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Princess Elisabeth Charlotte
d'Orleans,
Mademoiselle de Chartres, Regent
of Lorraine (1676-1744)
Born 13 September 1676 St.Cloud
Died 23 December 1744 Commercy
Buried Nancy, Cordeliers
Married 13 October 1698 Fontainebleau
Leopold Joseph, Duke of Lorraine,
son of Karl IV Leopold, Duc de Lorraine 1661-1669
and Archduchess Eleonora of Austria
Born 11 September 1679 Innsbruck
Died 27 March 1729 Luneville
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At age twenty-two she married Leopold Joseph, Duke of Lorraine, and,
after her honeymoon, told her mother how much she was enjoying the pleasures
of the marital bed. The Duke was, as Madame her mother delicately put it,
"excessively taken with this bagatelle. He was particularly well equipped
for such entertainment. The Duke was once
taking a bath when the man washing him asked if 'His Grace would move
his arm so that I can wash His Grace?' It turned out, that it wasn't his
arm that was in the way at all, but, by your leave, quite a different thing."
However, thirteen children were born, but she lost
most of them, three within a week from smallpox.
After twenty years she returned to France with her husband to visit
her mother and brother, the Regent of France. But by then she had become
a matron and they were accompanied by her husband's mistress, Madame de
Beauvau-Craon. Eager to taste some of the Parisian amusements she had missed,
on the night of her arrival, the Duchess of
Lorraine was taken to the Opera ball, only to be shocked when observing
'ladies with great names sitting on the knees of gentlemen who seemed to
be having a very good time.' However, after much entertainment they returned
to Lorraine but did not leave empty
handed; the Duke of Lorraine had gained the title of Royal Highness.
Source: Leo van de Pas |
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