Jane Digby

Jane Elizabeth Digby (3 April 1807 – 11 August 1881) was an English aristocrat, famed for her remarkable love life and lifestyle. She had four husbands and many lovers, including Lord Ellenborough, Governor-General of India, King Ludwig I of Bavaria and his son King Otto of Greece, Bohemian nobleman and Austrian statesman Prince Felix zu Schwarzenberg, and the Greek general Christodoulos Hatzipetros. She died in Damascus, Syria, as the wife of Arab sheikh Medjuel el Mezrab, who was 20 years her junior. Life Jane Elizabeth Digby was born in Holkham Hall, Norfolk, on 3 April 1807, daughter of an Admiral, Sir Henry Digby and his wife, Lady Jane Elizabeth Coke. Jane's father seized the Spanish treasure ship Santa Brígida in the action of 16 October 1799 and his share of the prize money established the family fortune. Holkham Hall was the family seat of her maternal grandfather Thomas Coke and in 1815 her father inherited and settled in Minterne House and estate, Dorset. Marriages, scandal, and affairs Digby was first married to Edward Law, 2nd Baron Ellenborough (later Earl of Ellenborough), who became Governor General of India, on 15 October 1824. They had one son, Arthur Dudley Law (15 February 1828 – 1 February 1830), who died in infancy. After successive affairs with her maternal cousin Colonel George Anson and Prince Felix of Schwarzenberg, she was divorced from Lord Ellenborough in 1830 by an act of Parliament. This caused a considerable scandal at the time. Digby had two children with Felix; Mathilde "Didi" (born 12 November 1829 Basel, Switzerland, and raised by Felix's sister) and Felix (born December 1830 Paris, France) who died just a few weeks after his birth. The affair with Felix ended shortly after the death of their son. She then moved on to Germany and became the lover of Ludwig I of Bavaria. In Munich, she met Baron Karl von Venningen (6 January 1806 – 10 June 1874). They married in November 1833 and had a son, Heribert (27 January 1833 Palermo, Italy – 1885 Munich, Germany), and a daughter, Bertha (4 September 1834 Mannheim, Germany – 22 September 1907).