Everything about Lola Montez totally explained
Elizabeth Rosanna Gilbert (
February 17,
1821 –
January 17,
1861), better known by the stage name
Lola Montez, was an
Irish-born dancer and actress who became famous as a Spanish dancer,
courtesan and
mistress of King
Ludwig I of Bavaria.
Early life
Like many other aspects of her life, discrepant reports of her birth have been published. She was born in
Grange,
County Sligo in
1821, but
Encyclopædia Britannica inaccurately claims that she was born in
Limerick, Ireland in 1818. She was baptised at St Peter’s Church in Liverpool on
16 February 1823.
Lola's mother was Eliza Oliver, an illegitimate daughter of Charles Silver Oliver, of
Castle Oliver in County Limerick, Ireland. Lola's mother was 15 when she gave birth to her, a year after she married Lola's father, Ensign Edward Gilbert of the 25th Regiment.
In 1823 the Gilberts moved to
India, where Edward's regiment had been dispatched. But, shortly after arrival, he died of
cholera. Her mother, who was now 19, married another officer, Lieutenant Patrick Craigie, the following year. Craigie quickly came to care for Lola, but her spoilt and half-wild ways concerned him greatly.
Eventually, it was agreed she'd be sent back to
Britain to attend school, staying with Craigie's father in
Montrose,
Scotland, at first. But the "queer, wayward little Indian girl" quickly 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.
At the age of 10, Lola was moved on again – this time to
Sunderland. When her stepfather's older sister, Catherine Rae, set up a boarding school in Monkwearmouth with her husband, Lola joined them to continue her education.
Lola obviously made an impression on her teachers, as a Mr Grant, who taught art at the little school, was later to recall her as "an elegant and graceful child." He described her as having eyes of "excessive beauty", an "orientally dark" complexion and an air of "haughty ease". But he also revealed: "The violence and obstinacy of her temper gave too frequent cause of painful anxiety to her good kind aunt."
Lola's determination and temper were to become her trademarks. After all, whatever Lola wanted, Lola got.The little girl's stay in
Sunderland lasted only a year, as she was then transferred to
Bath for a more "sophisticated" education.
In 1837 sixteen-year-old Eliza eloped with Lieutenant Thomas James. The couple separated five years later, in
Calcutta, and Eliza became a professional dancer under a stage name. Her London debut as "Lola Montez, the Spanish dancer" in June 1843 was successful, but she'd been recognized as Mrs. James and a scandal arose over the imposture. The resulting notoriety hampered her career in England and she departed for the Continent, where she became famous more for her beauty and quick temper than for her dancing. At this time she was almost certainly accepting favours from a few wealthy men, and was regarded by many as a courtesan.
Life as a courtesan
She met and had an affair with
Franz Liszt, who introduced her to the circle of
George Sand, which was one of the most sophisticated and advanced in European society. (source: Langer) After performing in various European capitals, she settled in Paris, where she was accepted in the rather Bohemian literary society of the time, being acquainted with
Alexandre Dumas, père, with whom she was rumoured to have had a dalliance. After the 1845 death of her lover, newspaperman Alexandre Dujarier, in a duel (unrelated to her), Paris lost much of its charm for Lola, and she departed in search of greener pastures.
In
1846, she arrived in
Munich, where she was discovered by, and became the mistress of,
Ludwig I of Bavaria. She soon began to use her influence on the king and this, coupled with her arrogant manner and outbursts of temper, made her unpopular with the local population, particularly after documents showing that she was hoping to become a naturalized Bavarian citizen and be elevated to the nobility were made public. Despite the opposition, Ludwig made her Countess of Landsfeld on his next birthday,
August 25,
1847. The entertaining rumour that at the time they met Ludwig had asked her in public if her bosom was real, to which her response was to tear off enough of her garments and prove it's entirely unfounded, and the story only first appeared many decades after Lola's death. It seems likely that Ludwig's relationship with her contributed greatly to the fall from grace of the previously popular king. In 1848 under pressure from a growing revolutionary movement Ludwig abdicated, and Lola fled
Bavaria, her career as a power behind the throne at an end. At
Castlemaine in April 1856, she was “rapturously encored” after her Spider Dance in front of 400 diggers (including members of the Municipal Council who had adjourned their meeting early to attend the performance), but drew the wrath of the audience by insulting them following some mild heckling.
She had earned further notoriety in
Ballarat when after reading a bad review in
The Ballarat Times she attacked the editor,
Henry Seekamp with a whip. The "Lola Montes Polka" composed by
Albert Denning was later rumoured to have been inspired by this event, but as the song was published in 1855 and the incident with Seekamp occurred months later in February 1856 this is scarcely probable. She departed for San Francisco on
May 22,
1856, having had her fill of the turbulent Antipodes. She later engaged in lecture tours and finally moved to
New York, where she lived out her last days.
Later life
On
June 30,
1860, she suffered a stroke and was partially paralyzed for some time. In mid-December she'd recovered enough to walk with a slight limp and went out for a stroll in the cold weather. Her life as a courtesan was over, and her money was by now gone. Lola began to seek out the word of
God. In her dying days, she was cared for by a priest - though she reportedly determined first that he wasn't a
Jesuit, having many bad memories of that order- not least from some of those who had held key posts at Ludwig's court.
She contracted
pneumonia, lingering for nearly a month before dying one month short of her fortieth birthday. She is buried in
Green-Wood Cemetery, in
Brooklyn, New York where her age tombstone states: "Mrs. Eliza Gilbert / Died Jan. 17, 1861;" it also reads that she was 42 at time of death.
Lola Montez in fiction
Montez was portrayed by
Martine Carol in the 1955 film
Lola Montès directed by
Max Ophüls and co-starring
Peter Ustinov and
Oskar Werner.
Montez also appears in
Royal Flash by George MacDonald Fraser, where she's a brief affair with
Harry Flashman. She is also a character in
the film of the same name, in which she's played by
Florinda Bolkan.
Montez is featured prominently in the final installment
(Spider Dance) of the
Irene Adler mystery series by Carole Nelson Douglas. Montez is rumored to be the title character's mother.
She has been portrayed by Carmen D'Antonio in
Golden Girl (1951), Sheila Darcy in
Wells Fargo (1937),
Yvonne De Carlo in
Black Bart (1948), and
Rita Moreno in an episode of the 1950's TV show
Tales of Wells Fargo.
In one of
J.B. Priestley's last fictional works, The Pavilion of Masks, she's unmistakably the original for Cleo Torres, Spanish dancer and mistress of a German prince.
Montez was allegedly the inspiration for
Jennifer Wilde's
1978 historical romance novel "Dare To Love," whose protagonist Elena Lopez is also an Englishwoman passing herself off as Spanish who becomes an exotic dancer. In the book Elena has an affair with
Franz Liszt, becomes friends with
George Sand and has a friendship with the king of a small Germanic country obviously based on
Ludwig I of Bavaria, then moves to California, all documented as having happened in Montez's life.
Trivia
New International Encyclopedia identifies her as being
Maria Dolores Eliza Rosanna Gilbert (?1818-1861), an adventuress. Her writings comprise
The Arts of Beauty and
Lectures (1858), the latter containing an autobiography.
Lola Montez has a lake named after her in the Tahoe National forest in Nevada County. Take I-80 west (east?) from Sacramento and exit at the Cisco Grove exit.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Lola Montez'.
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