A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Elizabeth, Charlotte
ELIZABETH, CHARLOTTE,
Duchess of Orleans, only daughter of the Elector Charles Louis, of the Palatinate, was born at Heidelberg in 1652. She was a princess of distinguished talents and character, and lived half a century in the court of Louis the Fourteenth, without changing her German habits for French manners. Educated with the greatest care, at the court of her aunt, afterwards the Electoress Sophia of Hanover, at the age of nineteen, she married Duke Philip of Orleans, from reasons of state policy. She was without personal charms, but her understanding was strong, and her character unaffected; and she was characterized by liveliness and wit. Madame de Maintenon was her implacable enemy; but Louis the Fourteenth was attracted by her integrity and frankness, her vivacity and wit. She often attended him to the chase. She preserved the highest respect for the literary men of Germany, particularly for Leibnitz, whose correspondence with the French literati she promoted. She died At St. Cloud in 1722. She has described herself and her situation with a natural humour, perfectly original, in her German letters, which form an interesting addition to the accounts of the court of Louis the Fourteenth. The most valuable of her letters are contained in the "Life and Character of the Duchess Elizabeth. Charlotte of Orleans," by Professor Schütz, Leipsic, 1820.