Three Royal Mistresses

Lives and Fate of Alice Keppel, Lola Montez and Madame du Barry

Feb 13, 2009 Inka Piegsa-Quischotte

Trying to find out if king's concubines have more in common than their good looks and entertainment abilities.

In recent years, the name of Alice Keppel has caught public attention, because she is the great grandmother of another royal mistress, now made an 'honest woman' by her marriage to the Prince of Wales, Camilla Parker-Bowles.

Alice Keppel, the Respected Social Climber

Alice Keppel, born Edmonstone, was the most famous of the many mistresses of 'Bertie', the later King Edward VII of England. Born in 1869, she married George Keppel, Earl of Albemarle, a military man, in 1891. It seems, that from an early stage in her marriage onwards, Alice had several affairs with prominent men. What may surprise today is, that adultery committed by the upper classes and in her time, was a quite common and accepted behaviour, provided the parties involved were 'discreet'.

It has been said, that Alice Keppel has turned adultery into a fine art form. In any event, her husband was fully aware of what was going on and seemed to have consented to his wife's extramarital affairs, which were conducted purely for the purpose of social climbing.

Edward, Queen Victoria's eldest son, had to wait a long, long time before he became king. It's easy to imagine, that he was frustrated and given to mood swings as well as a playboy conduct. Mrs. Keppel seems to have had a unique gift of smoothing his moodiness over and was highly respected for that ability. Their long lasting affair, in full view of the public eye and with the knowledge of Queen Alix, his wife, and, of course of Mr. Keppel, only ended with Edward's death of bronchitis in 1910. Alice survived him by many years until her own death in 1947.

Lola Montez, the Globe Trotting Mistress

Lola Montez, born as Eliza Rosanna Gilbert in Ireland in 1821, gained her notoriety as the official mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. Before and after her stint in that elevated position, her life was nothing short of change and excitement. At age three, she and her parents moved to India, where her father died shortly afterwards. Eliza reportedly was a wild child, given to temper tantrums and stubbornness. She was sent back to England for her education.

She married Thomas James, but they separted five years later in Calcutta. Eliza turned into 'Lola Montez, the Spanish Dancer' and began her professional career. Her success in London was short-lived because she was branded an impostor because of her choce of name. She left London and moved to Paris where she quickly associated with the Bohemian literary circle of George Sand, Alexandre Dumas and Franz Liszt. She also began dating wealthy men and after the death of one of her lovers, moved to Munich.

Her new career as royal mistress began when she met King Ludwig. However, her arrogance, intentions to meddle in politics and bad temper made her unpopular and ultimately reflected badly upon the king, who was forced to abdicate in 1848. After her royal protection was gone, Lola resumed her dancing career in Switzerland, London, Paris and finally moved to California, where she made an astonishing come back.

She went on a tour of Australia to entertain miners, where her famous 'Spider dance' caused a scandal. After her return to America, she settled in New York, but her career as a dancer and courtisan was over. In ill health and empoverished, she spent her final years supported by a priest, until her death in 1861.

Madame du Barry's Bad End

Marie-Jeanette Becu, born in 1743, can be considered as the epitome of the classical courtisan. From a poor family, she moved to Paris to work as a seamstress and hairdresser's assistant, until she met Jean du Barry. She was reportedly a vivacious, very pretty blonde and Jean was the owner of a high class brothel. Through him, she made the acquaintance of wealthy and influential men and not long after, caught the eye of King Louis XV of France. He was mourning the death of his long term mistress Madame Pompadour and quickly elevated Jeanette to the prestigious status of official mistress. Although she never gained the political influence of her predecessor, she entertained the king who in turn spent lavishly on her. Her clothes and jewels and the luxury surrounding her person displeased the people. After his death, she made several trips to London and was accused of financially supporting refugees from the French Revolution. The suspicions were enough for her to be arrested, tried and executed by the guillotine in 1793.

All three mistresses were undoubtedly beautiful. Apart from that, they all must have had a desire for power, a ruthless character and a total disregard for morals and public opinion. On the positive side, it certainly takes a lot of patience and diplomacy to navigate the delicate position of royal mistress.

The copyright of the article Three Royal Mistresses in Historical Biographies is owned by Inka Piegsa-Quischotte. Permission to republish Three Royal Mistresses in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Alice Keppel