Elizabeth Taylor

30 MARCH 2011

Cleopatra star Elizabeth Taylor once told dear friend Joan Collins that she always made the producer or director give her an 'end of picture' present when filming wrapped.

"Careers don't last you know, they go up and down," she said.

"You need to get a present when your career is up and when it's down you can recall how good it was from the amount of presents you have!"

It's because of this, along with her seven husbands, that the violet-eyed beauty amassed a colossal collection of jewels that represented the ultimate fusion of power, wealth and beauty.

And part of her impressive array of diamonds, gems and pearls, worth a total $145 million out of her $1bn fortune, will go under the hammer to raise money for her charity, Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation.

The items for sale at Christie's Rockefeller Center in New York include a ruby and diamond Cartier necklace - a gift from her third husband Mike Todd.

Also available is the 33.19-carat Krupp diamond slipped on her finger by her 'soul mate', Richard Burton, which Elizabeth wore every day for the rest of her life.

Meanwhile, fans may fancy owning the famous 69.42-carat pear-shaped Burton-Taylor diamond (pictured below) which cost over $1 million in 1969, making it the world's most expensive diamond at the time.

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, who is wearing a Cartier diamond of almost 70 carats, arrive at Hotel Hermitage for the Scorpion Ball in Monaco, in this Nov. 15, 1969, photo.

A heart-shaped Taj Mahal Diamond, which was a 40th birthday present from former husband

Richard Burton.

http://www.hellomagazine.com/celebrities/201103305185/Elizabeth-Taylor/jewellery-auction/Elizabeth-Taylor-Aids-Foundation/1/

Taylor was said to have worn the 33.19-carat Krupp diamond given to her by Burton until her final days..

Flawless. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElSCFzpYWrc

Here’s Lucy

Episode: Lucy Meets the Burtons (Season 3, Episode 1)

Aired: September 14, 1970 on CBS

In 1970, Elizabeth and Richard appeared as themselves on Here’s Lucy, in one of TV’s most memorable guest appearances.

The premise of the episode is as follows: Burton escapes the mobs of fans waiting for him at their hotel by wearing a plumber’s uniform. Lucy Carter, a secretary played by Lucille Ball, desperately needs a plumber and asks Burton to fix her faucet at the office. Agreeing, Burton follows Lucy and fixes the faucet. Lucy offers him $23.50 for his time ($.50 knocked off because of his Shakespeare recitation) but Burton refuses payment and leaves. Realizing that it’s really Richard Burton who fixed her faucet, Lucy discovers that Burton has forgotten the Taylor-Burton diamond (Elizabeth’s 69.42 carat pear-shaped diamond ring) inside his plumber’s coverall. Deciding to try it on, Lucy gets it stuck on her finger and can’t get it off! When Burton returns to pick up the forgotten gem, he panics when he sees Lucy has it stuck on her finger—Elizabeth needs to wear it to a press party that evening!

He brings Lucy back to their suite to explain to Elizabeth what happened. Elizabeth suggests using Champagne to help get it off. When that fails to work, Elizabeth (only somewhat jokingly) suggests amputation, but Lucy saves the day by devising a plan. When the press arrives, we find Elizabeth standing in front of a curtain with Lucy hidden completely behind her, except for the arm that has the ring.

The episode, which was the first episode of the show’s third season, premiered to huge numbers. Neither of the Burtons had ever done episodic television before, and it was a strange experience for them. There were three days of rehearsal starting on Monday, and the show was filmed before a live studio audience on Thursday at Paramount Studios. Security had been beefed up on the set as Elizabeth insisted the actual Taylor-Burton diamond be used.

http://www.dameelizabethtaylor.com/tv_70s.html

*quoted image*

I like this one a lot and it's gorgeous.

Elizabeth Taylor’s 1954 appearance on “What’s My Line?”

Diamonds have no mercy... "They will show up the wearer if they can," says one character in The Sandcastle, an early novel by the famous British author, Iris Murdoch. Now this may be true of some women - usually wearing an outrageously large item of jewelry which imparts a degree of unwholesome vulgarity to themselves - but is it applicable to Elizabeth Taylor? Those well-publicized gifts which she received from her fifth husband, the late Richard Burton, certainly enhance her appearance and do not look out of place on her. A compatibility is established between the jewel and its wearer.

