Why was Liselotte so rude towards Françoise de Maintenon? Maybe because Maintenon came from humble origins, maybe Manitenon said/did to Liselotte something awful, or maybe la Palatine was offended by Françoise's "sordid" past? By the way, do we know the opinion Liselotte had on other mistresses of Louis XIV, such as la Montespan or la Fontanges? And did she like the King? Was she such a good friend to Chevalier, as Canal plus' Versailles implies?
Well, to be fair, Palatine was more often “rude” than not. She was reknown for her sharp tongue and brutal honesty, which always broke with Versailles’ traditions of keeping things behind doors. It’s not so much for Maintenon’s past than for what she represented as a whole; Palatine was very much aware of her rank, her blood, and she did not embarrass herself one bit with people she didn’t find ‘worthy’. I think she also didn’t trust her. Like, Maintenon had obviously Louis XIV’s affection and respect, but at the same time she pushed him back towards his wife? For Palatine it was a big nop-nop-nop, she always felt like there was something fishy about her (and maybe that’s what it actually looked like)
Of Fontanges, Palatine was the one who gave that by-now legendary description: “Belle comme un ange, mais sotte comme un panier.// Pretty as an angel but stupid as a basket”. Her favor was short-lived (from 1678 to 1680) and she died shortly afterwards so there’s not much more to say about her.
It’s safe to say that Palatine hated pretty everything coming from Montespan, starting with her bastard children (except Vermandois). The issue with her was not that Montespan was not ‘high born enough’ (since Montespan often joked about the fact that her house was even older than the Bourbons themselves), but more like her general behavior. Athénaïs was known (and feared) for her very tough sense of humor and her very proud personality, so as the years (and the pounds) went on, Palatine started joking more and more often at Montespan’s expense. Towards the end of her favor, she had lost pretty much all her power and Palatine’s harsh treatment became completely one-sided, but in their younger years, Montespan didn’t spare Palatine either
She was not a good friend to Chevalier (nobody was, let’s please stop romanticize this asshole 2k18). She hated him as much as Henriette did before her and she blamed him openly for murdering the first wife of her husband (although we do know now that Henriette died of natural causes, her death was very sudden and brutal).
She was a great friend of Louis XIV, probably the closest from a bestie? They were hunting together and laughing together, which is a lOT. She had the deepest respect for the man and although she never made a mystery of her hatred towards his mistresses, Palatine never dared to criticize him, even when he forced her son to marry Montespan’s bastard daughter (which Palatine considered the biggest offense in the world).
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