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rheinsbergIn the 1905 edition of the magazine 'Masovia', Gustav Volz and Dr. Friedrich Meusel published essays with lengthy quotes about the correspondences between Lehndorff on the one hand and Princes August Wilhelm and Ferdinand on the other, which provided us with new information as well as some juicy quotes. Ergo, a write up.
General terms: both the AW correspondence by Volz and the Ferdinand correspondence by Dr. Friedrich Meusel are published as write ups the way I do it, i.e. they summarize the letters and present the occasional excerpt, sometimes short, sometimes longer. The AW write up has several letters from Lehndorff to AW, two to Knyphausen, and one from Amalie to Lehndorff attached. (BTW the last one is very charming and shows Amalie from an endearing side.) Meusel in the Ferdinand write up promises to also publish the Heinrich/Lehndorff correspondence "in as much as it is of historical interest" (read: no sexting!) Which I really hope he did, because otherwise it's a victim of WW2. (At least that's my conclusion from Schmidt-Lötzen mentioning about 800 Heinrich letters in the preface to Lehndorff, Volume 1, but the archive at Leipzig hardly listing any.) So that's your next mission, detective - did Meusel publish on the Lehndorff-Heinrich letters?
(mildred_of_midgard: I haven't been able to find them! And this makes me think that maybe he didn't and that they don't survive, because that collection includes a lot of Lehndorff material from various sources (might be worth a look through for you), and yet I don't see any Heinrich letters.)
The attitudes of Volz and Meusel towards their subjects are somewhat different. Volz doesn't doubt that AW was in the wrong and entirely to blame for 1757, and calls him, Heinrich, Ferdinand, Henckel von Donnersmarck and friends "The party of sulkers" ("Partei der Mißvergnügten") critisizing Fritz. Meusel otoh, says that while undoubtedly the attitude of historians that the Frederician reign was glorious and brought only blessings to "our people" is the only correct one, maybe, just maybe, there's another side, the human side, and maybe the distance between Fritz and his three brothers who were close to each other and enstrangement between Heinrich and Fritz in particular wasn't all Heinrich's fault. Both Volz and Meusel think Heinrich was the only brother of Fritz who was a worthy historical personality, and that AW and Ferdinand were on an identical mediocre level in terms of their abilities, but also nice. Volz things Lehndorff put more an effort into trying to be fair to Fritz than Fritz' brothers did, while Meusel thinks Lehndorff's attempt to love Fritz as a loyal subject only to find himself appalled by the Fritzian personality time and again proves that maybe the fault wasn't only on the brothers' parts.
Now, new information from the invidual essays.
Finally an explanation for the "Hulla" nickname for AW which shows up in Jochen Klepper's Der Vater and some older biographies. I've been wondering whether this was an attempt to translate "Guille" into German, or something someone made up at some point. ACcording to Volz, it's what Ulrike is on written record for calling him, and hails from a play, the "Komödie vom Hanswurst Hulla", which was one of the plays he staged when he was entertainment boss of Berlin in the 1740s and early 1750s.
Yet another version of the Glasow tale! According to AW, whom Lehndorff must have asked about it, the following happened:
Mr. Glasow has forged several seals; he's opened letters adressed to the King, and which he answered; he was about to steal 100 000 Taler and to run off with them. He has reported all the news he could get his hands on to the Saxons, and when he was searched, two pocket pistols were discovered in his possession, which according to himself he only carried with him for the fun of it. Other than that, he didn't do anything.
After the battle of Prague - where, remember, Heinrich distinguished himself, while AW was present but because he was stationed with James Keith on the other side of the river wasn't participating in the fighting - AW writes to Lehndorff:
I applaud the people of Berlin that they have recognized the news of the enemy's defeat. I wish that fewer families had reason to mourn; but that is the fate of war. The wounded are even more unfortunate, for they are still suffering. I had no part in this great event; if Browne had positioned himself on the other side of the city, I might have done my part like the the others. Wait and see, as the saying goes. Fortunately, Heinrich has escaped all the dangers; he has dared as much as our bravest infanterists, which says everything. I only saw the dangers from afar.
(What you can already tell here is that AW - despite not having been keen on this war - had drunk the kool aid that comes with being raised by FW in a society where military glory is the ultimate virtue, and you're not a man if you don't have it.)
