History of Frederick the Second, Called Frederick the Great.Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
History
History of Frederick the Second, Called Frederick the Great.
Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
Frederick II, King of Prussia, 1712-1786; Prussia (Germany) -- History -- Frederick II, 1740-1786
It was apparently easy for the Crown Prince to relinquish Amelia.
But the English princess, being very unhappy at home, had fixed her
affections upon Frederick with the most romantic tenderness. In beauty
of person, in chivalric reputation, in exalted rank, he was every thing
an imaginative maiden could have desired. She regarded him probably
as, in heart, true to her. He had often sent his protestations to the
English court that he would never marry any one but Amelia. Though the
marriage ceremony had been performed with Elizabeth, he recognized
only its legal tie. Poor Amelia was heart-crushed. Earth had no longer
any joys for her. She never married, but wore the miniature of the
prince upon her breast for the rest of her days. We have no record of
the weary years during which grief was consuming her life. Her eyelids
became permanently swollen with weeping. And when, at the age of sixty,
she died, the miniature of the Crown Prince was still found resting
upon her true and faithful heart. Amelia and Elizabeth--how sad their
fate! Through no fault of their own, earth was to them both truly a
vale of tears. The only relief from the contemplation of the terrible
tragedies of earth is found in the hope that the sufferers may find
compensation in a heavenly home.
On Tuesday, the 16th, the King and Queen of Prussia left Salzdahlum
to return to Potsdam. At the close of the week the Crown Prince and
his bride, escorted by a brilliant retinue of Brunswick notabilities,
set out on their return. In most of the intervening towns they were
received with great pomp. On the 27th, the last day of the next week,
the bridal pair had a grand entrance into Berlin. The troops were all
out upon parade. The clang of bells, the roar of cannon, and peals of
martial music filled the air. All the inhabitants of Berlin and the
surrounding region were in the streets, which were spanned by triumphal
arches, and garlanded with flowers. Gladly would the princess have
exchanged all this for one loving word from her husband. But that word
was not uttered. Two days before the grand reception at Berlin the
princess arrived at Potsdam. Here Wilhelmina, for the first time, met
her cruelly-wronged and heart-crushed sister-in-law. In the following
terms she describes the interview:
“The king led the princess into the queen’s apartment. Then seeing,
after she had saluted us all, that she was much heated and her hair
deranged, he bade my brother take her to her own room. I followed them
thither. My brother said to her, introducing me,
“‘This is a sister I adore, and to whom I am obliged beyond measure.
She has the goodness to promise me that she will take care of you and
help you with her good counsel. I wish you to respect her beyond even
the king and queen, and not to take the least step without her advice.
Do you understand?’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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