Richard Burton's first jewelry purchase for Elizabeth Taylor was the 33.19-carat Asscher-cut Krupp Diamond, in 1968. This had formerly been part of the estate of Vera Krupp, second wife of the steel magnate Alfred Krupp. Miss Taylor wears this stone in a ring. She has worn it in a number of her post-1968 films, during her interview on CNN's Larry King Live in 2003, and just about everywhere else she goes.

Next came the La Peregrina Pearl for which Burton paid £15,000. The stone has a long and complex history.

For Elizabeth's 40th birthday in 1972 Richard Burton gave her a heart-shaped diamond known as the Taj-Mahal. The stone is fairly large and flat, with an Arabic inscription on either side. It is set with rubies and diamonds in a yellow gold rope-pattern necklace. "I would have liked to buy her the Taj-Mahal," he remarked, "but it would cost too much to transport. This diamond has so many carats, its almost a turnip." Then he added, "Diamonds are an investment. When people no longer want to see Liz and I on the screen, then we can sell off a few baubles."

By the far the best known of Richard Burton's purchases was the 69.42-carat pear-shape, a D-color Flawless stone, later to be called the Taylor-Burton Diamond. It was cut from a rough stone weighing 240.80 carats found in the Premier Mine in 1966 and subsequently bought by Harry Winston. After the rough piece of 240.80 carats arrived in New York, Harry Winston and his cleaver, Pastor Colon Jr. studied it for six months. Markings were made, erased and redrawn to show where the stone could be cleaved. There came the day appointed for the cleaving, and in this instance the usual tension that surrounds such an operation was increased by the heat and glare of the television lights that had been allowed into the workroom. After he had cleaved the stone, the 50-year-old cleaver said nothing -- he reached across the workbench for the piece of diamond that had seperated from it and looked at it through his horn-rimmed glasses for a fraction of a second before exclaiming "Beautiful!" This piece of rough weighed 78 carats was expected to yield a stone of about 24 carats, while the large piece, weighing 162 carats, was destined to produce a pear shape whose weight had originally been expected to be about 75 carats.

The stone's first owner after Harry Winston wasn't actually Elizabeth Taylor. In 1967 Winston sold the pear shape to Mrs. Harriet Annenberg Ames, the sister of Walter Annenberg, the American ambassador in London during the Richard Nixon administration. Two years later, she sent the diamond to Parke-Bernet Galleries in New York to be auctioned explaining her decision with this statement: "I found myself positively cringing and keeping my gloves on for fear it would have been seen, I have always been an extremely gregarious person and I did not enjoy that feeling. It sat in a bank vault for years. It seemed foolish to keep it if one could not use it. As things are in New York one could not possibly wear it publicly." One might argue the stone was too large to be worn in a ring, let alone in public.

The diamond was put up for auction on October 23rd, 1969, on the understanding that it could be named by the buyer. Before the sale speculation was prevailing as to who was going to bid for the gem, with the usual international names being kicked around by the columnists. Elizabeth Taylor was one name among them and she did indeed have a preview of the diamond when it was flown to Switzerland for her to have a look at, then back to NYC under precautions described as "unusual".

The auctioneer began the bidding by asking if anyone would offer $200,000, at which the crowded room erupted with a simultaneous "Yes". Bidding began to climb, and with nine bidders active, rushed to $500,000. At $500,000 the individual bids increased in $10,000 increments. At $650,000 only two bidders remained. When the bidding reached $1,000,000, Al Yugler of Frank Pollack, who was representing Richard Burton, dropped out. Pandemonium broke out when the hammer fell and everyone in the room stood up, resulting in the auctioneer not being able to identify who won, and he had to call for order. The winner was Robert Kenmore, the Chairman of the Board of Kenmore Corporation, the owners of Cartier Inc., who paid the record price of $1,050,000 for the gem, which he promptly named the 'Cartier'.

As well as Richard Burton, Harry Winston had also been an under-bidder at the sale. But Burton was not finished yet and was determined to acquire the diamond. So, speaking from a pay-phone of a well-known hotel in southern England, he spoke to Mr. Kenmore's agent. Sandwiched between the lounge bar and the saloon, Burton negotiated for the gem while continually dropping coins into the phone. Patrons quietly sipping their drinks would have heard the actor's loud tones exclaiming "I don't care how much it is; go and buy it." In the end Robert Kenmore agreed to sell it, but on the condition that Cartier was able to display it, by now named the Taylor-Burton, in New York and Chicago. He did not deny that Cartier made a profit, stating "We're businessmen and we're happy that Miss Taylor is happy."