After the great disaster - where as I said Volz is entirely Team Fritz and cites Koser as the proof - happened, AW wants to know from Lehndorff what people think:
Does one condemn or approve of my actions? I don't want either, I want to be heard, and that the generals who were under my command get heard. In short, I remain without an interrogation or a trial.
Volz thinks it's nuts AW wanted to publish a defense with quotes of his correspondence with Fritz.cahn, reminder, he did write it, but it wasn't published until many years later and then condemned as an attack on Fritz. Ziebura quotes extensively from it, though.) -volz also chides AW for not mentioning the glorious victory of Rossbach other than by saying Heinrich got wounded in it, but not seriously, due to having worn such warm clothing.
Then depression sets in, and AW writes to Lehndorff:
As long as the King's glorious reign will last, I regard myself as deleted from the ranks of those who work to enhance his military reputation. I may have missed the oppportunity to at least create a foundation of a reputation of my own, but maybe fate wanted to be kind to me by taking away the chances for me to demonstrate my ignorance and entire lack of abilities. Whichever the case may be, I live here in a quiet retreat and like it; sometimes I still think of the shame to be banished and useless in such a way, but as I am still convinced it is not my fault, I shall accept it.
The Lehndorff letters which are attached contain his attempt at a pep talk in which he makes a very Lehndorffian over the top comparison to the Iliad and says everyone is considering AW as Achilles and hopes for his return to the battlefield which will surely bring the turnaround in this war. Which, oh, Lehndorff. I don't think even Heinrich and Ferdinand saw AW as Achilles. (Though they may have seen Fritz as Agamemnon.)
Mostly, Lehndorff provides AW with entertaining gossip about the court affairs, and sometimes sad news like this (when Heinrich is recovering from the Rossbach wound and thus not with Fritz) at the start of January 1758:
Our Queen is very hurt about not having received a courier due to events at Breslau while one had been sent to Prince Heinrich. We all claim that it must have been a misunderstanding, as the King would surely not have neglected paying this courtesy, and thus we try our best as good courtiers to sweeten the awful medicine. Princess Amalie has visited the Christmas fair. And that is all the remarkable things I have to report.
Since Lehndorff temporary loses his estate once East Prussia is occupied by the Russians, and hears details about said occupation, he's not in a Russia-friendly mood:
The Russians order prayers in all our churches in Prussia for their fat Empress and for the godawful spawn of the Grandduke, as if we were her subjects.
(Lehndorff, it's not Peter's or Paul's fault that your estate is occupied. One can blame them for many things, but not this.)
Now for the Amalie letter, which is dated November 11th 1762, i.e. shortly after her birthday:
I have kept you till the last. This is the eigth thank you letter which I write about the same subject, and I'll admit to you that I'm lacking the wit to say anything new about such an thankless subject as my birthday presents. In a word, dear Count, I want to present my entire thinaks to you for your attention and for the flattering and charming things you told me in your letter. What little merit I possess has just grown two inches when I read your praise of me; but I have immediately turned it down again. Now I find that I'm today not worth more than I was yesterday, and tomorrow I might be worth less than today, so that after all discounts I don't present much of an investment in totem.
I do sympathize with you regarding the boredom you feel about the lack of distraction, about the eternal company of Baron Müller, and the enamored President von Voß. (...)
I myself continue to find Berlin more charming and agreeable, and I'm amusing myself immensely, without love factoring in. I organize balls and concerts for my nephew, and pick the best and sweetest society for him which I don't have to put much effort into finding. So he's content and hopes that it lasts forever. Mr. Mitchell has arrived, and Prince Repnin is expected daily; he'll bring his wife with him, who is supposed to be as beautiful as Venus; I doubt, though, that she will surpass my niece. Next week you will have bread thanks to fat Wedell, the kind called Schobbrot which one used to feed the dogs with. If I am to throw a supper for Prince Repnin and the other ministers, you may imagine the face of these people and the embarassment I shall feel inside for treating them so badly.
I ask you to great la Cocceji from me a thousand times and to tell her that her older brother is here an dhas been made Lieutenant Colonel. Adieu, Count, forgive my scribblings and the lack of order in m yletter, and think now and then of us who aren't present. Amalie.
