Elizabeth Charlotte of Bavaria

Elizabeth Charlotte of Bavaria, 1652–1722, German princess, called the Princess Palatine and also known as Charlotte Elizabeth; wife of Philippe I d'Orléans, brother of King Louis XIV. She abjured the Protestant faith before her marriage (1671). The death of her brother, Elector Charles, provided Louis XIV with an opportunity to use her tenuous claims to part of the Palatinate as a pretext to expand French influence in that area, eventually contributing to the outbreak (1689) of the War of the Grand Alliance. Her frank and vigorous letters are a valuable source for the social history of her time. She was a friend and patron of Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz and mother of Philippe II d'Orléans, regent to King Louis XV.

Bibliography

See her letters ed. by M. Kroll (tr. 1970).