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rheinsberg2020-05-08 07:58 pm
selenak) wrote in rheinsberg2020-05-08 07:58 pm
Carrying On With the Cousins: More about the Hannovers of Britain
When last I wrote about the Ha(n)nover cousins, I had only various dictionaries and the occasional aside in Prussian-centric biographies to go by. However, due to needing to check out the non-Prussian, non-Austrian perspectives on the period, I've been browsing through "Das Europa der Könige" by Leonhard Horowski. Who is tremendosly entertaining and fantastic with unexpected cross connections. For example: future arch schemer Grumbkow shows first up as a six years old child dancing (along with other courtier children) ballet at the wedding of Fritz' grandparents, F1 and Sophie Charlotte. Meanwhile, Fritz' mother, Sophia Dorothea, also shows up as a six years old some years later, at the same table with Grumbkow's future wife (same age); she (SD) was being entertained by her mother's soon to be murdered lover Köngsmarck who build a house of cards for her and future Mrs. Grumbkow . (We know this because there are two letters mentioning this, one by a lady in waiting and one by Königsmarck himself to SD the older.) And guess who was a direct descendant of Lord Hervey, the one in a triangle with Algarotti and Lady Mary? Nancy Mitford. (And thus of course also her sisters, Diana the fascist, Decca the Communist and Unity the Hitler-Groupie.)
But most memorably, I now know more of the Hannover cousins and their dysfunction.
Incidentally, Horowski points out that the Kings George have a serious problem in terms of who provides most of the source material. To wit, the British nobility. Who, among other things, had a lot of resentment over the fact that the new dynasty kept marrying (until WWI) other Germans - the current Queen's Dad was the first one not married to a German) instead of British nobility. They also had massive blood snobbery going on (unjustified, Horowski says, given that most active British noble families at this point had their origin not before the Restauration, and otherewise the Wars of the Roses, whereas the Hannover Welfen had a solid millennium to trace themselves back to, with the first ruling a principality ancestor documented in the 9th century. As for the "couldn't even speak English" charge - Georg Ludwig von Hannover was 54 when he became George I. of England, and cousin Anne Stuart (the one from the movie) had explicitly forbidden anny member of the Hannover family to put a foot on Briitsh soil before she died. Naturally he was a German, but he was a typical German prince of his time, which mean he was bilingual in French and German, and also Italian and some Latin. English was the language he learned last (and not well) but "bad command of English" does not equate "did not speak other languages".
Our author thus provides the sensationalist gossip with the caveat that most of it hails from pissed off British noblemen, who for lack of German among other things never figured out that one of the three ladies G1 had brought with him from Hannover wasn't his mistress, it was his illegitimate half sister. (And nope, no one on the continent had suspect them of incest.) There's also a physical description of Katte's aunt Melusine (tall, thin, hence the Brits promptly christening her "Maypole"). That G1 didn't have a Queen (just a poor locked up exwife) meant no court offices for female nobles, not even that of a mistress, since he'd brought his own from Germany, which pissed off the female nobles as well.
Future G2 not only did have a wife (Caroline), who thus could employ ladies-in-waiting, but as a gesture towards British nobility took a British mistress, Lady Suffolk, but was very perfunctionary and OCD about it, showing up invariably at 7 pm at her rooms, and if he came early, he was walking up and down in the floor for ten minutes to the amazement of the guards before at precisely 7 pm entering. He also left by the clock. Lady Suffolk was less than enthusiastic about the honor of being the royal mistress as a consequence, especially since it was evident G2 actually preferred his wife.
George II was already adult, married and a father when his father got on the throne, and thus also German born and socialized. Our author points out a lot about G2 and his sister SD is explainable if you look at the fact they lost their mother at 8 and 6 respectively, were forbidden to talk to or about her ever again and were sent to Grandma Sophie of Hannover to be educated (with Tiny Terror FW for a while). G2's wife Caroline for her part didn't have an idyllic childhood, either. Her father had been the Margrave von Brandenburg-Ansbach, which made her Prussian nobility, but he'd died early on. Her mother then managed to score a Saxonian Prince Elector as second husband, but that guy managed to get infected by small pox by his mistress, so Caroline's mother became a widow again, ended up in a isolated country mansion for the remainder of her life and allowed her daughter's education to be so neglected that Caroline had to teach herself how to read and write at age 9. At age 13, she was sent to the Berlin court and managed to win the favour of F1's wife Sophie Charlotte (aka the first female intellectual of Germany according to another author), who gave her an education in knowledge and manners presto and managed to get Caroline into the running several truly good matches - like I said, Mt's Dad (this got as far as hanging out with a Jesuit for potential conversion in Berlin), Hannover George and cousin FW, but then she knew cousin FW from being raised at his mother's court, so:
Caroline: Dear God, I'm taking the Hannover guy.