Meusel in his essay "Prinz Ferdinand von Preußen, der jüngste Bruder Friedrichs des Großen, in seinen Briefen an den Grafen Lehndorff (1750 - 1804)", notes that the remark older Lehndorff wrote on his collection of Ferdinand letters is somewhat snarky (basically it says Ferdinand was an honorable man but not the brightest or firmest type), as opposed to the far more complimentary opinion Lehndorff voices in his diaries. He doesn't add that Lehndorff's opinion of Ferdinand changes once Ferdinand gets married; there is a complete lack of mentioning this in the essay, which I found weird, given in the diaries this is the main reason Lehndorff gives. For his part, Ferdinand seems to have remained firmly attached to Lehndorff throughout his life.
Like I said, for a 1905 writing author, he's cautiously understanding about the Fritz critical attitudes and after regretfully noting what while Ferdinand adores Heinrich and is heartbroken about AW's death, he only ever refers to Fritz as "le roi" or "le maitre" and doesn't say one affectionate word, while otoh Fritz in his brief letters to him sounds nice and caring, he thinks that maaaaybe there's a reason. (BTW, I think even if Fritz had not been, well, Fritz, Ferdinand would have been more attached to Heinrich, simply because of the age factor. I mean, Ferdinand was born in the year Katte died.)
Early on, the letters are of a chatty fratboy type (though Meusel tells us he couldn't cut out this stuff altogether without falsifying history, and we're not to forget people weren't as moral then as they are now), but then we get the good stuff. Now, remember, Ferdinand is stationed at Ruppin, i.e. in safe distance from Fritz most of the time, but also therefore in need of hot court gossip. Lehndorff must have reported on Voltaire after the time V went to court against Hirschel because of his shady money dealings:
What you tell me of Voltaire amazes me. How can this man who was considering a return to Paris only last month become a citizen of Potsdam? I don't understand how he's supposed to have rehabilitated himself, and with what shamelessness he dares to show his face after it has been proven that he forged entire words in a letter of exchange. If this had happened in France, he'd been locked up for the rest of his life. How fortunate are people of brilliant abilities if they are able to impress certain people even when they are plainly in the wrong!
I dare say. Of course, Ferdinand like AW is aware of Lehndorff's feelings for Heinrich. In 1753, at the time of all those emo diary entries where Heinrich has to go to Potsdam with Fritz and Lehndorff cries after watching him drive away, he writes:
As my brother is not in Berlin right now, you will be bored; he has the gift to create cheerful life wherever he may be; I am sure you are eager for his return.
As opposed to AW, Ferdinand did participate in the military action and had a horse shot under him.
My dear Count, a horse had to be killed under me and a wound graze my chin until I finally got letters from you; I am in a good mind to bless those who have inflicted them, for otherwise I believe I'd have been deleted from your memory entirely; if I should lose an arm or a leg one day, I shall at least get regular messages from you.
SD dies, Ferdinand is crushed, thus proving the gender division in SD's offspring re: how they feel about her, for he praises her in his letters to Lehndorff for more than being his mother: My affection is stronger than duty, for she has never missed an opportunity to give me proof of her love, her benevolence and her amiability when interacting with me: in short, she has always treated me as her friend, without making me feel the authority which her place as my mother has given her.
(Wilhelmine and Amalie: *crickets*)
When speaking of Ferdinand's weak constitution which once he starts to get ill post AW's death made his family constantly believe he was at death's door though he'd outlive all his siblings, Meusel quotes a letter from Fritz to Heinrich about Ferdinand where Fritz says "He's the best child of the world" - le meilleur enfant du monde), even in his feverish fantasies; he has the dreams of an honorable man".
After the big disaster of 1757, Ferdinand is very worried about AW, and writes to Lehndorff after comforting him about his estates being terrorized by Russians:
What you write about my brother the Prince of Prussia worries me greatly. These repeated throwbacks displease me; I'm afraid that there will be fateful consequences. PLease tell me what you think about this. You know how much I love him, and will thus easily understand how much I suffer from knowing his health has been thus disturbed.
