Love Stories in History
Jane Digby and Count Theotokis - Scandalous Love Affairs in Greece
May 14, 2009
Born to an English aristocratic family in Dorset in 1807, Jane Digby grew up to become not only a stunning beauty but a free spirited woman often involved in scandalous love affairs. Before she found the love of her life in the Sheikh of a Syrian tribe, she lived in Paris, Basel, Palermo and Munich where she met Greek Count, Spiridon Theotokis in a ball given by her lover, King Ludwig I of Bavaria.
Jane Digby and Count Theotokis
In her biography of Jane Digby A Scandalous Life, Mary Lovell describes the Greek Count as tall, dashing, confident and talented with chiselled handsome features, liquid dark eyes and charismatic charm. He was among the Greeks who, following the proclamation of King Ludwig’s son, Otto, as King of Greece, were attracted to the Bavarian court. In a letter to King Ludwig, Jane described Count Theotokis as dangerous: she was still married to Bavarian Baron Charles Venningen.
An illicit romance began in 1835 between Jane Digby and Spiridon Theotokis and tales spread of how she rode through the forest in the dark of night to meet her Greek lover. According to the tale that circulated in the court of Vienna, Venningen intercepted the two lovers about to elope and challenged the Greek Count to a duel. Theotokis was wounded but convinced Venningen of his innocence.
Jane nursed Theotokis back to health and an agreement was reached whereby Jane promised to remain with her husband and Theotokis to return to Greece. However, Jane Digby’s marriage to Venningen finally broke down in 1838. In 1839, Jane and Theotokis were living together in Paris, Jane not caring about the impact of her scandalous affair. In 1840, Jane’s sixth child, a boy, was born and she named him Leonidas.
Before the couple travelled to Greece in 1841 and even before the divorce was formally granted, Jane converted to the Greek Orthodox faith and married Count Theotokis in a ceremony in Marseilles.
Jane Digby in Greece
Digby and Theotokis first arrived in Tinos, a Greek island in the Cyclades, where Theotokis’ father served as governor. In his Premier Voyage dans l’Eubee et... les Cyclades, Alexandre Buchon, describes Jane Digby’s sojourn in Tinos as filled with luncheon parties, lavish picnics and painting expeditions.
Buchon’s gloomy predictions that Jane would be bored in “a country so utterly devoid of comfort, convenience, beautiful scenery and even decent conversation” did not come true. Jane Digby’s love story with Greece had begun. However, rumour had it that the couple preferred to stay in Tinos because King Otto’s wife, Amalia, did not wish to receive Jane and that as the Bavarian consul reported (Lovell) several Athens society houses remained closed to her.
In the spring of 1842, Jane, now Countess Theotokis and her new husband moved to Corfu and settled at Theotokis family’s estates in Doukades. Lovell describes how Jane redecorated the Theotokis manor with pastel-washed walls, gilded woodwork, silk hangings, mirrors, chandeliers and Parisian furniture. She also built a library with marble pillars and created beautiful gardens, of which a cypress tree still remains.
Living a romantic love story in the island of Corfu, Jane and Spiridon Theotokis would reportedly entertain lavishly, explore the island on horseback or ride on an ornate carriage. It seemed that Jane Digby’s scandalous love affairs had come to an end. But in 1842 the couple would move to Athens where a new love story was about to begin.
Sources
Mary S. Lovell, A Scandalous Life. The Biography of Jane Digby el Mezrab, Fourth Estate: London 1995.
Wikipedia
 |