So Caroline and G2 found each other and managed an okay marriage for royals, but as for their parenting...
George not yet II: Okay, new Prince of Wales here, so I have to get on that island with Dad. However, someone representing the dynasty should remain in Hannover. I know! Kid son Friedrich Ludwig, called Fritz, age 7, you'll stay at Hannover. See again you in fourteen years.
(Sidenote: yes, acccording to Horowski they called the guy in question Fritz. Which is way of a coincidence, for.... this was the very boy his aunt SD absolutely wanted to marry to Wilhelmine. Which, considering the future Margrave's first name, leaves us with the question: was there anyone Wilhelmine was linked to who wasn't called Fritz?)
George now the II: King now! I suppose that means my oldest son whom neither my wife and I have seen in fourteen years needs to come over from Hannover. What a coincidence! Caroline and I don't like him. We'd rather our next son who actually grew up with us, young William Cumberland, be King.
Caroline to her chamberlain Lord Hervey: Can that be worked out somehow?
Hervey: I don't think so . We're into primogeniture on that island. Tell you what, though, I'm going to mentor the kid.
---- Interlude for a Lord Hervey introduction ---
Hervey: As you already know, I'm bi. I scandlously married for love, and lost interest in my wife as soon as I had her, though we did produce eight children. The great passion of my life so far is Whig politician Stephen Fox. Though I also have the occasional mistress. This will become a plot point.
---- End of Interlude ----
Fritz of Wales: Hervey, you're the first guy in this country who is nice to me, including my parents! I love you! I want to be with you always!
Stephen Fox: You're not seriously into the kid, Hervey???
Hervey: Look, a prince is a prince, and this one is a future King.
(Our author isn't sure whether or not they ever had sex, seeing as Fritz of Wales later had no other male favorites, but they sure as hell were inseparable for those three years, and Hervey did write to Stephen Fox to put his relationship with him on hold while he was with the Prince, so.)
Three years during which Fritz of Wales and Hervey are inseparable and even write a play together: pass
Caroline: I still would prefer my son Cumberland, aka the future "Butcher of Culloden" to become King. Seeing as Fritz of Wales is tied to dear Hervey, I'm going to spread rumors of him being impotent. That counts as an argument, surely?
British society: Gay and impotent! *Snigger*
Fritz of Wales: Okay, in order to prove that I'm not either, I'm going to have sex with Hervey's current mistress.
Current mistress: *gets pregnant, gives birth to son, calls son "Fitzfrederick*
Fritz of Wales: Ha!
Hervey: Not amused. This was humiliating. I terminate our relationship, your highness. My bitchy memoirs about my time at the Georgian court lack the three years of our relationship completely and only resume afterwards, when I have decided to hate you forever and ever. Stephen Fox, I'm yours again!
Fox: I'm taking you back, but with secret resentment. This will become a plot point.
(The unfortunate Lady Hervey had started out as Molly Lepel, lady-in-waiting to Caroline, and yes, was an actual cousin of the same Lepel who commanded Küstrin (something the author points out) when Katte was executed. Hervey wood and married her when he himself was a younger son and not yet heir of the title, but his family still couldn't believe he went for a minor Prussian noble. But really the wedding was the height of this romance and he sent her away to the countryside thereafter, preferring to hang out with Stephen Fox and visiting just a few times to produce children. )
Fritz of Wales: married to Princess Augusta now; that I wasn't married earlier wasn't my fault, btw, it's all because some business with our continental relations. Anyway, here I am, heir-producing.
George II to Caroline: I thought you said he was impotent and the bastard kid had been Hervey's?
Caroline: I stilll think that. Are we sure Augusta wasn't cheating?
Fritz of Wales: I hate my parents. Augusta, when you start to get into labor, I'm going to bring you from Hampton Court Palace to St. James Palace to ensure my parents won't be present at the birth as tradition would have it. That's how much I hate them.
