Princess Palatine

**Princess Palatine** is a German princess who was placed in an arranged marriage with Philippe as part of Louis's new alliance - so she became the *Duchesse d’Orléans*.

In Germany she is known as **Liselotte von der Pfalz**.

## *Related Pages*

* **Princess Palatine/Gallery**
* **Holy Roman Empire**
* **House of Wittelsbach**
* **Liselotte, Philippe and Chevalier**
* **Liselotte and Philippe's Wedding**

## Personality

She had to convert from her Protestant faith to the Catholic faith in order to marry the Prince. She did not object as she was very open-minded in matters of religion.

## Biography

### **Early Life**

Princess Elisabeth Charlotte was born on 27 May 1652 in Heidelberg Castle, to Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine of the Simmern branch of the House of Wittelsbach, and Landgravine Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel. In childhood she became known as Liselotte — portmanteau of her names. Her parents were in an unhappy dynastic marriage and in 1653 her father began an affair with Marie Luise von Degenfeld, one of his wife's attendants. He purported to marry Marie Luise motu proprio as a prince-elector of the Empire, without benefit of a judicial divorce, and claimed to have done so to legitimise the bastard children. Liselotte was five years old when she was sent to live with her father's sister, Sophia, wife of Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover.

She always remembered her time with her aunt as the happiest of her life, although she became close enough to her younger half-sisters to correspond with them at least weekly after she married. In 1663, Liselotte had to move back to Heidelberg where she lived with her stepmother, fifteen half-siblings, and brother, the future Charles II, Elector Palatine. She had purportedly desired to marry her cousin William of Orange, who would later become King of England, though her family believed that sacrifices needed to be made in order to make a more beneficial marriage with the recently widowed brother of the King of France, formerly married to her father's first cousin, Henriette of England.

## Relationships

### Philippe of France

Both Palatine and Philippe are married. Though Philippe was gay, Princess Palatine was able to get him to consummate their marriage but telling him his deepest passion. Unlike Henriette of England, Palatine and Philippe of France shared a lot in common and bonded well.

### Chevalier de Lorraine

Palatine's relationship with Chevalier de Lorraine began a little rocky. The Chevalier grew increasingly jealous of Princess Palatine as she was married to Philippe of France. Both Palatine and the Chevalier share their love for Prince Philippe. They grew close and bonded after the Chevalier saved Philippe from Thomas Beaumont. While Philippe was away, she and Chevalier took turns caring of the couple's son. After the young prince is taken away to be governed, she shares her grief with him.

## Historical Facts

* She is directly related to several iconic European monarchs. Her grandmother Elizabeth Stuart was a Scottish and later English princess, daughter of James I of England and granddaughter of Mary, Queen of Scots. Her first cousin became George I, the first Hanover King of England. Through her daughter, Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans, she was the great-grandmother of Marie-Antoinette. She is sometimes called "The Grandmother of Europe": through her daughter Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans, she was the grandmother of 1 Holy Roman Emperor and the great-grandmother of 2 others, as well as the great-grandmother of Marie-Antoinette, the last Queen of France before the French Revolution of 1789.