I’m a duchess or queen to be in 17th or 18th century. What is my weekly schedule. What kind of business must I attend to? What do I eat and when? And how do I amuse myself?

by vinmaskinen

I’ve been wondering a bit about this since I read a small info board about danish princess Charlotte Amalie, who was rather loved by her people and spend a life time at court. But what was the typical todo for a young or old lady?

sunagainstgold

Please permit me to violate AskHistorians' rules about not just linking a source, and let me introduce you to the greatest primary source of all time. Elisabeth-Charlotte von der Pfalz ("Liselotte") was the Duchess of Orleans during much of Louis XIV's reign, and she wrote--and preserved--an enormous body of correspondence. Some of the volumes of them are available online for free in English translations (Letters of Madame, Vol. 2). And they are...well...she is brilliant, clever, observant, and so incredibly catty it's a truly beautiful thing.

You can flip through the book in order, or just skip to a random page and start reading. You won't regret it.