French officers holding commissions in the ducal army, he hinted discreetly to the Duke that the neighbouring princes and even the Emperor were laughing at him because he allowed himself to be ruled by his wife, and he particularly opposed the growing power of the Celle-Wolfenbüttel party. Duke Antony Ulrich had by this time brought forward his eldest surviving son, a handsome prince, as a suitor for the hand of Sophie Dorothea. The young couple were of a suitable age, and Eléonore warmly encouraged the match. If the matter had rested with her, the betrothal would long since have taken place. Her first check had come when she proposed it to George William. To her astonishment he held back. He was superstitious, and thought the untoward ending of the first match between his daughter and a Prince of the House of Wolfenbüttel was an ill omen. He did not approve of her marriage with the younger brother when she had been betrothed to the elder, for in Germany at that time betrothal was almost as solemn a compact as marriage itself. These were the reasons he put forward for opposing the betrothal; but Eléonore, who suspected something behind, talked him over, and at last he was induced to unwillingly give a half promise that was almost a consent, on the condition that the betrothal should be postponed until Sophie Dorothea was sixteen, and meantime the arrangement should be kept secret. With this Eléonore and Antony Ulrich had to be content. The Duke was easily swayed, and it was Bernstorff who prompted the delay; he now used the time gained to further oppose the match and to urge the Hanoverian claims.