Liselotte von der Pfalz (1966)

Elisabeth Charlotte, Princess of the Palatinate, daughter of Elector Karl Ludwig and known to everyone simply as Liselotte, is a real tomboy. The lively, boyish young princess enjoys a carefree youth at her father’s court, where formalities are not taken too seriously. But he is beset by serious financial troubles. So it suits him perfectly when the powerful French Sun King, Louis XIV, goes looking for a wife for his brother, the dissolute Duke of Orléans, Philippe. Liselotte is not exactly thrilled that her father wants to marry her off to a man she has never met, but she accepts his decision. And so Liselotte is sent on her way to France. At the border, the girl is met by the king’s emissaries and changes carriages. On arriving at Versailles, she is met from the outset with sheer arrogance. While the Sun King treats her with generous warmth, her husband-to-be quickly makes the girl from the German provinces feel what a country bumpkin he thinks she is. Above all, though, his current mistress, the elegant Princess Palatine, subjects the naïve newcomer to mockery and utter contempt, even though Palatine was the one who arranged the marriage—only so that she could carry on her previously secret affair with Philippe even more openly now that he was officially married. Palatine makes Liselotte feel that she is in no way the equal of a great lady of the world like herself. Philippe, too, has no inclination whatsoever to give up his current mistress just because he had to marry the unpolished country girl Liselotte for reasons of state. But Liselotte now begins to show ambition and quickly wins over the courtiers around her. Before long, she adapts to the far stricter customs of the French court and knows how to use her charm and carefree, youthful freshness to her advantage. Nor is she at all prepared to keep surrendering her husband without a fight to her nasty rival, and to share Philippe’s heart and the bed of the heir presumptive with Palatine. Using feminine wiles, she gradually begins to interest Philippe in her. But the opposition spins a web of intrigue and even plots an assassination. Nevertheless, Liselotte and Philippe end up a happy couple.