| Princess Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate | |
|---|---|
| Duchess of Orléans | |
 Portrait by Pierre Mignard, 1675 | |
| Born | 27 May 1652 Heidelberg Castle, Heidelberg, Electoral Palatinate, Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | 8 December 1722 (aged 70) Château de Saint-Cloud, Île-de-France, France |
| Burial | Basilica of Saint Denis, France |
| Spouse | |
| Issue Detail | |
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| Father | Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine |
| Mother | Landgravine Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel |
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| Signature |  |
Madame Elizabeth Charlotte, Duchess of Orléans (born Princess Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate,[1] German: Elisabeth Charlotte; 27 May 1652 – 8 December 1722), also known as Liselotte von der Pfalz, was a German member of the House of Wittelsbach who married into the French royal family. She was the second wife of Monsieur Philippe I, Duke of Orléans (younger brother of Louis XIV of France). By Philippe, Liselotte was the mother of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, and Élisabeth Charlotte, Duchess of Lorraine. Philippe II was France's ruler during the Regency. Liselotte gained literary and historical importance primarily through preservation of her correspondence, which is of great cultural and historical value due to her sometimes very blunt descriptions of French court life and is today one of the best-known German-language texts of the Baroque period.
Liselotte not only became the ancestress of the House of Orléans, which came to the French throne with Louis Philippe I, the so-called "Citizen King" from 1830 to 1848, but also became the ancestress of numerous European royal families, so she was also called the "Grandmother of Europe".[2] Through her daughter she was the grandmother of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, the husband of Maria Theresa, and great-grandmother of Joseph II and Leopold II (both Holy Roman Emperors) and Marie Antoinette, the last Queen of France before the French Revolution.
- ^ Spanheim, Ezechiel (1973). Le Temps retrouvé XXVI: Relation de la Cour de France. Paris, France: Mercure de France. pp. 74–79, 305–308.
- ^ Van der Cruysse 2001, p. 229.