Book Description

Some of history's greatest dramas have unfolded in the stories of kings and their sons in early modern Europe; and their conflicts presaged in some ways today's tensions in family-run businesses. In several notorious cases, the kings despised their sons to the point of committing murder, thus killing their own heirs. Prof. Konnert shows that these tragic dramas actually represent an extreme of the normal state of affairs rather than unusual occurrences. They are different in degree, not kind. This book is the first to look at these episodes in a systematic and comparative fashion. The stories are moving in themselves, but viewed in their historical context, they illuminate aspects of a past society which has faded from view in the 21st century. Two of the most famous episodes?those of Frederick the Great of Prussia and his father, and of Peter the Great of Russia and his son?are examined here, as well as three less well-known cases. These episodes are put into historical context, and the family dynamics of these royal dynasties are discussed, showing not only how they differed from those of today but also from those of their more common contemporaries. These tensions are also compared to those that have emerged in family-run businesses, where conflicts between fathers and sons are also very common. Furthermore, when the interests of the dynastic enterprise, whether political or corporate, take precedence over family life and personal happiness, marriage practices can produce particularly toxic relations. The cases examined here are unusual only in the degree of hostility rather than in its existence.