Eva Marie Veigel
This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2021) |
Eva Marie Veigel | |
---|---|
Born | 29 February 1724 |
Died | 16 October 1822 | (aged 98)
Spouse | David Garrick |
Eva Marie Veigel (also Eva Maria Violette, with variants Eva Maria and Ava-Maria) (29 February 1724 – 16 October 1822) was a dancer and the wife of actor David Garrick.
Life
Eva Marie Veigel was born in
As Chester says, "Nothing appears to be absolutely known concerning her origin." There is some doubt as to her paternity, with some saying she was the daughter of a respectable Viennese businessman named John Veigel; but Veigel and her husband were known to say she was of noble paternity. Guido Wald Rüdiger, Count of Starhemberg and Richard Boyle, the Earl of Burlington are thought the most likely candidates if this claim is true. Boyle was reported to have given £6,000 as a marriage portion and to have acknowledged her as a natural daughter.[1] She had a brother, Ferdinand Charles, who was also a ballet dancer.
One French biography of her life claimed she was known to be one of the most beautiful women in all of Europe. She emigrated to London in 1746, speaking little English. It is rumored that the Empress sent her there as a banishment, after noticing the Emperor taking too great a fancy to her for her beauty, though this story is often thought unlikely.
Marriage
Veigel married
He was taken with her just as quickly, but her wealthy patron, Dorothy Boyle, the Countess of Burlington (wife of the 3rd Earl of Burlington), discouraged her from marrying him as Veigel had performed in the royal courts of Europe and Garrick was seen as being a match much beneath her. Reportedly the Countess asked Garrick to use his performance abilities to make Veigel fall out of love with him, which he did attempt. The scheme did not work, but Burlington was nevertheless impressed enough with the effort that she changed her opinion of Garrick and decided Veigel would be well to marry him. This reported incident may have been the inspiration for such plays as Robertson's David Garrick.
By all accounts, the match between Garrick and Veigel was a happy one. They were childless, and Veigel outlived her husband by forty-three years. On marrying, she retired from dancing. Garrick's increasing wealth enabled him to purchase a palatial estate for Eva Marie and himself to live in, naming it Garrick's Villa, that he bought at Hampton in 1754.[2]
At the time of her death, she was living at
References
- ^ "Death of Mrs Garrick". Stamford Mercury. 25 October 1822. p. 4.
- ISBN 0-948667-25-7.
Sources
- Percy Hetherington Fitzgerald, The Life of David Garrick
- John Burn Bailey, Modern Methuselahs
- Joseph Lemuel Chester, The Marriage, Baptismal and Burial Registers of the Collegiate Church
- Encyclopædia Britannica
- https://web.archive.org/web/20071117093640/http://www.familyeducation.com/home/
- T.W. Robertson, David Garrick: The Play and the Novel