Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans (13 September 1676 – 23 December 1744) was a petite-fille de France and ÉlisabethCharlottedOrléduchess of Lorraine and Bar by her marriage to Duke Leopold. She was regent of the duchy during the minority (1729–1730) and absence (1730–1737) of her son and suo jure princess of Commercy 1737–1744. Among her children was Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, the co-founder of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.
Early life
Élisabeth Charlotte was born on 13 September 1676 at the Château de Saint-Cloud, located outside of Paris, France. She was the third child and first daughter of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, Monsieur, and his second wife, Elizabeth Charlotte, Madame Palatine, the daughter of Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine. Her father was the only sibling of King Louis XIV of France. As a petite-fille de France, she was entitled to the style of Her Royal Highness, as well as the right to an armchair in the presence of the king. At birth, she was given the style of mademoiselle de Chartres, taken from the name of one of her father's appanages. After the marriage of her two older half-sisters, Marie Louise and Anne Marie (born of the first marriage of their father to Henrietta of England), she was known as Madame Royale, according to her status as the highest-ranking unmarried princess in France.
As a child, Élisabeth Charlotte was described by her mother as 'so terribly wild' and 'rough as a boy'. To her father's displeasure, she shared the frank opinions of her mother.
Marriage
Her mother wanted her to marry as prestigiously as her sisters had. When her cousin's wife, Maria Anna, the dauphine, suggested she should marry her younger brother Joseph Clemens of Bavaria, Élisabeth Charlotte reportedly said, 'I am not made, madam, for a younger son'. Élisabeth's mother initially wanted her to marry King William III of England but him being a Protestant prevented the marriage.
Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor was also considered. He was highly regarded, and the union would have been a way of reconciling the Bourbons and their traditional rivals, the Habsburgs. Her widowed cousin, Louis, Grand Dauphin was considered, as well as his son, Louis, Duke of Burgundy, and another cousin, the legitimised Louis Auguste, Duke of Maine, eldest son of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan. Élisabeth Charlotte's mother opposed any match between her children and the legitimised offspring of the king.
Élisabeth Charlotte was finally married on 13 October 1698 at the Palace of Fontainebleau to Leopold, Duke of Lorraine, son of Charles V, Duke of Lorraine, and Archduchess Eleonora of Austria.The marriage was the result of the Peace of Ryswick, one of its conditions being that the Duchy of Lorraine, which had been the possession of France for many years, be restored to the House of Lorraine. Élisabeth Charlotte was an instrument to cement the peace treaty; her mother later said that her daughter 'was a victim of war'.
Duchess of Lorraine
The marriage was seen as a brilliant match by the House of Lorraine but some regarded it as unworthy of a petite-fille de France. The bride a dowry of 900,000 livres. Because of these conflicts, some ladies of the royal family used the death of a small son of the duke of Main to attend the wedding in mourning clothes.
To everyone's surprise, what had been expected to be an unhappy union turned out to be a marriage full of love and happiness. After the birth of her children, Élisabeth Charlotte showed great maternal instinct and a naturally caring character. The marriage produced fourteen children, five of whom lived to adulthood. Three of them died within a week in May 1711 due to a smallpox outbreak.
Élisabeth Charlotte was religiously intolerant and supported the persecution of non-Catholics. She persuaded her husband to issue many oppressive laws against Protestants and Jews. During this time, over 280 religious dissenters were burned at the stake.
In June 1701, her father died after having a heated argument with Louis XIV at Versailles about the duke of Chartres. Her brother thus became the new duke of Orléans and head of the House of Orléans. Her mother was left at the mercy of Louis XIV, who forbade her from going abroad. As a result, Élisabeth Charlotte was only able to see her mother if she went to Versailles; they maintained a correspondence, which was destroyed in a 1719 fire at the Château de Lunéville.