Their aspirations have suffered enough at the hands of the wretched Fritz and they decide to combine with Prince Paul in a conspiracy to rid themselves of the troublesome lad . They are amazed when their conspiracy gets an impromptu fourth member in the person of the rejected Duchess herself. Fritz is in the chapel of the palace going through a quick wedding with Wanda. From the ceremony he will proceed to his apartments, and there the conspirators will lie in wait for him to bring his dazzling career to a dingy end. ACT 3 Whilst the wedding dance goes on, the conspirators gather in the right wing, on the very spot where an earlier ancestor met his bloody fate (`Ce Qu'On A Fait'). The Duchess hides behind a curtain as Puck, Paul, Grog and Népomuc lead on a whole band of murderous conspirators (`Sortez, Sortez') but she emerges to give a last minute instruction that, although he may be cut to pieces, Fritz's handsome face must not be touched. But wait! Who is this other handsome face amongst the conspirators? It is Baron Grog, the emissary from Prince Paul's father whom the Duchess has always refused to admit to her presence. Her Highness decides that she will grant him his private audience now, on the spot, and she sends everyone else away while she winsomely attempts to persuade Grog that he would do much better to abandon his present master and come to her court instead. Grog diplomatically regrets that he cannot. Of course, were she to wed Prince Paul, such a transfer would be virtually automatic. The Duchess's head is quite dizzy with schemes, but it is at least clear to her that there is now no need to have Fritz murdered and, to the vast disappointment of Boum and Puck, she calls the assassination off. She cannot have a murder on her wedding day. Her wedding day? Yes, she has decided that, at long last, she will wed Prince Paul and, to make up for General Boum's disappointment at missing out on Fritz's death, she freely permits him to take his revenge on the young man in any way he likes—as long as it is nothing quite so permanent. Their wedding solemnised, Fritz and Wanda are escorted to their apartment by the lords and ladies of the court and are bid a knowing goodnight by the cream of Gérolstein society. Left alone with his new bride, Fritz starts to pare away her maidenly modesty but, each time he gets near to embracing his wife, he is interrupted by noisy serenading from the street outside until finally Boum, Puck, Grog and Paul burst in to urge him to head for Roc à Pic with all haste at the orders of his monarch. Fritz quickly dons his Commander's uniform and, leaving his new little wife to her own devices, dashes off to the rendezvous. At the army encampment, the Grand Duchess joins her men and her newly-pledged husband in a rousing drinking song and listens with enjoyment as General Boum relates the trick he has played on Fritz. The General has for some time been paying court to a married lady at Roc à Pic but her husband has discovered the affair and, Boum has learned, is tonight laying in wait to trap his wife's aristocratic seducer as he comes to his rendezvous. Fritz has been sent into an ambush and, when the brave Commander-inChief arrives back at the camp, he is a bruised and battered sight, his clothes rent and the famous sabre bent. The Duchess makes this unseemly behaviour an excuse to strip Fritz, one by one, of all the honours she had previously loaded on him, until he is back once more to the rank of private soldier. At that point Fritz promptly asks for and receives his discharge from the army. He is free, at last, to go to his Wanda. The Duchess now has a bundle of offices and honours to bestow and she decides that the recipient of all these shall be the handsome Baron Grog. When Grog thanks her on behalf of his absent wife and children, the Duchess has to avow herself beaten. Boum is restored to his position at the head of the army, the twisted sabre is returned to Baron Puck, Fritz (who has a yearning to learn to read and write) is appointed a village schoolmaster, and Baron Grog is sent safely back to Steis-Stein-Steis-Laper-BottmollSchorstenburg to inform his master that the Grand Duchess of Gérolstein and Prince Paul are happily married. If a girl can't have what she likes, then she must like what she can have. That way everything can end happily. Adapted from Ganzl's Book of the Musical Theatre
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