Philippe II was France's ruler during the Regency. Liselotte gained literary and historical importance primarily through preservation of her correspondence, which is of great cultural and historical value due to her sometimes very blunt descriptions of French court life and is today one of the best-known German-language texts of the Baroque period.
Named after her paternal grandmother Elizabeth Stuart and her own mother, from a young age she was nicknamed Liselotte , a portmanteau of both her names.
An emergency baptism was performed shortly after her birth due to her being very weak and thin. She was raised in the Reformed Protestant faith, the most widespread denomination in the Electoral Palatinate at that time. Liselotte was a lively child who liked to run around and climb trees to nibble on cherries. The marriage of Liselotte's parents soon turned into a disaster, and Liselotte was frequently witness to acts of domestic violence.
Liselotte likely perceived her as an intruder, [ 7 ] but had good relationships with many of her 13 half-siblings, the Raugrafen. With two of her half-sisters, Louise β and Amalie Elisabeth, called Amelise β , she kept a lifelong correspondence. Her half-brother Charles Louis β , called Karllutz , was a particular favorite of hers; she also called him "Black Head" Schwarzkopfel because of his hair color and was ecstatic when he later visited her in Paris.
In Elector Charles I Louis granted Liselotte's mother Charlotte monetary compensation in exchange for her vacating the Heidelberg residence. Immediately afterwards the Elector brought his daughter back to the court in Heidelberg. Liselotte now received a courtly education customary for princely houses at the time, consisting of lessons in French, dancing, playing the spinet , singing, handicrafts and history.
