Jane Digby in Doukades, Corfu; Dukades, Δουκάδες (Countess Theotoky; Ιάνθη; Lady Ellenborough; Lady Jane Elizabeth Digby el Mezrab, etc); Count Spyridon Theotokis; "Scandalous Life", From Dorset to Doukades; Βαφτίστηκε ορθόδοξη για να παντρευτεί τον κόμη Σπύρο Θεοτόκη

A fascinating biography of Jane Digby, who was born at Forston House, (see item 6) near Charminster and Cerne Abbas, in Dorset on 3 April, 1807: "A Scandalous Life", Mary S Lovell. 

From the book description:

"A celebrated aristocratic beauty, Jane Digby married Lord Ellenborough at seventeen. Their divorce a few years later was one of England s most scandalous at that time. In her quest for passionate fulfilment she had lovers which included an Austrian prince, King Ludvig I of Bavaria, and a Greek count whose infidelities drove her to the Orient. In Syria, she found the love of her life, a Bedouin nobleman, Sheikh Medjuel el Mezrab who was twenty years her junior".

Doukades (Dukades)

The "New" Theotokis Manor House, Doukades:

The cypress tree planted by Jane?

"Jane, herself a born gardener and a garden lover, celebrated her arrival at Dukades by planting a cypress tree in the grounds, It is still there, tall as a tower now, a dignified and delighted memorial to her - her only memorial in Greece" E. M. Oddie (1935)

More about Jane Digby

Some photos and further information

Article in Greek, 1997, To Vima  Η Ιάνθη και ο Βεδουΐνος

Γεννήθηκε αγγλίδα αριστοκράτισσα. Βαφτίστηκε ορθόδοξη για να παντρευτεί τον κόμη Σπύρο Θεοτόκη

Jane invested a lot of effort and money into the refurbishment of the Theotokis family house at Doukades. It would have been interesting to be a fly on the wall in Doukades in 1842, or to have ridden with them as they explored the island, or traveled in their "ornate carriage". According to E.M.Oddie (1935), "The gardens are still laid out as she left them though the house in which she lived has been demolished to make room for the modern bigger mansion". Oddie also records that "Jane, herself a born gardener and a garden lover, celebrated her arrival at Dukades by planting a cypress tree in the grounds, It is still there, tall as a tower now, a dignified and delighted memorial to her - her only memorial in Greece". She goes into more detail:"Count Spyro Theotoky died at Horby, in Russia...His nephews Nicholas and George Theotoky brought his body back to Corfu, that he might lie with his ancestors in the family vault at Dukades, not far from the home he had shared with his Ianthe. The actual house in which they lived was demolished by Count George Theotoky when Prime Minister to King George I...A new and larger house was erected where the old one had stood, that the gardens might remain the same as they were in Jane's day. The cypress tree she planted ia her only monument there..."

About the Theotokis family

A very talented, adventurous woman. I would love to see her watercolour paintings, in the collection of Lord Digby at Minterne Manor. I like to think of her in the words of the explorer Richard Burton, quoted by Mary Lovell:

" 'Out and out the cleverest woman' he ever met: 'there was nothing she could not do. She spoke nine languages perfectly, and could read and write in them. She painted, sculpted, was musical and her letters were splendid. And if on business there was never a word too much, or too little" ( Isabel Burton, Life of Sir Richard Burton, p. 486).

Jane was not a great role model as a mother, but she was a fascinating example of a fearless and liberated woman (a wealthy woman, it must be said).

"Spyros, superb in his fustanello" (E.M.Oddie)

Count Spyridon Theotokis, from "Portrait of Ianthe", E.M.Oddie, 1935

Wikipedia entry:

"In 1838 Jane found a new lover in the Greek Count Spyridon Theotokis (born 1805). Venningen found out and challenged Theotokis to a duel, in which the latter was wounded. Venningen generously released Jane from the marriage, took care of their children, and they remained friends for the rest of their lives. Though she was not legally divorced from Venningen until 1842, Jane converted to the Greek Orthodox faith and married Theotokis in  Marseille in 1841. The couple moved to Greece with their son Leonidas (21 March 1840 Paris-1846 Athens). In 1846, after their son's fatal fall off a balcony, Theotokis and Jane divorced. Greece's King Otto, became her next lover. Next came an affair with a hero of Greek revolution, Thessalian general Christodoulos Chatzipetros acting as 'queen' of his brigand army, living in caves, riding horses and hunting in the mountains. She walked out on him when he was unfaithful".

NB Mary Lovell found no evidence for an intimate relationship with King Otho.

Family Tree (third entry)