From Henry VIII To Lola Montez

by A G Mogan

  Lola Montez & Ludwig Of Bavaria

  Lola Montez! The name suggests beautiful eyes, rich hair, and a supple body. The name conjures an image of Spanish beauty and Lola Montez deserved that image.

  She may not have been entirely Spanish, but the elements of her personality, as well as her unpredictable nature heightened her Castilian traits. Her mother was a Spaniard—partly Moorish, and her father was an Irishman. She carried the dreamy romance of Spain, the exotic touch of the Orient, and the daring, high-spiritedness of the Celt.

  Throughout her forty-three years, she had numerous adventures and was widely known in both Europe and America; she actually caused one king to lose his throne. Her maiden name was Marie Dolores Eliza Rosanna Gilbert. Her father was a British officer, the son of an Irish knight, Sir Edward Gilbert. Her mother had been a ballet dancer named Lola Oliver. "Lola" is a smaller form of Dolores, and the world knew her as "Lola.”

  She lived at one time or another in nearly all the countries of Europe, as well as in India, America, and Australia. It would be impossible to set down here all the feelings she achieved, so we will talk about the height of her career and show how she was able to overturn a kingdom, with just a passing mention to her earlier years.

  She was born in Limerick in 1818, but her father's parents cast off their son and his young wife, the Spanish dancer. They went to India, and in 1825 the father died, leaving his young widow without a rupee to her name. She quickly remarried, but this time she married an officer of importance.

  The former dancer became a very traditional person, which meant that she was perfectly suited to her very conventional husband. However, her daughter did not take kindly to the decencies of life. The Hindu servants taught her more things than she should have known and at one time her stepfather found her performing the danse du ventre. It was the Moorish strain inherited from her mother.

  Her parents decided to send her back to Europe and she was educated in Scotland and England. It was when Paris where she engaged in a flirtation with her music-master. At the young age of fifteen, her stepfather, still in India, had arranged a marriage for her to an old judge. She was told of this by one of her many admirers..

  "What on earth am I to do?" asked little Lola, most innocently.

  "Why, marry me," said the crafty adviser, who was Captain Thomas James. On the very next day, they fled to Dublin and were married at Meath.

  Lola's husband was fiercely in love with her, but unfortunately, others were quite susceptible to her charms. Once she was presented at the vice-regal court, everyone there fell victim to her charms. Even the viceroy, Lord Normanby, was quite taken with her. Lord Normanby’s was so high ranking that Captain James could not object to his attentions, though they made him very angry. The viceroy would draw her into nooks and flatter her in conversation, while James could only brood in jealousy. His only alternative was to take her into the country, where she quickly became bored; and that boredom was the death of their love.

  Later, traveled to India with Captain James. She endured her time in Afghanistan, mainly because she thoroughly enjoyed the attentions of the officers. When she returned to London in 1842, there was a Captain Lennox who was a fellow passenger and their relationship resulted in a divorce. She was happy that the divorce freed her from her husband, but she was still not able to marry Lennox. In any case, his family would not have approved of their union.

  Mrs. Mayne says, in writing on this point:

  “Even Lola never quite succeeded in being allowed to commit bigamy unmolested, though in later years she did commit it and took refuge in Spain to escape punishment.”

  The same writer has given a vivid picture of what happened soon after the divorce. Lola tried to forget her past and to create a new and brighter future. Here is the narrative:

  “Her Majesty's Theater was crowded on the night of June 10,1843. A new Spanish dancer was announced—"Dona Lola Montez."

  It was her debut, and Lumley, the manager, had been puffing her beforehand, as he alone knew how. To Lord Ranelagh, the leader of the dilettante group of fashionable young men, he had whispered, mysteriously:

  "I have a surprise in store. You shall see."

  So Ranelagh and a party of his friends filled the omnibus boxes, those tribunes at the side of the stage whence success or failure was prominent. Lumley’s flawless art had ended and the audience was murmuring with excitement. One report called her a raving beauty—and then, those intoxicating Spanish dances! Taglioni, Cerito, Fanny Elssler, all were to be overshadowed.

  From the moment that he knew her entrance was forthcoming, Ranelagh could not take his eyes off the stage. Others in the audience expressed their appreciation, but Ranelagh made no sign. And then she began to dance. There may have been a sense of disappointment at the fact that she was not a dancer. But she was very lovely, very graceful, "like a flower swept by the wind, she floated round the stage.” She may not have been a dancer, but, by George, she was a beauty! And still Ranelagh gave no indication.

  But all of a sudden there was a confusing and angry sound coming from the tribunal. He turned to his friends in anger with his opera-glass in hand. And now again the terrible "Hiss-s-s!" taken up by the other box, and the words were repeated loudly and more angrily even than before—the historic words which sealed Lola's doom at Her Majesty's Theater: "WHY, IT'S BETTY JAMES!"