When AW dies, Ferdinand is completely heartbroken:
I'm grateful to you with all my heart, dear Count, for the way you share the vivid pain the death of my brother the Prince of Prussia has caused me. You paint in your letter an excellent characterisation of the good, excellent and rare qualities which he had. Why did a man with such good character have to end his days in his best age? I must admit to find a great injustice in this. I mourn for this dear brother, I cry for his death, and am inconsolable at this great loss. The part in your letter where you mention that my brother told you on the day of his departure for Oranienburg: "That was Ferdinand's commission, he wanted you to put me to sleep", and the joy which, as you write, my letters caused him, all of this has made me cry a flood of tears. As I lose this brother, I lose the dearest I had; I admit that I cannot get used to the idea of him not being there anymore, it seems terribile to me, and all which reason can tell me is not enough to offer comfort. I can't get rid of the emptiness, which keeps reminding me of the good and happy timess I spent with this good and truly adorable brother. It will soon be a year since I saw him for the last time; it was on August 2nd, when the army corps of Marshall Keith with which I was stationed came through Dresden, in order to go to Lausitz. You ocannot imagine how much he showered me with friendship and tenderness that day; he seemed to bear with firmness the grief which was oppressing him and which I blame for his death. I still had the joy to remain with him until he went to bed and had fallen asleep. Oh, who would have said then that I was to leave him without ever seeing him again! In short, I can assure you without lying that I cannot remember to have experienced a worse and more vivid grief in all my lif; I will forever remember the memory of a brother whom I have loved, honored and respected. The details which you have reported to me about your arrival in Oranienburg, the sad and terrible view there, will have frightened you and have furthered your pain.
(...) On June 18th, a Feldjäger arrived at headquarters Schmirsitz in the moment when the King had risen from liunch; I asked him from where he came, but without replying he handed over his letters to the King, with the later immediately leaving in order to get on his horse; I saw a black seal, and a long conversation starting with the Feldjäger; when the King had ridden off, I asked the man what he had brought; then he gave me my sister's letter. Imagine my grief, my shattered state and my sadness when I received this awful, terrible, unexpected news! The generals had to go with the King to judge the suitability of the local terrain, but I didn't have the capacity for this anymore; I went to my quarters in order to vent my pain freely. Why did I have to be spared to experience such a great misfortune? I find this to be terribly unfair. Farewell, my dear Count, and be convinced that I shall ever be your true friend, and don't stop to give me news from you!
Ferdinand, lo and behold, is a Hohenzollern who actually has a kind thought to spare for EC. After Berlin has been invaded by Austrians and Russians, he writes:
If you find the opportunity, please tell the Queen my deep sympathy because of the losses she has suffered at Schönhausen; I can tell you I feel for her, since I know the place has been her sole joy and her sole consolation.
Ferdinand also worries about his nephew the new Prince of Prussia, future FW2:
You write to me that the Prince of Prussia is now taller than you, but you don't mention whether he is growing in knowledge and education as well, whether he displays good manners, whether he is polite and amiable, whether he can talk to people know without being so shy and embarassed. Your silence lets me guess what I am to think of this.
It seems Lehndorff wrote back young future FW2 - for whose shyness Fritz had ascribed the cure of constant teasing, remember - was doing fine, for Ferdinand writes next:
What you write to me about the Prince of Prussia is very agreeable to me. If he promises to have a good heart and a good character, his youth allows the hope that he'll find ways to educate his mind, since he's not lacking in it per se. If he only were ein better hands, I am certain he could be made into anything one wants. I would like to know wehther the King will let him join the next campaign; I hope not, because he's too young to use what one can learn on such an occasion.
Knowing Lehndorff wants Heinrich news, Ferdinand includes them when he has them, like this:
The King has presented the most tender reception to my brother, he has granted himn the promotions and other rewards the later had asked for his officers who had distinguished themselves at the battle of the 29th. I tell you this since I know you are interested in anything pleasant what happens to this dear and admirable brother.
Meusel notes without quoting it Ferdinand wrote a kind consolation letter when Lehndorff loses his first wife in the mid 1760s. When Lehndorff decides to quit his job in 1775, Ferdinand writes to him:
The decision you have made to leave the court causes me much sadness, since it appears I will be robbed of the advantage of seeing you as often as I like, for I have always enjoyed your company so much. But I find you did well to retire; you have beautiful estates demanding your presence, a good neigbourhood, Königsberg, where you can find good company and where you go from time to time to recover from the lonely country life; and all this probably balances the place you are leaving, and which causes you much inconvenience without ever giving you the prospect of being promoted to a more glamorous position. (...) Moreover, you can be sure to be welcome at all your friends; I hope to belong to them, since in the 29 years we've known each other never denied that emotion.