Caroline and George: We think you probably bought a kid to smuggle in to cover your impotence... hang on. That kid Augusta just gave birth to is a sickly girl. Presumably if you bought a kid you'd have made sure it was a strapping boy. Okay. Not impotent. Seems our fave Billy the Butcher won't become King after all.
Augusta: Next gives birth to future G3.
Fritz of Wales: This one shall be raised as the first George whose first language is English. Also, I'm supporting the opposition. Yay Tories!
Caroline: I'm dying. Husband, marry again!
G2: Never! I shall have mistresses.
Hervey: That was oddly touching. Still bitching about you in my memoirs otherwise. Because guess what happenes then?
Stephen Fox: Hervey, old chap, we finally managed to oust Robert Walpole as PM. There's a new PM. Which means everyone's court offices get handed out new as well. And seeing as the Queen is now dead, you don't have a job anymore anyway. I mean, you could try Fritz of Wales again...
Hervey: I don't believe this. Algarotti, comfort me.
Author: "His sole comfort was a vivacious Venetian named Algarotti, whom however he lost to Friedrich II's seductions."
Speaking of comforts to the rich and idle, while G2 hadn't visited Hannover as long as his father (who was mostly there) was alive or his son was there, he started to holidaying in the old place as soon as he himself became King, which irritated the British nobles who thought they had anglisized him and that his constant arguments with G1 had meant he wwas more British than his Dad. He said that it was a British habit to have a mansion in the country, and that Herrenhausen (the Hannover palace, which btw really is very beautiful) was his. Then there was this:
G2: I'm giving a ball. How come hardly a noble shows up, and those who do are not wearing their best outfits?
Grafton (his Chamberlain): Well, your Majesty, we know you intend to marry the Prince of Wales to what's her name the daughter of the Prussian King next year, so everyone is saving money for next year's wardrobe.
G2: I take it it's also Fritz' fault that so few people showed up in the first place?
Grafton: No. The PM Robert Walpole has organized a big fox hunting event in the country.
G2: I do not get fox hunting. What's a fox ever done to you?
Grafton: Your majesty objects to hunting?
G2: Nope. I'm a good continental prince. Hunting is cool, if you take on boars and deer. you know, animals above a certain size which make it a challenge. But a fox? What's the point? You can't even see the fox from your horse, so what is the bloody point?
Grafton: Well, there's the joy of watching the dogs hunt.
G2: Grafton, you're weighing 130 kilo. No way you're going to manage remaining near enough a racing pack of dogs to hear them bark, let alone watch them.
Grafton...and that's when I bowed and exited. Good lord. German princes are so uncivilised!
Fritz of Prussia, to Mitchell: Am I glad my family is so normal and harmonious, compared to the Hannover cousins!
But most memorably, I now know more of the Hannover cousins and their dysfunction.
Incidentally, Horowski points out that the Kings George have a serious problem in terms of who provides most of the source material. To wit, the British nobility. Who, among other things, had a lot of resentment over the fact that the new dynasty kept marrying (until WWI) other Germans - the current Queen's Dad was the first one not married to a German) instead of British nobility. They also had massive blood snobbery going on (unjustified, Horowski says, given that most active British noble families at this point had their origin not before the Restauration, and otherewise the Wars of the Roses, whereas the Hannover Welfen had a solid millennium to trace themselves back to, with the first ruling a principality ancestor documented in the 9th century. As for the "couldn't even speak English" charge - Georg Ludwig von Hannover was 54 when he became George I. of England, and cousin Anne Stuart (the one from the movie) had explicitly forbidden anny member of the Hannover family to put a foot on Briitsh soil before she died. Naturally he was a German, but he was a typical German prince of his time, which mean he was bilingual in French and German, and also Italian and some Latin. English was the language he learned last (and not well) but "bad command of English" does not equate "did not speak other languages".
Our author thus provides the sensationalist gossip with the caveat that most of it hails from pissed off British noblemen, who for lack of German among other things never figured out that one of the three ladies G1 had brought with him from Hannover wasn't his mistress, it was his illegitimate half sister. (And nope, no one on the continent had suspect them of incest.) There's also a physical description of Katte's aunt Melusine (tall, thin, hence the Brits promptly christening her "Maypole"). That G1 didn't have a Queen (just a poor locked up exwife) meant no court offices for female nobles, not even that of a mistress, since he'd brought his own from Germany, which pissed off the female nobles as well.