  She was, indeed, Betty James, and London would not accept her as Lola Montez. After that incident, she left England and appeared upon the Continent as a beautiful vixen, making a sensation—as the French would say, a succes de scandale—by fighting the ears of people who offended her. There was even one instance of horsewhipping a policeman who was in attendance on the King of Prussia. In Paris, she tried once again to be a dancer, but Paris would not have her either. She then traveled to Dresden and Warsaw, where she tried to attract attention with her quirks, making witty quips to the spectators, flinging her garters in their faces, and one time removing her skirts and still more necessary garments, at which point her manager broke off his engagement with her.

  There was an English writer who had heard a lot about her and who saw her quite often who wrote that the only noticeable of her were "her beauty and her impudence." Even though she did not have the talent or grace that other women had, she was still considered beautiful and men raved about her. There was a young journalist by the name of Dujarrier, who was her lover in Paris. He was killed in a duel and left Lola twenty thousand francs and some securities, so that she no longer had to sing in the streets as she did in Warsaw.

  After the death of Dujarrier, she traveled to Munich, the capital of Bavaria. At this time, Germany was governed by Ludwig I, a king as eccentric as Lola herself. He was a curious combination of kindliness, idealism, and abnormal ways. For example, he refused use of his carriage, even on state occasions. He skulked around the streets, knocking off the hats of those whom he chanced to meet. Like his descendant, Ludwig II, he wrote poetry and he had a picture-gallery devoted to portraits of the beautiful women whom he had met.

  He dressed like an English fox-hunter, with a most extraordinary hat, and he was pleased with the eccentricities of others because he had his fair share of eccentricities himself. Therefore, when Lola first appeared at the Court Theater, he was instantly enchanted. He summoned her at once to the palace, and within five days he presented her to the court, saying as he did so:

  "Meine Herren, I present you to my best friend."

  In less than a month, this monarch had granted Lola the title of Countess of Landsfeld. He provided her with a house and a pension of twenty thousand florins. This was in 1847. Lola was quite unpopular with the citizens of Munich; they accepted the eccentricities of the king as they amused them and did not hurt the country. However, this woman enraged the people of Munich, mainly because she did not have any of the softness that they expected women to have. They were disgusted by her swearing, her readiness to box the ears of every one whom she disliked and the huge bulldog whi
ch accompanied her everywhere.

  In addition to interfering with the politics of the kingdom, she was rude to the queen. Either of these things on their own would have been reason enough for the people to dislike her, but when you combined the two, the people did not feel they could endure it. Finally, the countess attempted to establish a new corps in the university. This was the last straw. A student who dared to wear her colors was beaten and arrested. Lola came to his aid with all her accustomed boldness, but nevertheless, the city was in an uproar.

  Lola was manhandled and insulted; the king rushed to protect her, and he led her to the safety of the palace. After entering the gate, she turned and fired a pistol into the mob. No one was hurt, but this further enraged the people. The king decided to issue a command closing the university for a year. However, this decision came too late as a mob had already gathered in Munich and the people of Bavaria demanded that she leave the country.

  Ludwig faced the chamber of peers and the demands of the public.

  "I would rather lose my crown!" he replied.

  In that instant, he was able to see how determined the people were and the lords of Bavaria were silent upon his words. On the following day, two royal decrees were issues: one that rescinded Lola's rights as a subject of Bavaria and another that ordered her to be expelled. The joyful mob burned her house and Ludwig could only watch the uproar from afar.

  Ludwig still loved Lola and he tried his best to keep her in the kingdom, but unfortunately, he was forced to abdicate his throne as a result. He had sacrificed his throne for Lola’s love, but she refused to have anything more to do with him and Ludwig was forced to give place to his son Maximilian. Ludwig had lost a kingdom merely because this beautiful woman had interested him and made him think that she was exceptional among women.

  As for Lola, she had an adventurous career after her time with Ludwig. She entered into a bigamous marriage with a young officer in England and within two weeks, they fled to Spain for safety from the law. Her husband was drowned, and she married yet again. She visited Australia, and at Melbourne she fought with a sturdy woman, who clawed her face until Lola fell fainting to the ground. Hers is a filthy record of horse-whippings and face-scratchings.

  At the end of her days, she was simply known as Becky Sharp. In America, she delivered lectures on the art of beauty that were written for her by a clergyman. She was successful for a time, but soon became quite poor and she decided to devote herself to spirituality, professing to be a sort of piteous, repenting Magdalen. Her beautiful dark hair and paleness made her a great sort of person for that role. However, the violence of her temperament had exhausted her body and she died of paralysis in Astoria, on Long Island, in 1861. Upon her grave in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, there is a tablet to her memory, bearing the inscription: "Mrs. Eliza Gilbert, born 1818, died 1861."