One thing both essays make clear that Lehndorff's relationships with the divine trio really weren't a one way road; the siblings did care for him as well, and valued his friendship.
General terms: both the AW correspondence by Volz and the Ferdinand correspondence by Dr. Friedrich Meusel are published as write ups the way I do it, i.e. they summarize the letters and present the occasional excerpt, sometimes short, sometimes longer. The AW write up has several letters from Lehndorff to AW, two to Knyphausen, and one from Amalie to Lehndorff attached. (BTW the last one is very charming and shows Amalie from an endearing side.) Meusel in the Ferdinand write up promises to also publish the Heinrich/Lehndorff correspondence "in as much as it is of historical interest" (read: no sexting!) Which I really hope he did, because otherwise it's a victim of WW2. (At least that's my conclusion from Schmidt-Lötzen mentioning about 800 Heinrich letters in the preface to Lehndorff, Volume 1, but the archive at Leipzig hardly listing any.) So that's your next mission, detective - did Meusel publish on the Lehndorff-Heinrich letters?
(
mildred_of_midgard: I haven't been able to find them! And this makes me think that maybe he didn't and that they don't survive, because that collection includes a lot of Lehndorff material from various sources (might be worth a look through for you), and yet I don't see any Heinrich letters.)The attitudes of Volz and Meusel towards their subjects are somewhat different. Volz doesn't doubt that AW was in the wrong and entirely to blame for 1757, and calls him, Heinrich, Ferdinand, Henckel von Donnersmarck and friends "The party of sulkers" ("Partei der Mißvergnügten") critisizing Fritz. Meusel otoh, says that while undoubtedly the attitude of historians that the Frederician reign was glorious and brought only blessings to "our people" is the only correct one, maybe, just maybe, there's another side, the human side, and maybe the distance between Fritz and his three brothers who were close to each other and enstrangement between Heinrich and Fritz in particular wasn't all Heinrich's fault. Both Volz and Meusel think Heinrich was the only brother of Fritz who was a worthy historical personality, and that AW and Ferdinand were on an identical mediocre level in terms of their abilities, but also nice. Volz things Lehndorff put more an effort into trying to be fair to Fritz than Fritz' brothers did, while Meusel thinks Lehndorff's attempt to love Fritz as a loyal subject only to find himself appalled by the Fritzian personality time and again proves that maybe the fault wasn't only on the brothers' parts.
Now, new information from the invidual essays.
Finally an explanation for the "Hulla" nickname for AW which shows up in Jochen Klepper's Der Vater and some older biographies. I've been wondering whether this was an attempt to translate "Guille" into German, or something someone made up at some point. ACcording to Volz, it's what Ulrike is on written record for calling him, and hails from a play, the "Komödie vom Hanswurst Hulla", which was one of the plays he staged when he was entertainment boss of Berlin in the 1740s and early 1750s.
Yet another version of the Glasow tale! According to AW, whom Lehndorff must have asked about it, the following happened:
Mr. Glasow has forged several seals; he's opened letters adressed to the King, and which he answered; he was about to steal 100 000 Taler and to run off with them. He has reported all the news he could get his hands on to the Saxons, and when he was searched, two pocket pistols were discovered in his possession, which according to himself he only carried with him for the fun of it. Other than that, he didn't do anything.
After the battle of Prague - where, remember, Heinrich distinguished himself, while AW was present but because he was stationed with James Keith on the other side of the river wasn't participating in the fighting - AW writes to Lehndorff:
I applaud the people of Berlin that they have recognized the news of the enemy's defeat. I wish that fewer families had reason to mourn; but that is the fate of war. The wounded are even more unfortunate, for they are still suffering. I had no part in this great event; if Browne had positioned himself on the other side of the city, I might have done my part like the the others. Wait and see, as the saying goes. Fortunately, Heinrich has escaped all the dangers; he has dared as much as our bravest infanterists, which says everything. I only saw the dangers from afar.
(What you can already tell here is that AW - despite not having been keen on this war - had drunk the kool aid that comes with being raised by FW in a society where military glory is the ultimate virtue, and you're not a man if you don't have it.)
After the great disaster - where as I said Volz is entirely Team Fritz and cites Koser as the proof - happened, AW wants to know from Lehndorff what people think:
Does one condemn or approve of my actions? I don't want either, I want to be heard, and that the generals who were under my command get heard. In short, I remain without an interrogation or a trial.
