Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine

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For the wife of Elector George William of Brandenburg, see Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate.

Elizabeth, Princess Palatine by Hyacinthe Rigaud

Elizabeth Charlotte, Countess Palatine of Simmern (Heidelberg, May 27, 1652 – October 9 or December 8, 1722 at the Château of Saint-Cloud near Paris), known in French as la princesse Palatine and in German as Liselotte von der Pfalz, was a princess of the electoral family of the Palatinate who became Duchess of Orléans by her marriage to Philip I, Duke of Orléans, younger brother of Louis XIV of France, and then in 1693 by inheritance Duchess of Montpensier in her own right. The Princess Palatine, one of the most colorful characters at the court of Louis XIV, left an abundant correspondence which offers an invaluable glance into the daily life of the court.

Born to Charles Louis, Elector Palatine and to Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel, she married (against her will) Louis XIV's younger brother, Philip I, Duke of Orléans, on 21 November 1671. The marriage proved unhappy, largely due to Monsieur's homosexual proclivities. They nevertheless had three children.

When the Wittelsbach branch of Pfalz-Simmern (Palatinate-Simmern) became extinct in the male line with the death of her brother Karl II, Elector Palatine in 1685, her brother-in-law Louis XIV claimed the Palatinate and started the War of the Palatine Succession (1688 - 1697). Her brother's death also meant that she became the heiress of the then Duchess of Montpensier, her distant childless cousin and her husband's first cousin. After the deaths of her husband in 1701 and of Louis XIV in 1715, her son—Philip II, Duke of Orléans—became Regent of France (1715 - 1723), acting for the underage king Louis XV of France.

The descendants of the Princess Palatine and Philip of Orléans form the House of Orléans, which came to the French throne in the person of Louis-Philippe in 1830.

The Princess Palatine's letters — mostly written to her father's sister, Sophia, Electress of Hanover (who had brought her up after her father's divorce), and to her half-sister, Countess Luise zu Pfalz (1661 - 1733) — about the costumes and morals at the French court survive. She also corresponded with Sophia's courtier and friend Gottfried Leibniz, although they never met. After he died, she insisted that the Academie des Sciences in Paris, of which he had been a member, honor his passing. The resulting eulogy to Leibniz, by Fontenelle, was the only one ever delivered anywhere.

[edit] Children

The Princess Palatine and Philip of Orléans had the following children:

Alexandre Louis, Duke of Valois (1673 – 1676)
Philip, the regent Orléans (August 2, 1674 – 1723) Married Françoise Marie of Blois
Elizabeth Charlotte (September 13, 1676 – 1744), Married Leopold, Duke of Lorraine

[edit] Sources

Life and letters of Charlotte Elizabeth Princess Palatine and mother of Philipp d'Orléans, régent de France 1652 - 1722 / compiled, translated, and gathered from various published and unpublished. London: Chapman & Hall, 1889.