Future G2 not only did have a wife (Caroline), who thus could employ ladies-in-waiting, but as a gesture towards British nobility took a British mistress, Lady Suffolk, but was very perfunctionary and OCD about it, showing up invariably at 7 pm at her rooms, and if he came early, he was walking up and down in the floor for ten minutes to the amazement of the guards before at precisely 7 pm entering. He also left by the clock. Lady Suffolk was less than enthusiastic about the honor of being the royal mistress as a consequence, especially since it was evident G2 actually preferred his wife.
George II was already adult, married and a father when his father got on the throne, and thus also German born and socialized. Our author points out a lot about G2 and his sister SD is explainable if you look at the fact they lost their mother at 8 and 6 respectively, were forbidden to talk to or about her ever again and were sent to Grandma Sophie of Hannover to be educated (with Tiny Terror FW for a while). G2's wife Caroline for her part didn't have an idyllic childhood, either. Her father had been the Margrave von Brandenburg-Ansbach, which made her Prussian nobility, but he'd died early on. Her mother then managed to score a Saxonian Prince Elector as second husband, but that guy managed to get infected by small pox by his mistress, so Caroline's mother became a widow again, ended up in a isolated country mansion for the remainder of her life and allowed her daughter's education to be so neglected that Caroline had to teach herself how to read and write at age 9. At age 13, she was sent to the Berlin court and managed to win the favour of F1's wife Sophie Charlotte (aka the first female intellectual of Germany according to another author), who gave her an education in knowledge and manners presto and managed to get Caroline into the running several truly good matches - like I said, Mt's Dad (this got as far as hanging out with a Jesuit for potential conversion in Berlin), Hannover George and cousin FW, but then she knew cousin FW from being raised at his mother's court, so:
Caroline: Dear God, I'm taking the Hannover guy.
So Caroline and G2 found each other and managed an okay marriage for royals, but as for their parenting...
George not yet II: Okay, new Prince of Wales here, so I have to get on that island with Dad. However, someone representing the dynasty should remain in Hannover. I know! Kid son Friedrich Ludwig, called Fritz, age 7, you'll stay at Hannover. See again you in fourteen years.
(Sidenote: yes, acccording to Horowski they called the guy in question Fritz. Which is way of a coincidence, for.... this was the very boy his aunt SD absolutely wanted to marry to Wilhelmine. Which, considering the future Margrave's first name, leaves us with the question: was there anyone Wilhelmine was linked to who wasn't called Fritz?)
George now the II: King now! I suppose that means my oldest son whom neither my wife and I have seen in fourteen years needs to come over from Hannover. What a coincidence! Caroline and I don't like him. We'd rather our next son who actually grew up with us, young William Cumberland, be King.
Caroline to her chamberlain Lord Hervey: Can that be worked out somehow?
Hervey: I don't think so . We're into primogeniture on that island. Tell you what, though, I'm going to mentor the kid.
---- Interlude for a Lord Hervey introduction ---
Hervey: As you already know, I'm bi. I scandlously married for love, and lost interest in my wife as soon as I had her, though we did produce eight children. The great passion of my life so far is Whig politician Stephen Fox. Though I also have the occasional mistress. This will become a plot point.
---- End of Interlude ----
Fritz of Wales: Hervey, you're the first guy in this country who is nice to me, including my parents! I love you! I want to be with you always!
Stephen Fox: You're not seriously into the kid, Hervey???
Hervey: Look, a prince is a prince, and this one is a future King.
(Our author isn't sure whether or not they ever had sex, seeing as Fritz of Wales later had no other male favorites, but they sure as hell were inseparable for those three years, and Hervey did write to Stephen Fox to put his relationship with him on hold while he was with the Prince, so.)
Three years during which Fritz of Wales and Hervey are inseparable and even write a play together: pass
Caroline: I still would prefer my son Cumberland, aka the future "Butcher of Culloden" to become King. Seeing as Fritz of Wales is tied to dear Hervey, I'm going to spread rumors of him being impotent. That counts as an argument, surely?
British society: Gay and impotent! *Snigger*
Fritz of Wales: Okay, in order to prove that I'm not either, I'm going to have sex with Hervey's current mistress.
