Hmmmm. On the one hand, he did participate in one of the bloodiest battles of the century as a young man (Malplaquet), so this is neither the first time he sees death (in a non-execution context) or deals out death by his own hand. On the other, no matter how he rationalizes it, he's just killed someone just because he and the guy in question, a first cousin, brother-in-law and fellow monarch, couldn't stand each other, and there's no getting away from the fact that God really disapproves of this. *cue childhood lessons of Calvinist hell coming up again in vivid detail*

So I could see FW trying to appease God and spare himself hell by making extra efforts to be a good Christian husband and father. But I could also see him channelling that renewed fear of God's disapproval and hell by lashing out extra hard at anyone reminding him of G2, which evidently would include SD and his two oldest children. (Not just because of the English marriage project. I remember that more than one envoy writing a "hot or not" report on young Fritz remarks that looks-wise, he favours the Hannover side of the family, which given not just SD but SC in his genetic pool I can well believe.)