More than 6000 people a day flocked to Cartier's New York store to see the Taylor-Burton, the crowds stretching down the block. But an article in the New York Times was distinctly sour on the subject. Under the headline of 'The Million Dollar Diamond' appeared the following comment:

"The peasants have been lining up outside Cartier's this week to gawk at a diamond as big as the Ritz that cost well over a million dollars. It is destined to hang around the neck of Mrs. Richard Burton. As someone said, it would have been nice to wear in the tumbril [a farm cart for carrying dung; carts of this type were used to carry prisoners to the guillotine during the French Revolution] on the way to the guillotine."

Shortly afterwards on November 12th, Miss Taylor wore the Taylor-Burton in public for the first time when she attended Princess Grace's 40th birthday party in Monaco. It was flown from New York to Nice, Italy in the company of two armed guards hired by Burton and Cartier.

http://famousdiamonds.tripod.com/taylor-burtondiamond.html

La Peregrina Pearl

a long and complex history

Origin of name

"La Peregrina" in Spanish means "the Pilgrim" or "the Wanderer." The large pear-shaped white pearl, which originally weighed 223.8 grains, and was the largest pearl ever discovered during this period, was discovered in 1513 off the Pearl Islands in the Gulf of Panama by a negro slave. The pearl entered the Spanish Crown Jewels during the period of rule of King Ferdinand V (1479-1516) or his successor King Charles V (1516-1556). Phillip II (1556-1598) gave the pearl as a gift to Queen Mary I of England (Mary Tudor or Bloody Mary) in anticipation of their marriage in 1554. After Queen Mary's death in 1558 the pearl was returned to Spain, where it remained for over 250 years, becoming a favorite ornament of all queen consorts of Spain until the year 1808, when Napoleon Bonaparte captured Spain and installed his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the throne. When Joseph Bonaparte fled Madrid after the defeat of the French forces by the joint Anglo-Spanish-Portuguese forces at the Battle of Vitoria, he carried the renowned pearl with him. It was then the celebrated pearl came to be known as the "La Peregrina - the Wanderer." Joseph Bonaparte left the pearl to his nephew Charles Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III) who while in exile in London sold it to the 2nd Marques of Abercorn, due to serious financial difficulties. Thus true to its name the "La Peregrina" that arrived from America to Spain, went to England for a short period, then returned to Spain and after remaining in Spain for over 250 years, left for France, from where it went back to England and remained with an aristocratic family, the Dukes of Abercorn until the year 1969, when it was purchased by Richard Burton for his wife Elizabeth Taylor.

Characteristics of the Pearl

The "La Peregrina" pearl is one of the most famous pearls in the world with a recorded history of nearly 500 years. It is a large pear-shaped white nacreous pearl whose original weight was 223.8 grains (55.95 carats). In 1913 after the pearl was drilled, cleaned, and polished, it had a weight of 203.84 grains. The drilling was necessitated in order to secure it firmly to its setting, as the pearl was nearly lost on three different occasions after it had fallen off from its setting.

The "La Peregrina" pearl was at one time the largest pearl discovered in the world, but until today remains one of the largest pear-shaped pearls ever discovered. Pearls found in nature can be classified into eight basic shapes :- round, semi-round, button, drop, pear, oval, baroque and ringed. The most desired shape of pearls is the perfect round shape, which are also the rarest and the most expensive. Round pearls are used in strings of pearls or necklaces. Drop and pear-shaped pearls, which are also known as tear-drop pearls are often used in earrings, pendants, or as centerpiece of necklaces. During its 500-year history the "La Peregrina" pearl had been variously used as a pendant to a brooch, pendant to a necklace, centerpiece of a necklace, and centerpiece of a hat ornament. Mary I used it as a pendant to a brooch, King Phillip IV of Spain used it as a hat ornament, other queens of Spain used it as a pendant to a necklace or the centerpiece of a necklace.

