must say my feeling, it is such and such, I may well be wrong, however, and my little experience can make me err easily. It is important to avoid all spirited mocking and all mischievous expressions towards the King, which would cause disadvantages to even the least of the servants, but on the other hand, do get rid of any austere air, reservedness or brooding, which the King has so often complained about. (...)
As to Her Majesty the Queen: I believe that the tenderness and the deep respect that your highness naturally has for
this worthy Princess, does not need to be regulated and governed. However, everything must be done with beautiful
discernment; there is surely no need to recommend to show no preference in what is said to the King; past experience must have taught his royal highness that the suspicions we had in this arena caused much grief to the illustrious mother and the
beloved son.
Whatever tenderness, trust and friendship, the incomparable Princess Royal has the right to claim, and which are due to her in a thousand remarkable places, I still believe that in the beginning it will be necessary to put up certain boundaries. As to the princes, your royal highnesses brothers, you need to show a tender and natural friendship and show your joy when they do their duty well.
As to your royal highness' brothers in law. I believe you will have to treat them on an equal footing without distinction, with
friendship, civility and politeness, accompanied in this with a little seriousness, and in conversation with them, always preach to attach themselves solely to the King and to expect all their advantage and happiness from him.
Now, here's the thing: I previously put Wilhelmine's impression of Fritz when she sees him for the first time post-Katte during her wedding due to them being observed and his having had the year of hell behind him. (Which is also the explanation she has at the time, but her 1740s self wonders whether it starts here.) Especially since the next time they are physically together, they're back to their old footing. And similarly, I put the fact that in his first preserved "regular" letter in the Trier archive, in 1732, he tells her to disregard any impression he's gone cold on her and how can she believe this due to Wilhelmine (like him) having no chill. But here's Grumbkow giving this very pointed advice, and given FW did have a hang up about the affection between his two oldest long post Küstrin - hence him not permitting Fritz to visit Bayreuth when Fritz is en route to Philippsburg, for example, and the need for the two to arrange a secret rendezvous when Fritz is en route back but technically does not stop in Bayreuth (just, as later MT, on the outskirts). So I now think Wilhelmine might not have been just hypernervous and needy in the aftermath of the big catastrophe plus a year and confused PTDSD (without any P in this traumatic stress) with Fritz emotionally withdrawing from her. Maybe he did at least try to provide Dad, Grumbkow and everyone else with the impression he was, in fact, putting boundaries between them. (Made easier by the fact he was traumatized as hell and so was she, in a different way, and they had no real chance to be together at length and talk until the post marriage family visit from hell.)
Förster also has the protocol of the big feet-kissing public submission from that same August of 1731, which was written by Grumbkow for Seckendorff. This one is in German, and seems to be quite close to the real event given FW keeps switching between the formal second person plural and the "Du" when adressing Fritz. (Including, btw, in the "Did you seduce Katte or did he seduce you?" question - that's a "Du" question.) This protocol includes the "what I've done to your mother and sister and Hannover if you'd succeeded" which Mildred has mentioned repeatedly.
"Now listen to the consequences! Your mother would have fallen into the greatest unhappiness, for I would naturally have treated her as if she'd known everything. And your sister I'd have locked up for the rest of her life at a place where she'd never seen the sun or moon again. I'd have gone to Hannover territory with my army, and would have burned everything down, even if I had lost my country, my people and my life for it!"
Fritz then submits and asks to be given the chance to prove himself and win back FW's esteem, FW then asks the Katte question and when Fritz replies "without hesitation" that "I seduced him", FW replies "It pleases me that you tell the truth for once."
Now, I have my doubts whether we'd have gotten a Prussian invasion of Hannover had Fritz managed to escape, because even enraged FW knows better than to start a war with the British Empire. But the SD and Wilhelmine threats would undoubtedly have been carried out. It's hostage taker logic at its most ruthless.