Current mistress: *gets pregnant, gives birth to son, calls son "Fitzfrederick*
Fritz of Wales: Ha!
Hervey: Not amused. This was humiliating. I terminate our relationship, your highness. My bitchy memoirs about my time at the Georgian court lack the three years of our relationship completely and only resume afterwards, when I have decided to hate you forever and ever. Stephen Fox, I'm yours again!
Fox: I'm taking you back, but with secret resentment. This will become a plot point.
(The unfortunate Lady Hervey had started out as Molly Lepel, lady-in-waiting to Caroline, and yes, was an actual cousin of the same Lepel who commanded Küstrin (something the author points out) when Katte was executed. Hervey wood and married her when he himself was a younger son and not yet heir of the title, but his family still couldn't believe he went for a minor Prussian noble. But really the wedding was the height of this romance and he sent her away to the countryside thereafter, preferring to hang out with Stephen Fox and visiting just a few times to produce children. )
Fritz of Wales: married to Princess Augusta now; that I wasn't married earlier wasn't my fault, btw, it's all because some business with our continental relations. Anyway, here I am, heir-producing.
George II to Caroline: I thought you said he was impotent and the bastard kid had been Hervey's?
Caroline: I stilll think that. Are we sure Augusta wasn't cheating?
Fritz of Wales: I hate my parents. Augusta, when you start to get into labor, I'm going to bring you from Hampton Court Palace to St. James Palace to ensure my parents won't be present at the birth as tradition would have it. That's how much I hate them.
Caroline and George: We think you probably bought a kid to smuggle in to cover your impotence... hang on. That kid Augusta just gave birth to is a sickly girl. Presumably if you bought a kid you'd have made sure it was a strapping boy. Okay. Not impotent. Seems our fave Billy the Butcher won't become King after all.
Augusta: Next gives birth to future G3.
Fritz of Wales: This one shall be raised as the first George whose first language is English. Also, I'm supporting the opposition. Yay Tories!
Caroline: I'm dying. Husband, marry again!
G2: Never! I shall have mistresses.
Hervey: That was oddly touching. Still bitching about you in my memoirs otherwise. Because guess what happenes then?
Stephen Fox: Hervey, old chap, we finally managed to oust Robert Walpole as PM. There's a new PM. Which means everyone's court offices get handed out new as well. And seeing as the Queen is now dead, you don't have a job anymore anyway. I mean, you could try Fritz of Wales again...
Hervey: I don't believe this. Algarotti, comfort me.
Author: "His sole comfort was a vivacious Venetian named Algarotti, whom however he lost to Friedrich II's seductions."
Speaking of comforts to the rich and idle, while G2 hadn't visited Hannover as long as his father (who was mostly there) was alive or his son was there, he started to holidaying in the old place as soon as he himself became King, which irritated the British nobles who thought they had anglisized him and that his constant arguments with G1 had meant he wwas more British than his Dad. He said that it was a British habit to have a mansion in the country, and that Herrenhausen (the Hannover palace, which btw really is very beautiful) was his. Then there was this:
G2: I'm giving a ball. How come hardly a noble shows up, and those who do are not wearing their best outfits?
Grafton (his Chamberlain): Well, your Majesty, we know you intend to marry the Prince of Wales to what's her name the daughter of the Prussian King next year, so everyone is saving money for next year's wardrobe.
G2: I take it it's also Fritz' fault that so few people showed up in the first place?
Grafton: No. The PM Robert Walpole has organized a big fox hunting event in the country.
G2: I do not get fox hunting. What's a fox ever done to you?
Grafton: Your majesty objects to hunting?
G2: Nope. I'm a good continental prince. Hunting is cool, if you take on boars and deer. you know, animals above a certain size which make it a challenge. But a fox? What's the point? You can't even see the fox from your horse, so what is the bloody point?
Grafton: Well, there's the joy of watching the dogs hunt.
G2: Grafton, you're weighing 130 kilo. No way you're going to manage remaining near enough a racing pack of dogs to hear them bark, let alone watch them.
Grafton...and that's when I bowed and exited. Good lord. German princes are so uncivilised!
Fritz of Prussia, to Mitchell: Am I glad my family is so normal and harmonious, compared to the Hannover cousins!