Volz thinks it's nuts AW wanted to publish a defense with quotes of his correspondence with Fritz.
cahn, reminder, he did write it, but it wasn't published until many years later and then condemned as an attack on Fritz. Ziebura quotes extensively from it, though.) -volz also chides AW for not mentioning the glorious victory of Rossbach other than by saying Heinrich got wounded in it, but not seriously, due to having worn such warm clothing.Then depression sets in, and AW writes to Lehndorff:
As long as the King's glorious reign will last, I regard myself as deleted from the ranks of those who work to enhance his military reputation. I may have missed the oppportunity to at least create a foundation of a reputation of my own, but maybe fate wanted to be kind to me by taking away the chances for me to demonstrate my ignorance and entire lack of abilities. Whichever the case may be, I live here in a quiet retreat and like it; sometimes I still think of the shame to be banished and useless in such a way, but as I am still convinced it is not my fault, I shall accept it.
The Lehndorff letters which are attached contain his attempt at a pep talk in which he makes a very Lehndorffian over the top comparison to the Iliad and says everyone is considering AW as Achilles and hopes for his return to the battlefield which will surely bring the turnaround in this war. Which, oh, Lehndorff. I don't think even Heinrich and Ferdinand saw AW as Achilles. (Though they may have seen Fritz as Agamemnon.)
Mostly, Lehndorff provides AW with entertaining gossip about the court affairs, and sometimes sad news like this (when Heinrich is recovering from the Rossbach wound and thus not with Fritz) at the start of January 1758:
Our Queen is very hurt about not having received a courier due to events at Breslau while one had been sent to Prince Heinrich. We all claim that it must have been a misunderstanding, as the King would surely not have neglected paying this courtesy, and thus we try our best as good courtiers to sweeten the awful medicine. Princess Amalie has visited the Christmas fair. And that is all the remarkable things I have to report.
Since Lehndorff temporary loses his estate once East Prussia is occupied by the Russians, and hears details about said occupation, he's not in a Russia-friendly mood:
The Russians order prayers in all our churches in Prussia for their fat Empress and for the godawful spawn of the Grandduke, as if we were her subjects.
(Lehndorff, it's not Peter's or Paul's fault that your estate is occupied. One can blame them for many things, but not this.)
Now for the Amalie letter, which is dated November 11th 1762, i.e. shortly after her birthday:
I have kept you till the last. This is the eigth thank you letter which I write about the same subject, and I'll admit to you that I'm lacking the wit to say anything new about such an thankless subject as my birthday presents. In a word, dear Count, I want to present my entire thinaks to you for your attention and for the flattering and charming things you told me in your letter. What little merit I possess has just grown two inches when I read your praise of me; but I have immediately turned it down again. Now I find that I'm today not worth more than I was yesterday, and tomorrow I might be worth less than today, so that after all discounts I don't present much of an investment in totem.
I do sympathize with you regarding the boredom you feel about the lack of distraction, about the eternal company of Baron Müller, and the enamored President von Voß. (...)
I myself continue to find Berlin more charming and agreeable, and I'm amusing myself immensely, without love factoring in. I organize balls and concerts for my nephew, and pick the best and sweetest society for him which I don't have to put much effort into finding. So he's content and hopes that it lasts forever. Mr. Mitchell has arrived, and Prince Repnin is expected daily; he'll bring his wife with him, who is supposed to be as beautiful as Venus; I doubt, though, that she will surpass my niece. Next week you will have bread thanks to fat Wedell, the kind called Schobbrot which one used to feed the dogs with. If I am to throw a supper for Prince Repnin and the other ministers, you may imagine the face of these people and the embarassment I shall feel inside for treating them so badly.
I ask you to great la Cocceji from me a thousand times and to tell her that her older brother is here an dhas been made Lieutenant Colonel. Adieu, Count, forgive my scribblings and the lack of order in m yletter, and think now and then of us who aren't present. Amalie.
