Yola Letellier
French socialite (1904-1996) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yola Letellier (born Yvonne Henriquet (also spelled Henriquez or Henriques), 28 June 1904 – 5 June 1996)[1][2] was a French socialite and the wife of a newspaper owner.
Yola Letellier | |
|---|---|
Portrait of Yola Letellier c. 1929 by Man Ray | |
| Born | Yvonne Henriquet 28 June 1904 |
| Died | 5 June 1996 (aged 91) |
| Occupation | Socialite |
| Known for | Inspiration for Gigi by Colette |
| Spouse | Henri Letellier |
| Partner(s) | István Horthy Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma |
Yola is widely credited as the model for the main character in Colette's 1944 novella, Gigi.[3][4][5] As such, she became the basis of a 1949 French film in which Gigi was played by Danièle Delorme; a 1951 stage adaptation by Anita Loos, in which Colette cast the as-yet-unknown Audrey Hepburn to play Gigi; and an Academy Award-winning 1958 musical film starring Leslie Caron with a score by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe.[6]
In the novella, Gigi is a teenager educated to be a French courtesan, to provide companionship and intellectual stimulation as well as sex, who marries an older wealthy man.[7] In real life, Yola married Henri Letellier, 36 years her senior,[8] who was a wealthy investor, owner of Le Journal, a stylish Parisian newspaper, and mayor of Deauville from 1925 to 1928. Letellier's family also owned hotels and casinos in Normandy.[9]
Yola had affairs with other men, including one with Lord Louis Mountbatten, from 1932 until his death in 1979.[10]
Marriage
| External images | |
|---|---|
| Yola Letellier, née Henriquez, at the Grand Steeple-Chase d'Auteuil, June 19, 1927[5] | |
| Henri Letellier in Revue de Monats, 1932.[11] | |
| Personal snapshots, Hôtel Drouot[12] |
Yola was Letellier's third wife.[13] Colette observed the newlyweds Yola and Henri in 1926 at a hotel near Saint-Raphael, where they all were guests. [2] After the wedding Yola was reported to have been a ballerina at the Paris Opera from an early age.[5]
Described as an "extremely attractive, boyish-looking girl with cropped hair and a little snub nose",[3] Yola was among those photographed by the pioneering French street fashion photographers Frères Séeberger, wearing clothes from fashion houses such as Chanel.[5]
The Letelliers reportedly maintained a normal family life in the French upper-class tradition, albeit one where extra-marital affairs were accepted.[14] When Henri died in 1960, Yola became wealthy in her own right.[15]: 75
Other relationships
Summarize
Perspective
Yola simultaneously maintained three relationships: with her husband, with her "official lover" Etienne de Horthy (killed in World War II), son of Hungarian regent Miklos Horthy, and with Lord Louis Mountbatten. Mary Jayne Gold, a close friend Yola met skiing in Davos, introduced her to de Horthy.[14]
Yola and Mountbatten met at a dance in Deauville in 1932, where they danced a Viennese waltz and the other dancers stopped to applaud them.[16] Mountbatten claimed this was his first extra-marital affair. Yola was to be his principal mistress until his death in 1979.[13][17] Mountbatten, according to one story, installed a pull-out double bed in his 1931 Rolls-Royce Phantom II to entertain Yola.[14]
Louis Mountbatten and his wife, Edwina, maintained an unusual family relationship. Soon after Mountbatten's affair with Yola began, Edwina confronted Yola in Paris with a surprising result. "Your girl is sweet," Edwina wrote to her husband "and I like her and we got on beautifully and are now gummed and I am lunching with her at her house on Tuesday!!!"[13] Yola became a close friend of both Mountbattens, as well as their two children.[9][15] "Yola did not live with us but would visit frequently, bringing us charming gifts," according to the younger daughter, Pamela.[18][19] The gifts included a French peasant dress and a short-hair dachshund.[20] Edwina and the children even visited Yola and Henri Letellier at their home in France.[8]
References
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