After looking in vain for a post-Küstrin Katte mention in letters from Fritz to people he actually cared for - Suhm, Algarotti, Wilhelmine, or, for that matter, Voltaire - , it was not a little startling to find a Katte reference by Fritz in a letter to Grumbkow, this one. The letter is dated October 29th, 1737. Context: FW seems to have shown dislike towards Mantteuffel, Saxon envoy, patron of Wolff the philosopher who is much resented by FW (though this will later change), part time Austrian spy instructed to get close to Fritz. Fritz in 1737 withdraws from Mantteuffel and writes to Dad's good friend Grumbkow:
It seems to me you have some doubts in regards to my political morals in regards to one's behaviour towards one's unfortunate friend. If an honorable man like yourself disapproved, I'd be sad, and this causes me to justify my point of view to you. (...) The respect I have towards the King my father seem to oblige me to not honor persons towards whom he shows disapproval. Such distinctions would damage Count Mantteuffel more than they would be of use to him. It is a fact I have not stopped regarding him as a friend after our correspondance came to an end; indeed I have avoided him out of friendship. You see for yourself how far the anger of the King of England goes when the Prince of Wales supports people who have caused the disapproval of the King. (Remember, the Hannover Georges were just as dysfunctional in their father/son relationships.) You can see how far he goes in his revenge, despite not being a despot and not nearly being as powerful as the King of Prussia. (...)
Incidentally, I cannot be accused of cowardice. If Count Mantteuffel was in any real danger, I'd have done anything for him one could for for a friend. You know, Field Marshal, and you are my witness to what I have done for Katte. You know: I did offer my life not once but a thousand times to save his. Despite my and his misfortune, I have never denied him, and while I could complain in some regards about him, I do not believe to have wronged him. I am the same now as I was then, and the sense of honor with which I was born will never leave me for as long as I shall live.
Well! Bearing in mind that this is budding Machiavellian!Fritz talking to arch Machiavellian!Grumbkow (whom he still needs but wont waste a tear on once the guy kicks it), how serious are we to take the Katte statement? Because on the one hand, it's liar writing to a liar, but on the other, that sound of "I did much more for X than X did for me, and I'm the one to feel sorry for!" sounds suspiciously familiar...
There's also the question of chronology: Fritz according to all sources did not learn about Katte's impending execution until the day it actually happened (November 6th 1730). At which point he did offer his life, his place in the succession, everything, but it was too late to write to Berlin. So was he speaking rethorically when he said "a thousand times"?
After debating various possibilities, more research unearthed none other than Grumbkow's buddy Seckendorff the older coming through for our antihero's claim. In addition to his official reports to the Emperor, Seckendorff also reported to Prince Eugene, and in a report to Eugene dated September 5th, 1730, he says: „The King has talked to me about the Crown Prince. He (FW) wished to make the Queen drink to the downfall of England at supper, which has caused many tears. When the Crown Prince has been interrogated, he pretended to be cheerful and in high spirits and even taunted the commission, asking whether there wasn‘t anything else they‘d like to know. All the Crown Prince asks for is this: that nothing should happen to Katte, for Katte be innocent, solely inspired to this deed by him.“
Mind you, with the caveat that Seckendorff's source for this is King Friedrich Wilhelm, and the official protocol of Friedrich's interrogation do not read like taunting, I can think of little more guaranteed to make FW inclined to kill Katte than for Fritz to plead for his life. But that's on FW. Fritz did, indeed, try.
For a discussion as to what Fritz could have meant by "I could complain in some regards about him", wait for Mildred's post.
Lastly, one more quote from a letter by Fritz to Grumbkow. It's the one right after the letter with the Katte reference, here, dated 1st November 1737. As far as both a pointed and shivery image for his relationship with his father goes, it can't be bettered, and it also contains more than a hint of future Friedrich II:
You were kind enough to come to my defense when the King talked about me. An artist never had as bad an opinion of his own creation as the King has of me. If this is artistic modesty, I must admit I find it goes a bit too far. I'd rather believe it's an old prejudice he's always had against me and which is too deeply rooted for him to abandon in age which makes him judge my character so badly. Who is to say one can't go to war against France just because one loves the good writers who have written in French and loves the witty and polite people this nation has produced?
