City Readers Digital Historic Collections at the New York Society Library

Princess Elisabeth Charlotte (German: Prinzessin Elisabeth Charlotte von der Pfalz; nicknamed "Lieselotte", 27 May 1652 – 8 December 1722) was a German princess and, as Madame, the second wife of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, younger brother of Louis XIV of France, and mother of France's ruler during the Regency. Louis invoked her hereditary claim to the Palatinate as pretext to launch the Nine Years' War in 1688. Her vast, frank correspondence provides a detailed account of the personalities and activities at the court of her brother-in-law, Louis XIV, for half a century, from the date of her marriage in 1672.