Today is the birthday, in 1821, of Eliza Rosanna Gilbert, better known by the stage name Lola Montez. Shewas an Irish dancer and actress who became famous as a Spanish dancer, courtesan, and mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, who made her Gräfin (Countess) von Landsfeld.
She was born in Limerick into an Anglo-Irish family, the daughter of Ensign Edward Gilbert and Elizabeth (“Eliza”) Oliver. The family resided at King House in Boyle until early 1823, when they journeyed to Liverpool, England, and later departed for India on 14 March. Shortly after their arrival in India, Edward Gilbert died of cholera. Her mother, who was then 19, married Lieutenant Patrick Craigie the next year. Craigie quickly came to care for the young Eliza, but her spoiled and half-wild ways concerned him greatly. Eventually, it was agreed she would be sent back to Britain to attend school, staying with Craigie’s father in Montrose, Scotland. But the “queer, wayward little Indian girl” rapidly became known as a mischief-maker. On one occasion, she stuck flowers into the wig of an elderly man during a church service; on another, she ran through the streets naked.
In 1837, 16-year-old Eliza eloped with Lieutenant Thomas James. The couple separated five years later, in Calcutta, India, and she became a professional dancer under a stage name. When she had her London debut as “Lola Montez, the Spanish dancer” in June 1843, she was recognized as “Mrs. James”. The resulting notoriety hampered her career in England, so she departed for the continent, where she had success in Paris and Warsaw.
She met and had an affair with Franz Liszt, who introduced her to the circle of George Sand. After performing in various European capitals, she settled in Paris, where she was accepted into the city’s literary bohemia, becoming acquainted with Alexandre Dumas, with whom she was also rumored to have had a dalliance.
In 1846, Montez arrived in Munich, where she was discovered by and became the mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. When they first met, Ludwig asked her in public if her breasts were real. Her response to the question was to tear off enough of her garments to prove that they were. She soon began to use her influence on the king and this, coupled with her arrogant manner and outbursts of temper, made her extremely unpopular with the Bavarian people (particularly after documents were made public showing that she was hoping to become a naturalized Bavarian subject and be elevated to nobility). Despite opposition, Ludwig made her Countess of Landsfeld and Baroness of Rosenthal on his next birthday, 25 August 1847, and along with her title, he granted her a large annuity.
n March 1848, under pressure from a growing revolutionary movement, Ludwig abdicated in favor of his son, King Maximilian II, and Montez fled Bavaria, ending her career as a power behind the throne. After a sojourn in Switzerland, Montez made a brief excursion to France and then removed to London in late 1848. There she met and quickly married George Trafford Heald, a young army cornet (cavalry officer) with a recent inheritance. But the terms of her divorce from Thomas James did not permit either spouse’s remarriage while the other was living, and the beleaguered newlyweds were forced to flee the country to escape a bigamy action. George survived a reported drowning in Lisbon in 1853, but died three years later from tuberculosis. Meanwhile, in 1851 Montez set off to make a new start in the United States, where she was surprisingly successful at first in rehabilitating her image.
From 1851 to 1853, Montez performed as a dancer and actress in the eastern United States, one of her offerings being a play called Lola Montez in Bavaria. In May 1853, she arrived in San Francisco, where her performances created a sensation and inspired a popular satire, Who’s Got the Countess? She married Patrick Hull, a local newspaperman. Her marriage soon failed; a doctor named as co-respondent in the divorce suit brought against her was murdered shortly thereafter.
In June 1855, Montez left the U.S. to tour Australia and resume her career by entertaining miners at the gold diggings. She arrived in Sydney on 16 August 1855. In September 1855 she performed her erotic Spider Dance at the Theatre Royal in Melbourne, raising her skirts so high that the audience could see she wore no underclothing at all. Montez earned further notoriety in Ballarat when, after reading a bad review of her performance in The Ballarat Times, she attacked the editor, Henry Seekamp, with a whip.
She departed for San Francisco on 22 May 1856. On the return voyage her manager and purported lover was lost at sea after going overboard. She found some success as a writer, beginning with the publication of her letters, which were well-received enough for her to write and publish The Arts of Beauty, or Secrets of a Lady’s Toilet, with Hints to Gentlemen on the Art of Fascinating. She spent her last days in rescue work among women, which included working with women who had been prostitutes but were trying to leave the profession.
she died of syphilis at age 39 on 17 January 1861 and is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, where her tombstone erroneously lists her age at death as 42, reading “Mrs. Eliza Gilbert | Died 17 January 1861.
Portrait of Lola Montez (1847), painted by Joseph Karl Stieler for Ludwig I of Bavaria
Leftover V-Day stuff…
Today is the birthday, in 1991, of Ed Sheeran, British singer, songwriter. In 2012, he won two BRIT Awards for Best British Male Solo Artist, and British Breakthrough of the Year, while ‘The A Team’ also won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. Also won Best Song of the Year at the 2016 Grammys for ‘Thinking Out Loud’. Sheeran has sold more than 150 million records worldwide, making him one of the world’s best-selling music artists, two of his albums are in the list of the best-selling albums in UK chart history. As of April 2022, he is the most followed artist on Spotify. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp-EO5I60KA