Elizabeth Taylor's Ruby Diamond and Pearl Necklace, with the La Peregrina hanging as a pendant

Today, the "La Peregrina" owned by Elizabeth Taylor is set as a pendant to a necklace made out of pearls, rubies and diamonds. The necklace was designed by Cartier, after the pearl was purchased by Richard Burton at a Sotheby's auction in 1969. The necklace is a double-stranded pearl necklace interspersed with equally spaced floral patterns eight in number, each having a ruby as its centerpiece, surrounded by diamonds in a floral pattern. The outer strand of pearls is composed of larger drop-shaped pearls, and the inner strand composed of smaller round-shaped pearls. The "La Peregrina" pearl is attached to this necklace as the lower part of an elaborate pendant. The centerpiece of this pendant is a floral design consisting of a central pear-shaped ruby surrounded by diamonds in a floral pattern. The necklace created by Cartier is indeed a masterpiece in its category, and represents the highest standards of jewelry designing for which Cartier has an international reputation.

History of the La Peregrina Pearl

Discovery of the pearl

History of the Spanish colonization of Panama

The Spanish explorers Rodrigo de Bastidas, Juan de la Cosa, and Vasco Nunez de Balboa, were the first Europeans to explore the Atlantic coast of the Isthmus of Panama in the year 1501. However the first settlement was established by another Spanish explorer Diego de Nicuesa at the mouth of the Chagres River, and was known as Nombre de Dios. Another settlement called San Sebastian de Uraba, was founded by Alonso de Ojeda. But, there was fierce resistance from the local Indian tribes to the establishment of the settlements, and the settlers were forced to move to a new site to the northeast, across the Atrato River, on a suggestion made by Vasco Nunez de Balboa. This new settlement was known as Santa Maria, and became the first permanent settlement on the Isthmus. Balboa, as the head of the new settlement was successful in bringing the Indians under submission, using a combination of force and persuasion. The Panamian Indians gave him some useful information about a large sea and a gold rich empire in the South. Based on this information Balboa moved towards the south and discovered the vast sea in September 1513, and claimed it for the Spanish king, which is now known as the Pacific Ocean. Thus Balboa has gone down in history as the first European who discovered the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately five years later, the new Spanish governor appointed to the Panama, Pedro Arias de Avila, who distrusted Balboa and feared his rivalry, got him executed on false charges of insurrection against the Spanish king.

In the year 1519, the Spanish set up the new town of Panama on the west coast of the Isthmus, on the Pacific coast, and the population of Santa Maria moved to this new town. Panama became the first European settlement on the west coast of the New World, and became a springboard for the conquest of Peru and other Spanish colonies of South America. When the Spanish first landed in the Isthmus, in the early 16th century, it was occupied by various American tribes such as the Kuna, Guaymi, and Choco. With the introduction of European diseases such as small pox and the decimation of the indigenous population, the Spanish were forced to bring in African slaves to Panama, in the mid-16th century to supplement the labor force of the country, which was an important trans-shipment point for gold and silver bound for Spain. Panama City on the Pacific coast and Portobello on the Atlantic coast were important ports and a hive of activity during the colonial period, and the negro slaves constituted a significant portion of the labor force of these cities. Besides, a large labor force was also needed to maintain the mule trains that operated between the two cities carrying valuable cargo bound for Spain. Perhaps the Spanish might also have used the negro slaves for the exploitation of the saltwater pearl fishery resources found off the coast of the Pearl Islands in the Gulf of Panama, in the mid-16th century.

One version of the discovery of the La Peregrina pearl

According to one version the pearl, was discovered in the early 16th century (1513 A.D.) by a negro slave off the Pearl Islands in the Gulf of Panama. The pearl was then surrendered to Vasco Nunez de Balboa, the administrator of the colony, who took possession of it and granted freedom to the slave. He then sent the pearl to Ferdinand V, the reigning monarch of Spain, and since then the pearl became one of the prized possessions of the Spanish Crown Jewels.

The year 1513 A.D. in this version no doubt corresponds with the period of administration of Panama by Vasco Nunez de Balboa, but around this time there were no negro slaves in Panama. Thus the story of the pearl being discovered by a slave, who was granted his freedom does not seem to be tenable. Consequently, the pearl reaching Spain during the reign of Ferdinand V does not also hold ground. If the pearl was actually discovered in the year 1513, it would have been most probably discovered not by a negro slave but by one of the indigenous Indian tribesman. It is well known that pearls were used in items of jewelry by the ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica and South America such as Olmec, Maya, Zapotec, Incas etc. Thus the ancient Indian tribes had mastered the art of harvesting pearl oysters from the ocean bed since ancient times.

