Lola Montez, Countess of Landsfeld
Painting by Joseph Karl Stieler, neoclassical portrait, 1847
Eliza Rosanna Gilbert, Countess of Landsfeld, better known as Lola Montez, (17.02.1821-17.01.1861) was the daughter of Elizabeth Oliver and Ensign Edward Gilbert. She was born in Grange, County Sligo in Ireland and grew up in India. After her mother remarried (Eliza's father died of cholera), she was sent back to Britain to go to school. She was known to be a mischief-maker.
She eloped and married a man named Lt. Thomas James at age 16. They separated five years later. Her career as a dancer started in 1844 in Paris when she was 23 years old. There she had an affair with Franz Liszt and after being accepted into the city's Bohemian cirle, she had caused some stirs, which resulted in a duel and a man's death.
In 1846 she travelled to Munich, and was quickly accepted as Ludwig I. of Bavaria's mistress. She was extremely unpopular with the Bavarian people because of her control over the kKing, her arrogance and her Temper. It also didn't help that Ludwig made her a Bavarian citizen (giving her the Title of Countess of Landsfeld). Due to all of this, King Ludwig I. abdicated in favor of his son and Lola fled Bavaria.
She spent her next few years remarrying another man, which resulted in her having to flee Britain due to a bigamy charge. She then travelled around Spain and France, finally deciding to make a new start in the United States of America. Her career was successful there and so was a tour of Australia.
When she returned to America, she spent her last days rescuing 'fallen' women. She dies in 1861 due to tertiary syphillis. She is still known to have been a cigarette-smoking, whip-wielding wild woman. Volbeat (a rock band) have recorded a song about her.















