However, after a period of seclusion at Krumlov, during which time he wrote his famous treatise on the 1830 Revolution, Prince Felix Schwarzenberg was appointed Legation Counsellor and posted, not to Munich, but to Berlin. But Jane had already rented a house in Munich. She wrote again to Felix begging him to meet her, anywhere, confident that if they could only meet she could convince him of the truth. There was no reason why she should not hope for this, since in his letters Felix insisted that he still loved her and their child, Didi. Presumably her relationship with the Erskine family meant that she was not friendless upon her arrival in the city, and her beauty and personality immediately ensured a number of eager escorts. However, she could not go into what she called ‘society’ – that is, the society of those she regarded as her peers.
For some weeks she was occupied in furnishing and decorating her new home and designing the garden; these were newly acquired interests that would remain with her for the rest of her life. Munich was exciting, and promised, once the many building projects were completed, to rival any city in Europe for architectural interest. Yet it was Munich’s proximity to Felix’s home, less than 200 miles away, that was its chief attraction for Jane. One of her first purchases must have been a good horse, for the first mention of her at this time is of her beauty and horsemanship.
Within a remarkably short time of Jane’s arrival in the town, word of her reached the ears of the King. Ludwig was a man who worshipped beauty all his life: beautiful objects, beautiful buildings and beautiful women.14 Either by design or by coincidence a meeting occurred between the two in early October 1832 at an Oktoberfest ball and so began for Jane a wonderful relationship with the man whom as friend, and in her personal estimation, she regarded as second only to the great love of her life, and the latter was as yet many years in the future.
Born in Strasbourg in 1786, King Ludwig I, a godson of King Louis XVI of France and Marie-Antoinette, and a somewhat unwilling protégé of Napoleon and Josephine, had ascended the Bavarian throne seven years earlier at the age of thirty-five.15 The House of Wittelsbach had ruled Bavaria for almost a thousand years, and its latest head was the same age as Lord Ellenborough. He was an amiable and intelligent man, kind to a fault, and a workaholic.
At the age of eighteen Ludwig went to Italy. It is said that he saw the Colosseum by moonlight and fell deeply in love. In Venice he was further enthralled. And as he roamed the sun-baked Tuscan hill towns he gave his heart completely to southern lands. It was the one love in his life that was never to fade. As a result of the years he spent in Italy and his later travels in Greece, Ludwig formed a deep interest in ancient civilisations and subsequently became an acknowledged expert on the subject during a period of almost twenty years’ study. His taste in art was, in fact, remarkably similar to that of Jane’s grandfather. The decorations at Holkham and those in Ludwig’s palaces might have been planned by the same person.
He married the former Princess Theresa of Saxe-Hildburghausen, ‘the best-looking princess in Europe’ according to Ludwig’s biographer. Their wedding celebrations in October 1810 were so well received that the people of Munich repeated them again on the couple’s anniversary; and the celebrations are still being held each year as Munich’s famous Oktoberfest. Ludwig himself was then ‘a fair young man … with soft features, a flushed face, a proud full mouth and wide blue eyes. Allowing for the flattery expected by princes, he still must have been amazingly good-looking.’16 The royal couple had seven children and the marriage was, despite Ludwig’s many love affairs, an affectionate one.
When he ascended the throne of Bavaria, Ludwig used his classical knowledge and his philhellenism in the design of his new capital. He set in motion, at huge cost, many civic projects designed to turn Munich into the most beautiful city in Europe, a second Athens, a city to rival Florence and Paris. Excavations were commissioned in Italy and Greece to recover ‘lost’ works of art, the cities of Europe were combed to purchase classical treasures originally plundered by Napoleon’s armies. One of his first actions as King was to commission a great art gallery (the Pinakothek) to house the royal art collection and make it available to the public. No expense was to be spared to achieve his objective, even though it reduced the members of his household to petty economies and Ludwig himself wandered around his many building sites dressed like a penniless artist.
The year that Ludwig met Jane was a landmark for him in that his eighteen-year-old second son, Otto, had been elected King of Greece by a self-selected mini-League of Nations headed by Metternich. Short of being made King of Greece himself, nothing could have pleased Ludwig more than that his son should become ruler of the country which had evolved what he considered to be the ideal culture. Coincidentally, Lord Ellenborough had been involved in the early discussions on a suitable candidate to fill this role,17 and Jane knew something of the political background to the choice of Prince Otto. Although she was never interested in politics Jane still maintained a correspondence with, among others, the Princesses Lieven and Esterhazy and Lord Londonderry, so that she could not help but pick up news which undoubtedly made her an interesting conversationalist. She was an animated talker with a good sense of humour, and this shows in the surviving letters of her later years. From her upbringing at Holkham, Jane retained a basic knowledge of classical art, and she had travelled in Italy – which enabled her to talk on the subjects that most interested Ludwig. Had she been merely a pretty face, she would no doubt have gone the way of most of Ludwig’s numerous beautiful mistresses in a very short time.
As it was, the two quickly forged a close friendship based on shared confidences, punctuated by a correspondence that would last for six years. In her letters and billets-doux she addressed him as ‘My Dearest Friend’ or ‘Dearest Lewis’, an anglicised version of his given name, Louis, used by his intimates.18 In her diaries and between themselves, however, Jane and the King used names from the ancient world. She was ‘Ianthe’ (the Greek equivalent of the name Jane) while he was ‘Basily’ (from the Greek basileus meaning king).
Initially, Jane regarded the King as a friend and comforter. Within days of their meeting he had written a poem to her and she was writing to him on intimate terms. At the same time she confessed that she trembled to use his Christian name so freely, despite his insistence that she dispense with all formalities, and hesitated to give him her complete trust ‘lest at some future date you will receive it as another did!’19
Ludwig was intensely attracted to this charming young woman, who seemed to him at times little more than a hurt child. She was recovering from a mild eye infection when he first met her and seemed fragile and forlorn.20 The King found it difficult to resist the romantic story of Jane’s ultimate sacrifice for love, of her continuing devotion to Felix and her determination to be reconciled to him. Undoubtedly he felt protective towards her. Jane was happy to have such a sympathetic and uncritical ear for her problems, and the King made daily visits to her home to listen and advise. She happily shared Felix’s letters with him, already secure in the knowledge that Basily was her champion.
Meanwhile Jane was besieged by other admirers, and within several weeks of her arrival in Munich had already received several proposals of marriage, none of which she took seriously.21 She now knew how to handle flirtations