  What is there to say of a women like Lola? She had no morals and outrageous manners. She acted as a she-wolf when it came to love. There were fourteen biographies written of her, including her autobiography, which was called The Story of a Penitent, and which tells less about her than any of the other books. Her beauty was undeniable. Her courage was the blended courage of the Celt, the Spaniard, and the Moor. Yet all that one can say of her was said by the elder Dumas when he declared that she was born to be the evil genius of every one who cared for her. Her greatest fame comes from the fact that in less than three years time, she overturned a kingdom and lost a king his throne.

  * * *

  References

  - Bowle, John (1964). Henry VIII: a Study of Power in Action. Little, Brown and Company

  - Erickson, Carolly (1984). Mistress Anne: the Exceptional Life of Anne Boleyn

  - Cressy, David (1982). "Spectacle and Power: Apollo and Solomon at the Court of Henry VIII". History Today

  - Cochran, Peter (2011). Byron and Italy. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars

  - Crompton, Louis (1985). Byron and Greek Love: Homophobia in 19th Century England. University of California Press

  - Dallas, Alexander Robert Charles (1824). Recollections of the life of Lord Byron, from the year 1808 to the end of 1814. London: Charles Knight

  - Potocka-Wąsowiczowa, Anna 'Memoirs of a witness.' Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, Warsaw 1965

  - Brandys, Marian 'The troubles with Lady Walewska' Iskry, Warsaw 1971

  - Kukiel, Marian 'The fairytale life of Maria Walewska', Warsaw 1939

  - McLellan, David (2006). Karl Marx: A Biography (fourth edition). Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan

  - Nicolaievsky, Boris; Maenchen-Helfen, Otto (1976) [1936]. Karl Marx: Man and Fighter. trans. Gwenda David and Eric Mosbacher. Harmondsworth and New York: Pelican

  - Schwarzschild, Leopold (1986) [1948]. The Red Prussian: Life and Legend of Karl Marx. Pickwick Books Ltd.

  - Weintraub, Stanley (1997) Albert: Uncrowned King, London: John Murray

  - Woodham-Smith, Cecil (1972) Queen Victoria: Her Life and Times 1819–1861, London: Hamish Hamilton

  - Marshall, Dorothy (1972) The Life and Times of Queen Victoria, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson

  - Fraser, Flora: Venus of Empire: The Life of Pauline Bonaparte, John Murray, 2009, London

  - Carlton, W.N.C.: Pauline: Favourite Sister of Napoleon, Thornton Butterworth, 1931, London

  - Dixon, Pierson (1958). The Glittering Horn: Secret Memoirs of the Court of Justinian.- Windsor, The Duke of (1951). A King's Story. London: Cassell and Co.

  - Herman, Eleanor (2006). Sex with the Queen. New York: Harper Perennial

  - de Saint-Amand, Imbert (2010). The Happy Days of the Empress Marie Louise. Miami: HardPress Publishing

  - Geer, Walter (1925). Napoleon and Marie-Louise: Fall of Empire. New York: Brentano's

  - Foulkes, Nick (2003). Scandalous Society. Passion and Celebrity in the Nineteenth Century (London: Abacus, 2004).

  - James, Marquis. The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston; University of Texas Press

  - Nord, Philip G. (1995), The Republican Moment: Struggles for Democracy in Nineteenth-century France, Harvard University Press

  - Seymour, Bruce Lola Montez, a Life, Yale University Press, 1996

  - Burr, C. Chauncey, Autobiography and lectures of Lola Montez, James Blackwood, London (1860)

  Also by A. G. Mogan

  Historical/Biographical Fiction

  The Secret Journals of Adolf Hitler

  The Anointed - Volume 1

  The Struggle - Volume 2

  Nonfiction

  Love on Triple W: A Heartbreaking True Story About Love, Betrayal, and Survival

  Humorous History: An Illustrated Collection of Wit and Irony from the Past

  Mind Over Truth: An Annotated Collection of Interviews with Hitler's Closest Associates

  From Cleopatra to Hugo: History’s Most Legendary Love Affairs (Book 1)

  Thank you!

  Thank you for purchasing this book. If you enjoyed reading it, please spare a moment to review it. That helps me tremendously.

  Thank you!

  About the Author

  A. G. Mogan writes both fiction and creative non-fiction. She has always loved history and the personalities that were born of bygone eras. Her interest for the world and its people fueled her passion for human analytics. She’s used her knowledge to analyze people and their behavior throughout her adult career, including using her in-depth research to craft poignant biographical novels that readers eagerly devour.

  When not studying great historical figures or long-lost stories from the past, she can be found at her home in Europe, enjoying the spoils of a wonderfully ordinary family life.

  For future releases and promotions please visit the author’s website at

  www.AGMogan.com

 

 

 
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