A royal affinity

Throughout their lives, Frederick the Great and his sister Wilhelmina had a particularly close relationship. "The belief that they shared a common fate was so persistent," Constance Wright says, "as to have at certain times a definite effect upon their lives." That "royal affinity" provides the central theme for Miss Wright's remarkable book. By telling the story of brother and sister, in a dual biography, she has found a fresh point of view toward one of the great figures of European history. Scrupulously based on careful research, her book is a narrative, written with grace, moving with the pace and illuminating detail of a novel. The Prussian court comes alive, presided over by the hectoring, explosive, puritanical King Frederick William I and his queen Sophia Dorothea, "a woman of many grievances." These tumultuous parents brought Frederick and Wilhelmina even closer together. Wright describes their education and the ferocious efforts of Frederick William to "make a man" of his son; she gives a fascinating account of the constantly shifting marriage plans for the two--plans controlled by politics. When Frederick becomes the ruler Frederick the Great and Wilhelmina the wife of the Margrave of Bayreuth, Wright is adroit at making clear the political and military complexities of 18th century Europe. She has a gift for quietly sardonic portraiture that works tellingly on Frederick William and his queen and on secondary characters like Peter the Great and Voltaire. But the important and difficult thing Miss Wright has done so well is the story of the royal affinity--the bound-together lives of a great man and an extraordinary woman.--Dust jacket.