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
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Henri Letellier (1868–1960) was honored in 1904 as a Knight of the French Legion of Honor for his services as an entrepreneur in French Indochina. In 1913 he was further honored as an Officer of the Legion of Honor.[11]
| External images | |
|---|---|
 Yola Letellier, née Henriquez, at the Grand Steeple-Chase d'Auteuil, June 19, 1927[5] | |
| Henri Letellier in Revue de Monats, 1932.[12] | |
| Personal snapshots, Hôtel Drouot[13] |
Yola was Letellier's third wife.[14] 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.[15] When Henri died in 1960, Yola became wealthy in her own right.[16]: 75
Other relationships
editYola 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.[15]
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.[17] Mountbatten claimed this was his first extra-marital affair. Yola was to be his principal mistress until his death in 1979.[14][18] Mountbatten, according to one story, installed a pull-out double bed in his 1931 Rolls-Royce Phantom II to entertain Yola.[15]
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!!!"[14] Yola became a close friend of both Mountbattens, as well as their two children.[9][16] "Yola did not live with us but would visit frequently, bringing us charming gifts," according to the younger daughter, Pamela.[19][20] The gifts included a French peasant dress and a short-hair dachshund.[21] Edwina and the children even visited Yola and Henri Letellier at their home in France.[8]
References
editFootnotes
edit- ^ Lownie, Andrew (2019). The Mountbattens: Their Lives & Loves. Kings Road Publishing. ISBN 9781788702577. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
- ^ a b Griffen, Mark (2010). A Hundred or More Hidden Things: The Life and Films of Vincente Minnelli. Hachette Books. ISBN 9780306818936. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
- ^ a b Hicks (2014), p. 24
- ^ Tucker, Grant (18 August 2019). "Lord Mountbatten's 'lust for young men' revealed". The Sunday Times.
- ^ a b c d Aubenas, Sylvie; Chardin, Virginie; Demange, Xavier (2007). Elegance: The Seeberger Brothers and the Birth of Fashion Photography. Chronicle Books. p. 91. ISBN 9780811859424. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
- ^ "Gigi Times Three". Love Letters to Old Hollywood. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
- ^ Borrelli-Persson, Laird (8 April 2015). "10 Famous Courtesans, from Madame de Pompadour to Gigi". Vogue. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
- ^ a b Hicks (2014), p. 169
- ^ a b Morgan, Janet P. (1991). Edwina Mountbatten: A Life of Her Own. HarperCollins Publishers Limited. p. 227. ISBN 9780002175975. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
- ^ "Lord Mountbatten was "devastated" by his wife's affairs". Irish Central. 28 August 2019. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
- ^ "Cote 19800035/330/44433 Nom LETELLIER Prénoms Louis Eugène Henri". LEONORE (Archives nationales ; site de Fontainebleau, first page). Retrieved 25 August 2019.
- ^ "Henri Letellier". Revue des Monats (in German). 7 December 1932. p. 110. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
- ^ "Gigi's personnal snapshots". Hôtel Drouot. 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
- ^ a b c Lownie, Andrew (22 August 2019). "The love lives of Lord and Lady Mountbatten — bedhopping, gay affairs and dangerous liaisons". Sunday Times. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
- ^ a b c Sullivan, Rosemary (2012). Villa Air-Bel: World War II, Escape, and a House in Marseille. Harper Collins. p. 51. ISBN 9781443402569. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
- ^ a b Smith, Adrian (2010). Mountbatten: Apprentice War Lord 1900-1943. I.B.Tauris. p. 91. ISBN 9780857730879. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
- ^ Hicks (2014), p. 23-24
- ^ Ahmed, Akbar S. (1997). Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity: The Search for Saladin. Psychology Press. p. 154. ISBN 9780415149662. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
- ^ Cowell, Alan (14 June 2017). "Patricia Knatchbull, a Grande Dame of Britain's Elite, Dies at 93". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
- ^ Reginato, James (5 September 2013). "The Raj Duet". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
- ^ Hicks (2014), p. 26-29
Sources
edit- Hicks, Pamela (2014). Daughter of Empire: My Life as a Mountbatten. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781476733821.