Elisabeth Christine của Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern
Nữ vương điện hạ

Sau cái chết của cha chồng, chồng bà thừa kế ngai vàng Phổ với hiệu Frederick II vào năm 1740. Ông được biết là không có bất kì tính cảm nào với nữ giới và chủ trì một hội đồng quân sự cực kì khắc nghiệt, nơi phụ nữ rất hiếm khi xuất hiện. Ông hoàn toàn không quan tâm đến các nghi thức, buổi lễ và để trống hầu hết các nghĩa vụ của mình tại kinh thành Postdam. Trong thời kì đầu trị vì, ông có phần nào khôi phục lại cuộc sống cung đình, nhưng sau khi cung điện Sanssouci ở Potsdam được hoàn thành vào năm 1747, ông cô lập mình ở Sanssouci vào mùa hè và City Palace, Potsdam vào mùa đông, và chỉ xuất hiện tại vương cung ở Berlin vào dịp đặc biệt như là sinh nhật hoàng gia và chuyến thăm của các thân vương. Dù cho bản thân khinh miệt với đời sống cung đình, tuy nhiên, ông hiểu tầm quan trọng của nó trong hệ thống nhà nước nên không bãi bỏ chúng, mà để lại toàn bộ việc đó cho Elisabeth.
Elisabeth có một vai trò nổi bật và được nhiều người biết đến ở Phổ. Suốt 17 năm đầu thời kì trị vì của chồng, bà chia sẻ nhiệm vụ đại diện hoàng gia với mẹ chồng cho đến khi bà ấy mất vào năm 1757, sau đó bà phải tự mình xử lí chúng, vì là thành viên hoàng tộc duy nhất sống trong vương cung Berlin khổng lồ. Frederick cũng giao cho Elisabeth cung điện mùa hè của riêng bà, Schönhausen Palace gần Berlin, và cho trang trí chỗ ở của bà tại cung điện hoàng gia Berlin, chỉ định một hội đồng để hỗ trợ bà điều hành các công vụ tại kinh thành. Tại Berlin, Elisabeth đón tiếp các vương công, đại sứ and tướng lĩnh; thiết đãi hoàng gia và lãnh chúa Phổ bằng các buổi lễ; và chủ trì một nhóm các nhà thần học Luther như Anton Friedrich Büsching, Johann Joachim Spalding và Johann Friedrich Zöllner. At both residences, she presided at the weekly reception days, courtage, which were the only occasions where the entire Prussian royal court assembled as a whole during the reign of Frederick the Great, who hardly ever took part himself. In addition to the courtages, large dinners, balls, opera performances, ambassador's receptions and family celebrations (birthdays, christenings, weddings) were on her program. Her receptions were always well attended as she hosted the only court life taking place in Prussia at the time, which made it an important social center and a place to meet important people.
A reception by Elisabeth Christine in Schönhausen was described in 1779 by the English tourist Dr. Moore:
The Queen has one Court-day in the week, when the Princes, nobility, and foreign ambassadors wait upon her, at five o' clock. After she has made the tour of the circle, and said a few words to each, she seats herself at the card-table. The Queen has her own table, and each of the Princesses has one. The rest of the company shows itself a moment at each of these card tables, and then the attendance for the day is over, and they walk in the garden, or form other card-tables in the other rooms, as it pleases them, and return to Berlin at dusk. Sometimes the Queen invites a good many of them to supper, and then they remain till midnight. These are the only assemblies where one meets the Berlin ladies in summer.
Despite the fact that Frederick entrusted the role of representation to her, he did not always give her the funds necessary to play this role, and it caused surprise to foreigners that the king did not give the queen funds necessary to entertain more lavishly. As the king became more spartan over the years, the receptions of the queen became more underfunded, Charpentier once joking: "The Queen must have a grand gala tonight; I saw an old lamp lighted on the staircase as I passed!" The king himself only very rarely attended any of the court events, while the queen was always present. He visited the birthday celebration of the queen only twice between 1741 and 1762. Frederick was often absent even at his own official birthday celebration, where she received birthday congratulations in his place, and when he did attend, he normally appeared very briefly. Frederick was often absent even at important functions, such as the state visit of the Tsesarevich Paul in 1776.
When he did appear in Berlin, mainly during the carnival ball season, Frederick normally did not represent at his own apartment, but merely visited the queen's reception in her apartment. While he on rare occasions participated in Berlin court life, he never visited her court at Schönhausen, nor was she ever invited to Sanssouci. On the one hand, compliance with protocol and etiquette was important to him, so he made sure that the queen's carriage always drove directly behind his on ceremonial processions, even in front of that of his adored mother. On the other hand, he humiliated her by not even inviting her to some important celebrations. Neither did she receive an invitation to the inauguration of the new wing of Charlottenburg Palace in the summer of 1746, nor to a large celebration that the king gave in August 1749 in honor of his mother in Sanssouci.
In 1763, when after the Seven Years' War, Frederick saw his wife for the first time in six years, he only told her "Madame has become more stout" and then turned to his waiting sisters. Despite his lack of interest in her person, he demanded that she should be respected in her capacity as a queen, but his separation from her along with her aroused pity made it hard for her to receive respect from the nobility: on one occasion, the opera singers refused to appear at her concert and she forced Frederick to demand that she be treated with respect. In many aspects her situation was similar to that of her sister-in-law, Princess Wilhelmina, the neglected wife of the king's brother Prince Henry, only that the queen consort had an important representational task.