Meusel in his essay "Prinz Ferdinand von Preußen, der jüngste Bruder Friedrichs des Großen, in seinen Briefen an den Grafen Lehndorff (1750 - 1804)", notes that the remark older Lehndorff wrote on his collection of Ferdinand letters is somewhat snarky (basically it says Ferdinand was an honorable man but not the brightest or firmest type), as opposed to the far more complimentary opinion Lehndorff voices in his diaries. He doesn't add that Lehndorff's opinion of Ferdinand changes once Ferdinand gets married; there is a complete lack of mentioning this in the essay, which I found weird, given in the diaries this is the main reason Lehndorff gives. For his part, Ferdinand seems to have remained firmly attached to Lehndorff throughout his life.
Like I said, for a 1905 writing author, he's cautiously understanding about the Fritz critical attitudes and after regretfully noting what while Ferdinand adores Heinrich and is heartbroken about AW's death, he only ever refers to Fritz as "le roi" or "le maitre" and doesn't say one affectionate word, while otoh Fritz in his brief letters to him sounds nice and caring, he thinks that maaaaybe there's a reason. (BTW, I think even if Fritz had not been, well, Fritz, Ferdinand would have been more attached to Heinrich, simply because of the age factor. I mean, Ferdinand was born in the year Katte died.)
Early on, the letters are of a chatty fratboy type (though Meusel tells us he couldn't cut out this stuff altogether without falsifying history, and we're not to forget people weren't as moral then as they are now), but then we get the good stuff. Now, remember, Ferdinand is stationed at Ruppin, i.e. in safe distance from Fritz most of the time, but also therefore in need of hot court gossip. Lehndorff must have reported on Voltaire after the time V went to court against Hirschel because of his shady money dealings:
What you tell me of Voltaire amazes me. How can this man who was considering a return to Paris only last month become a citizen of Potsdam? I don't understand how he's supposed to have rehabilitated himself, and with what shamelessness he dares to show his face after it has been proven that he forged entire words in a letter of exchange. If this had happened in France, he'd been locked up for the rest of his life. How fortunate are people of brilliant abilities if they are able to impress certain people even when they are plainly in the wrong!
I dare say. Of course, Ferdinand like AW is aware of Lehndorff's feelings for Heinrich. In 1753, at the time of all those emo diary entries where Heinrich has to go to Potsdam with Fritz and Lehndorff cries after watching him drive away, he writes:
As my brother is not in Berlin right now, you will be bored; he has the gift to create cheerful life wherever he may be; I am sure you are eager for his return.
As opposed to AW, Ferdinand did participate in the military action and had a horse shot under him.
My dear Count, a horse had to be killed under me and a wound graze my chin until I finally got letters from you; I am in a good mind to bless those who have inflicted them, for otherwise I believe I'd have been deleted from your memory entirely; if I should lose an arm or a leg one day, I shall at least get regular messages from you.
SD dies, Ferdinand is crushed, thus proving the gender division in SD's offspring re: how they feel about her, for he praises her in his letters to Lehndorff for more than being his mother: My affection is stronger than duty, for she has never missed an opportunity to give me proof of her love, her benevolence and her amiability when interacting with me: in short, she has always treated me as her friend, without making me feel the authority which her place as my mother has given her.
(Wilhelmine and Amalie: *crickets*)
When speaking of Ferdinand's weak constitution which once he starts to get ill post AW's death made his family constantly believe he was at death's door though he'd outlive all his siblings, Meusel quotes a letter from Fritz to Heinrich about Ferdinand where Fritz says "He's the best child of the world" - le meilleur enfant du monde), even in his feverish fantasies; he has the dreams of an honorable man".
After the big disaster of 1757, Ferdinand is very worried about AW, and writes to Lehndorff after comforting him about his estates being terrorized by Russians:
What you write about my brother the Prince of Prussia worries me greatly. These repeated throwbacks displease me; I'm afraid that there will be fateful consequences. PLease tell me what you think about this. You know how much I love him, and will thus easily understand how much I suffer from knowing his health has been thus disturbed.
