feelings: she would sometimes call her daughter "little rubbish". Divorce The king may have imagined this to be the first of many children, and looked forward to the birth of an heir, but it was not to be. Already at this time, Elisabeth Christine was having an affair with a musician named Müller. While the musician Müller was sent away without making any fuss, the marriage was on the rocks in a most alarming manner. On his part, Frederick William confirmed to the norms of his day, and considered that his wife should make no fuss if he indulged in casual sex with sundry dancers and actresses, because they could never take her place, and all he wanted from them was a night of revelry. Elisabeth Christine felt otherwise, and took her disagreement to the point of vengeance. The couple were both very young indeed, and both very hot-headed. In the Vertraute Briefe, the marital relationship of Elisabeth Christine is described as follows: If the king had very little sympathy for the adultery of men, he had none at all for that of women, least of all when the legitimacy of his own successors may be called into question. The king had little patience for indiscipline or human frailty, and he could hardly understand what moved people to commit adultery. He roundly admonished his nephew for consorting with low women. Elisabeth Christine, supposedly to spite her husband, began having affairs with young officers of the Potsdam Guard, he was. At first, the King treated her scandals leniently, hoping for improvement and wanting to forget everything that had happened. However, as was noted by Friedrich Wilhelm von Thulemeyer, the Crown Princess became pregnant by her lover, a musician called Pietro. By late January 1769 they planned to escape to Italy, but she was betrayed. On a masked ball given by Prince Henry in celebration of the king's birthday on 24 January 1769, the Crown Prince was informed of her affairs by an anonymous person hidden behind a mask, which enraged him despite his own adultery, and made him demand a divorce. Elisabeth Christine's correspondence would have also revealed that she first planned to poison her husband, her brother Prince William of Brunswick (who was involved in the plot) and her uncle the King, and a letter from her to the musician Pietro was also intercepted with the following content: "My dear