drosera-nepenthes:Ludwig I was in the habit of receiving all the foreign actors and actresses in aud
drosera-nepenthes:Ludwig I was in the habit of receiving all the foreign actors and actresses in audience before they played their parts as visitors at the Court Theatre; and had duly received Lola Montez before her appearance. Her beauty and her interesting conversation entirely captivated the no longer youthful man. He enjoyed her Spanish reminiscences, and her lessons in the Spanish language, which she contrived to weave into her conversation with him. The witty dancer read Calderon’s works aloud to the King, and her rendering was exceedingly dramatic. Her royal patron fell violently in love with her, and was never failing in his attendance at her evening parties, annoying his people and his family by his intimacy with her. The rumours of the power which she had acquired over the King incensed his subjects in the highest degree. A feverish disquiet took possession of the population. The fascinating dancer drew upon herself the hatred of nearly the whole of the Bavarian people. Her behaviour in Munich was as thoughtless as it had already been in other towns.The following year she went to Wurtzburg with the King, and compared herself in the same challenging manner as heretofore in the capital. She walked about with her riding-whip in hand, and was not slow to use it when something or somebody aroused the choleric lady’s ire.In order to annoy her enemies, and to procure herself admittance to the most exclusive circles, she induced the King to make her a countess. He could not, however, create her a peeress out of hand, but was obliged to lay her demand before his Ministers. The latter hesitated to take part in the ennoblement, putting forward their reasons in a memorandum in which they expressed the hope that Lola might be banished from Bavaria. The King responded to their proposal not only by dismissing the entire Ministry, but also a large number of their adherents, among them several professors. -- source link