author
duchesse d' Charlotte-Elisabeth Orléans
1652–1722
Best known through her lively, sharp-eyed letters, this German-born duchess gives readers a rare inside view of Louis XIV’s court. Her writing is direct, funny, and often wonderfully candid.
6 Audiobooks
Memoirs of the Court of Louis XIV. and of the Regency — Complete
by duchesse d' Charlotte-Elisabeth Orléans
Memoirs of the Court of Louis XIV. and of the Regency — Volume 01
by duchesse d' Charlotte-Elisabeth Orléans
Memoirs of the Court of Louis XIV. and of the Regency — Volume 02
by duchesse d' Charlotte-Elisabeth Orléans
Memoirs of the Court of Louis XIV. and of the Regency — Volume 04
by duchesse d' Charlotte-Elisabeth Orléans
The Correspondence of Madame, Princess Palatine, Mother of the Regent; of Marie-Adélaïde de Savoie, Duchesse de Bourgogne; and of Madame de Maintenon, in Relation to Saint-Cyr
by Madame de Maintenon, Duchess of Burgundy of Savoy Marie Adelaide, duchesse d' Charlotte-Elisabeth Orléans
Memoirs of the Court of Louis XIV. and of the Regency — Volume 03
by duchesse d' Charlotte-Elisabeth Orléans
About the author
Born in Heidelberg on 27 May 1652, she was a princess of the Palatinate who became Duchess of Orléans after marrying Philippe I, the younger brother of Louis XIV. At the French court she was widely known as Madame, and she spent decades at the center of royal life.
She is remembered above all for her enormous correspondence. In hundreds of letters, she wrote vividly about court ceremony, family tensions, politics, health, grief, and everyday life, creating one of the most memorable firsthand records of Versailles in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.
Her letters have lasted because they feel unusually alive: frank, observant, sometimes comic, and never overly polished. Beyond her rank, it is this unmistakable voice that continues to make her compelling to modern readers.