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Few women in history have caused a King's abdication but that was merely one of the adventures in the astonishing life of Lola Montez. Willful and passionate, she gloried in her reputation as the most notorious woman in the world.
She constantly recreated herself, usually claiming to be a Spanish aristocrat. She was originally Elizabeth Gilbert born in Limerick, Ireland in about 1820. She spent her early years in India, where she was neglected by her parents and spoiled by troops of servants. She spent the rest of her life boldly demanding the world’s attention and recklessly defying its conventions.
In about 1831, after her father's death and her mother's remarriage she was shipped back to England to be educated. When she was 15, her mother appeared, announcing that she had found a wealthy husband for her. But when Elizabeth learned that he was a homely, 60-year-old widower with gout, she promptly eloped with Lt. Thomas James, a handsome officer on leave from India.
The young couple returned to Calcutta, where Elizabeth's beauty and charm earned her many admirers. Contemporary descriptions emphasized her glossy black hair, roses and cream complexion and huge eyes. They were a remarkable shade of blue and unusually expressive sparkling, flashing or tender according to her mood.
Too pretty and too fond of the limelight to settle for life on an isolated army post, when James was transferred, she left him and returned to England with 1000 from her indulgent stepfather. |
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On the voyage home, she had a brief affair with disastrous consequences. Her husband sued her for divorce; they were granted a separation that forbade either party to remarry while the other lived. Since she had spent all her money and a ruined woman in London had few career options in 1842, she decided to become a dancer and headed for Spain to learn the boleros and fandangos so fashionable at the time.
She left England as Elizabeth Gilbert James. When she returned several months later, she was Maria Dolores de Porrisy Montez, the proud daughter of a noble, impoverished Spanish family. She even spoke with a slight Spanish accent. Billed as Lola Montez, she made her debut at London's Theatre Royale on June 3, 1843. Most critics agreed that she wasn't much of a dancer, but they were captivated by her beauty, grace and verve; still others were shocked by her provocative sensuality and the enticing flashes of leg revealed by her swirling skirts. Audiences were enthusiastic until the night a voice called out, Lola Montez? That's Betty James! She was promptly fired and fled from London.
While performing on the continent, Lola managed to outrage the authorities of several nations with her scandalous behavior, onstage and off. She smoked cigarettes in public; she often carried a pistol, dagger or whip and frequently threatened to use it on anyone who set off her hair-trigger temper.
Unceremoniously deported from Warsaw, Berlin and Baden-Baden, she arrived in Dresden in 1844. There she met and fell in love with Franz Liszt, the Hungarian composer and pianist. Their tempestuous affair, marked with bitter quarrels and tender reconciliation, ended abruptly when Liszt sneaked out of their Hotel room in the middle of the night, leaving money for the furniture he knew she would break.
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Thanks to Liszt, she now moved in Europe's highest artistic circles. Balzac and Dumas were among her friends; her next lover was a handsome, wealthy Parisian journalist, Alexandre Dujarier. The two planned to marry, but before the ceremony could take place, Dujarier traded insults with a fellow journalist and was challenged to a duel. Although he was a poor shot, he felt honor bound to fight. Unwilling to worry Lola, he tiptoed out of their house at dawn, leaving a passionate farewell note. By 11am he was dead.
In need of a new protector, the raven-haired siren found a minor German prince with a major name: Prince Heinrich LXXII of Reuss. It didn't take Lola long to get bored with him and embark on her greatest adventure - her reign as the uncrowned queen of Bavaria.
Bavaria was then a separate kingdom with Munich as its Capital. Its sovereign, Ludwig I, always had an eye for pretty women, but his infatuation with Lola was literally uncontrollable. In less than two years, he spent the equivalent of million dollars on her. Bavarians merely grumbled when he made her Countess of Landsfeld, but when Lola began meddling in politics, students rioted and smashed her windows. Lola coolly picked up the stones and threw them back at the crowd. |
The king, however, was so angry he closed the university. The burghers decided they'd finally had enough. They marched on the palace and Ludwig was forced to abdicate. Lola hastily departed from Bavaria with only her memories and the promise of a pension from the still-besotted former monarch.
Either the payments were slow or Lola needed more security; once settled in London, she conveniently forgot the terms of her divorce and married a rich, dull young man named Gerald Trafford Healed. He was 21, she was almost 30. Less than three weeks later, she was arrested and charged with bigamy. Released on bail, she and Heald fled England. The ill-matched couple fought frequently. Within months they separated and Lola sailed for America, arriving in New York in December 1851.
By now, everyone had heard about the adventuress who cost a king his crown. Newspapers and moralists denounced her. The Times called her a shameless and abandoned woman but Americans flocked to see the notorious Lola, who now added acting to her list of accomplishments. Among the plays in which she appeared, the most peculiar was surely Lola Montez in Bavaria. Lola played herself in a highly sanitized account in which the King was like a father to her; their relationship was pure and platonic and his abdication was engineered by jealous aristocrats and enemies of freedom. She made a fortune touring the east, spent it all then headed for California.
San Francisco during the Gold Rush was Lola's kind of town. The performances that scandalized more genteel patrons delighted the miners- especially her famous spider dance
In 1853 she married a hard drinking newspaperman Patrick Hull. They settled in the small California town of Grass Valley, ranched and hunted for gold. When the money ran out, Lola accepted an offer to tour Australia. Hull was left behind, yet another matrimonial casualty.
Australian reviewers were not always kind. During the tour Lola took up with Frederick Folland, the leading man in her troupe. On the return trip, after a quarrel, a drunken Folland jumped and fell from the ship. Deeply shaken, Lola returned to New York a changed woman. She suddenly turned to evangelical religion and became extremely devout.
She gave up the stage for the lecture platform and for the rest of her life spoke to audiences on topics that ranged from slavery and feminism (which she was opposed to), to beauty (it came she said from within).
The story that Lola ended her days in abject poverty is pure legend though it was doubtless the fate that many disapproving Victorians felt she deserved. In fact, her lectures and book called "The Arts of Beauty" were quite successful. She lived very simply during her last years only because she gave most of her earnings away, much of it to religious charities for wayward girls.
After suffering a stroke, she died in January 1861, as a friend read to her from the Bible. Only 11 mourners attended the funeral of the woman whose antics were once reported around the world.