Return to court and family life
When her father was welcomed back to court, it paved the way for Mademoiselle. She left for Sedan, Ardennes, where the court was established in July 1657. Having not seen any of her family for some five years, she was greeted with forgiveness and the added compliment that her "looks had improved", according to Queen Anne.
In a pen portrait of herself executed later the same year, she noted how she was neither "fat nor thin" and "looked healthy; my bosom is fairly well formed; my hands and arms not beautiful, but the skin is good...". The same year, she met Christina of Sweden, who had arrived in France in July 1656. The two ladies met at Essonne where they watched a ballet together. Mademoiselle later exclaimed that Christina "surprised me very much. [...] She was in all respects a most extraordinary creature".
At court, her cousins Louis XIV and Philippe, Duke of Anjou were nineteen and seventeen, respectively. Mademoiselle's part in the Fronde had ruined her dream of becoming Louis's consort, but the Duke of Anjou briefly courted her. Despite toying with the idea, Mademoiselle was put off by the Duke's immaturity, saying that he always stayed near his mother as if he was "like a child".
Mademoiselle fell ill in Paris during September 1657, when she bought the Château d'Eu from Mademoiselle de Guise (her maternal aunt) at the end of her illness before returning to her beloved Saint-Fargeau for Christmas.
In February 1660, Gaston died of a stroke at Blois. As his eldest daughter Mademoiselle was his principal heiress, and Gaston left her a considerable fortune that added to her already vast personal wealth. As a result of her mourning her father, Mademoiselle was only allowed to go to the formal marriage between Louis and his new spouse Maria Theresa of Austria; however, Mademoiselle did go to the proxy ceremony incognito, fooling no one. The next marriage at court was between Philippe, the Duke of Orléans, known as Monsieur, and Princess Henrietta of England (youngest child of Queen Henrietta Maria and the dead Charles I of England) on 31 March 1661. Mademoiselle was in attendance with various other members of the court.
Philippe and Henrietta formed a stormy couple. Philippe was an overt bisexual and openly lived with his male lovers at the Palais Royal, much to the dislike of Henrietta. In retaliation, she openly flirted with Louis XIV as well as seduced Philippe's own lover the comte de Guiche. Mademoiselle was the godmother of Philippe and Henrietta's youngest child, the Mademoiselle de Valois, born in 1670. Once again at Henrietta's death in 1670, Louis XIV asked if Mademoiselle wanted to fill "the vacant place" that had been left by Henrietta, a suggestion she declined.
Mademoiselle and her younger half-sister Marguerite Louise enjoyed a close relationship. The two would go to the theatre and attend Mademoiselle's salon.
Marguerite Louise later asked her to sort out arrangements when the Grand Prince of Tuscany proposed an alliance in 1658. Mademoiselle was asked to ensure its fulfilment, a previous proposal from the Duke of Savoy having failed.
Initially overjoyed at the prospect of marrying, Marguerite Louise's ebullience faded to dismay when she discovered Mademoiselle no longer favoured the Tuscan match. After this, Marguerite Louise's behaviour became erratic: she shocked the court by going out unaccompanied with her cousin Prince Charles of Lorraine, who soon became her lover. Her proxy marriage did nothing to change her attitude and she attempted to abscond and go hunting, only to be stopped by Mademoiselle herself.
In 1663, Louis XIV again approached Mademoiselle with a possible match for her. The intended bridegroom was Alfonso VI of Portugal, who acceded to the Portuguese throne in 1656. The proud Mademoiselle ignored the idea, saying she would rather stay in France with her vast income and estates and that she did not want a husband who was rumoured to be alcoholic, impotent and paralytic. Alfonso instead married Marie Françoise of Savoy.
An angry Louis thus ordered her to return to Saint-Fargeau for having disobeyed him. This "exile" lasted roughly a year and during it she began to make repairs to the Château d'Eu, and started writing her memoirs. Appealing to Louis regarding her health, she was allowed to return to court, whereupon Louis proposed that she marry Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy, who had previously married Mademoiselle's younger half-sister Françoise Madeleine. Mademoiselle seemed very keen on the match, but Charles Emmanuel II was not, and he made various excuses to avoid it. This proposal was to be the last for la Grande Mademoiselle.