When AW dies, Ferdinand is completely heartbroken:
I'm grateful to you with all my heart, dear Count, for the way you share the vivid pain the death of my brother the Prince of Prussia has caused me. You paint in your letter an excellent characterisation of the good, excellent and rare qualities which he had. Why did a man with such good character have to end his days in his best age? I must admit to find a great injustice in this. I mourn for this dear brother, I cry for his death, and am inconsolable at this great loss. The part in your letter where you mention that my brother told you on the day of his departure for Oranienburg: "That was Ferdinand's commission, he wanted you to put me to sleep", and the joy which, as you write, my letters caused him, all of this has made me cry a flood of tears. As I lose this brother, I lose the dearest I had; I admit that I cannot get used to the idea of him not being there anymore, it seems terribile to me, and all which reason can tell me is not enough to offer comfort. I can't get rid of the emptiness, which keeps reminding me of the good and happy timess I spent with this good and truly adorable brother. It will soon be a year since I saw him for the last time; it was on August 2nd, when the army corps of Marshall Keith with which I was stationed came through Dresden, in order to go to Lausitz. You ocannot imagine how much he showered me with friendship and tenderness that day; he seemed to bear with firmness the grief which was oppressing him and which I blame for his death. I still had the joy to remain with him until he went to bed and had fallen asleep. Oh, who would have said then that I was to leave him without ever seeing him again! In short, I can assure you without lying that I cannot remember to have experienced a worse and more vivid grief in all my lif; I will forever remember the memory of a brother whom I have loved, honored and respected. The details which you have reported to me about your arrival in Oranienburg, the sad and terrible view there, will have frightened you and have furthered your pain.
(...) On June 18th, a Feldjäger arrived at headquarters Schmirsitz in the moment when the King had risen from liunch; I asked him from where he came, but without replying he handed over his letters to the King, with the later immediately leaving in order to get on his horse; I saw a black seal, and a long conversation starting with the Feldjäger; when the King had ridden off, I asked the man what he had brought; then he gave me my sister's letter. Imagine my grief, my shattered state and my sadness when I received this awful, terrible, unexpected news! The generals had to go with the King to judge the suitability of the local terrain, but I didn't have the capacity for this anymore; I went to my quarters in order to vent my pain freely. Why did I have to be spared to experience such a great misfortune? I find this to be terribly unfair. Farewell, my dear Count, and be convinced that I shall ever be your true friend, and don't stop to give me news from you!
Ferdinand, lo and behold, is a Hohenzollern who actually has a kind thought to spare for EC. After Berlin has been invaded by Austrians and Russians, he writes:
If you find the opportunity, please tell the Queen my deep sympathy because of the losses she has suffered at Schönhausen; I can tell you I feel for her, since I know the place has been her sole joy and her sole consolation.
Ferdinand also worries about his nephew the new Prince of Prussia, future FW2:
You write to me that the Prince of Prussia is now taller than you, but you don't mention whether he is growing in knowledge and education as well, whether he displays good manners, whether he is polite and amiable, whether he can talk to people know without being so shy and embarassed. Your silence lets me guess what I am to think of this.
It seems Lehndorff wrote back young future FW2 - for whose shyness Fritz had ascribed the cure of constant teasing, remember - was doing fine, for Ferdinand writes next:
What you write to me about the Prince of Prussia is very agreeable to me. If he promises to have a good heart and a good character, his youth allows the hope that he'll find ways to educate his mind, since he's not lacking in it per se. If he only were ein better hands, I am certain he could be made into anything one wants. I would like to know wehther the King will let him join the next campaign; I hope not, because he's too young to use what one can learn on such an occasion.
Knowing Lehndorff wants Heinrich news, Ferdinand includes them when he has them, like this:
The King has presented the most tender reception to my brother, he has granted himn the promotions and other rewards the later had asked for his officers who had distinguished themselves at the battle of the 29th. I tell you this since I know you are interested in anything pleasant what happens to this dear and admirable brother.
Meusel notes without quoting it Ferdinand wrote a kind consolation letter when Lehndorff loses his first wife in the mid 1760s. When Lehndorff decides to quit his job in 1775, Ferdinand writes to him:
The decision you have made to leave the court causes me much sadness, since it appears I will be robbed of the advantage of seeing you as often as I like, for I have always enjoyed your company so much. But I find you did well to retire; you have beautiful estates demanding your presence, a good neigbourhood, Königsberg, where you can find good company and where you go from time to time to recover from the lonely country life; and all this probably balances the place you are leaving, and which causes you much inconvenience without ever giving you the prospect of being promoted to a more glamorous position. (...) Moreover, you can be sure to be welcome at all your friends; I hope to belong to them, since in the 29 years we've known each other never denied that emotion.
One thing both essays make clear that Lehndorff's relationships with the divine trio really weren't a one way road; the siblings did care for him as well, and valued his friendship.
