Few could.:) Mind you, Liselotte had her difficulties at the French court in general and with her husband in particular, though his sexuality was but one factor; she had to convert to Catholicism to marry him, which she never quite adjusted to (especially the Catholic religion as practised in France seemed ridiculous to her), all the stuffy protocol collided with her bluntness, and of course she was very upsest indeed when Louis used her marriage as pretext to invade her home country, the Palatinate. The English Wikipedia entry is sadly lacking in the witty letter excerpts the German wiki has; Liselotte wrote about 60 000 letters in her life; we have about 6000 left, of which two thirds are in German and one third in French. (Behold: Liselotte was that rare German noble actually liking the German language. Also, it was practical for her to write in, if her letters got intercepted, which they sometimes were.)
So here is Liselotte, writing to her German relations re: men who love men in general:
„Wo seydt Ihr und Louisse denn gestocken, daß ihr die weldt so wenig kendt? (…) wer alle die haßen woldt, so die junge kerls lieben, würde hier kein 6 menschen lieben können!
(What is it with you and Louise knowing the world so little? If one would hate all those who love young men, one could love all but six people here!") (The English, alas, doesn't convey Liselotte being extremely informal here; that she wrote baroque slang Germman is part of the appeal of her letters.)
Didn't mean she had a high opinion of her husband's boyfriends, whom she regarded as parasites, or of his habit of spending gigantic sums on them:
„Monsieur... hat nichts in der welt im kopf als seine junge kerls, umb da ganze nächte mit zu fressen, zu saufen, und gibt ihnen unerhörte summen gelds, nichts kost ihm noch ist zu teuer vor die bursch
("Monsieur thinks of nothing but his young fellows; they spend the nights stuffing themselves, drinking themselves to oblivion, and he gives Incredible amounts of Money to them, nothing is too expensive for him as far as the boys are concerned.")
She also wasn't impressed with their proclaimed affections; when, in 1702, she was told that the Earl of Albermale, William II.'s boyfriend, supposedly had nearly died of a broken heart following William's death, she wryly commented : "We didn't see such affection from any of the fellows for Monsieur."
But still: they produced children, were both relieved when enough of those were around to make marital sex unnnecessary, and sometimes made each other laugh; at one occasion, they got into a farting contest with their oldest son (the later Regent of France). At that point, Liselotte considered having to put up with Louis XIV's Maitresse en titre, Madame de Maintenon, a greater trial than Philippe's boys, and that was what she was referring to when writing to Sophia of Hannover (she who raised GII, SD the younger and for a few years FW at home):
Madame sein ist ein ellendes handwerck, hette ichs wie die chargen hir im landt verkauffen können, hette ichs lengst feil getragen“.
"Being Madame is a lousy job; if I could have sold it like every lackey in this country does with their office, I'd have done it a long time ago."
Detour: Liselotte von der Pfalz
So here is Liselotte, writing to her German relations re: men who love men in general:
„Wo seydt Ihr und Louisse denn gestocken, daß ihr die weldt so wenig kendt? (…) wer alle die haßen woldt, so die junge kerls lieben, würde hier kein 6 menschen lieben können!
(What is it with you and Louise knowing the world so little? If one would hate all those who love young men, one could love all but six people here!") (The English, alas, doesn't convey Liselotte being extremely informal here; that she wrote baroque slang Germman is part of the appeal of her letters.)
Didn't mean she had a high opinion of her husband's boyfriends, whom she regarded as parasites, or of his habit of spending gigantic sums on them:
„Monsieur... hat nichts in der welt im kopf als seine junge kerls, umb da ganze nächte mit zu fressen, zu saufen, und gibt ihnen unerhörte summen gelds, nichts kost ihm noch ist zu teuer vor die bursch
("Monsieur thinks of nothing but his young fellows; they spend the nights stuffing themselves, drinking themselves to oblivion, and he gives Incredible amounts of Money to them, nothing is too expensive for him as far as the boys are concerned.")
She also wasn't impressed with their proclaimed affections; when, in 1702, she was told that the Earl of Albermale, William II.'s boyfriend, supposedly had nearly died of a broken heart following William's death, she wryly commented : "We didn't see such affection from any of the fellows for Monsieur."
But still: they produced children, were both relieved when enough of those were around to make marital sex unnnecessary, and sometimes made each other laugh; at one occasion, they got into a farting contest with their oldest son (the later Regent of France). At that point, Liselotte considered having to put up with Louis XIV's Maitresse en titre, Madame de Maintenon, a greater trial than Philippe's boys, and that was what she was referring to when writing to Sophia of Hannover (she who raised GII, SD the younger and for a few years FW at home):
Madame sein ist ein ellendes handwerck, hette ichs wie die chargen hir im landt verkauffen können, hette ichs lengst feil getragen“.
"Being Madame is a lousy job; if I could have sold it like every lackey in this country does with their office, I'd have done it a long time ago."