Lola, known for her great beauty and powers of badinage, was born in Limerick to an Irish father and a Spanish Creole mother. She met the famous diplomatist, Lord Malmesbury, in Southampton while pretending to be the widow of a Spanish officer killed by the Carlists. In reality, she was married to an English officer living in India. Nevertheless, she managed to deceive Lord Malmesbury and went on to perform on the stage.

At the Paris Opera, she nearly caused a riot by throwing one of her slippers at the audience from the stage. Her wanderings eventually led her to Munich, where King Ludwig I of Bavaria was a patron of the poets and artists of Europe. He was also an ardent admirer of beauty and, whenever any beautiful lady arrived in Munich, he would send his court painter to request permission to paint her. These paintings were placed in a gallery in the royal castle, where the King would sit daily to gain inspiration for his poetry. Lola was the last woman he painted.

Her influence over Ludwig I caused a revolution, leading her to flee Munich. She married again to an officer in the Guards, was charged with bigamy, “jumped her bail” at Marlborough Street, and went to America. There, she married a San Francisco editor, left him, and died in 1861 in New York, in the odor of sanctity.

Western Times – Wednesday 05 February 1902