A second version of the discovery of the La Peregrina pearl

According to a second version, the pearl was discovered in the mid-16th century by a negro slave off the coast of the small island of Santa Margarita one of the pearl islands in the Gulf of Panama, about 100 miles from San Domingo. The pearl was then surrendered to Don Pedro de Temez, who carried it to Spain and presented it personally to Prince Philip II, the Crown Prince of Spain. The negro slave who found the pearl was rewarded with his freedom, as it was the tradition at that time. Prince Philip II presented the pearl to Queen Mary I of England, in anticipation of their marriage in 1554.

Around the mid-16th century negro slaves had already settled in large numbers in Panama, and it was quite possible that the pearl was discovered by one of them off the coast of Santa Margarita. The Spanish had settled negro slaves in the islands and trained them in the technique of harvesting pearl oysters from the ocean floor by holding their breath. Details of the second version seem to agree with known historic facts, and thus seem to be the more plausible version of the discovery of La Peregrina. Philip II married in 1554, and at the time of his betrothal to Queen Mary who was 11 years his senior, had not yet ascended the Spanish throne, but his father King Charles V, had already given him the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily before the marriage. Thus the "La Peregrina" pearl must have been discovered prior to the year 1554, the year the pearl was given as a gift to Queen Mary I of England.

The La Peregrina is given as a gift to Queen Mary I, by Philip II of Spain

Henry VIII breaks away from the Roman Catholic Church and establishes the Church of England

Queen Mary I also known as Mary Tudor or "Bloody Mary" was the daughter of King Henry VIII, who initiated the historical split with the Roman Catholic Church in 1534, and set up the independent Church of England, with the king as the supreme head, and the archbishop of Canterbury as the spiritual head. The split was precipitated due to the refusal of Pope Clement VII to grant King Henry VIII the divorce he was seeking from his queen consort Catherine of Aragon, on the ground that their relationship was incestuous as Catherine had been his deceased brother's wife. This was only a pretext for for the divorce, as the marriage in the first pace had taken place in 1509, soon after Henry VIII's accession to the throne, after Pope Julius II had granted a special dispensation to cover the infraction of the cannon law which forbade such marriages. The real reason for the divorce however was the inability of Catherine to provide a surviving male heir to the throne. Pope Clement's refusal to grant the divorce prayed for, was his inability to reverse a previous decision given by a former pope regularizing an illegal marriage, and his reluctance to provoke the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V of Spain who was a nephew of Catherine of Aragon.

Henry VIII is succeeded by his son Edward VI

Henry VIII actually took five more wives after divorcing Catherine of Aragon, His six wives were successively, Catherine of Aragon (mother of future Queen Mary I), Anne Boleyn (mother of future Queen Elizabeth I), Jane Seymour (mother of Edward VI, Henry's successor), Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr. It was Jane Seymour who gave him the much desired male heir Edward VI, who succeeded him in 1547 at the age of 10 years. Edward the six died of tuberculosis in 1553, at the age of 16 years.

Mary I ascends the throne of England as Queen Mary I, and marries Prince Philip II of Spain

The next in line of succession to the English throne was Mary I, the only surviving daughter of Catherine of Aragon. She ascended the throne in 1553 as Queen Mary I and ruled until 1558. In spite of her father severing ties with the Roman Catholic Church, and forming the independent Church of England, Mary I remained a devout Catholic, and was determined to bring her people back to the Church of Rome. To achieve this Queen Mary decided to marry the Roman Catholic Prince, Phillip II of Spain, the son of King Charles V, who was 11 years her junior.

Philip II presents the La Peregrina to Queen Mary I, who wears it as a pendant to a brooch

King Philip II of Spain

The marriage took place in 1554, when Philip was still the Crown Prince of Spain. It was in anticipation of this marriage that Philip II presented the "La Peregrina" pearl to Queen Mary I. Queen Mary wore the pearl as a pendant to a brooch, as seen in the famous portrait of Queen Mary by Hans Eworth, which is exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Queen Mary earns the infamous name "Bloody Mary"

Queen Mary I wearing the La Pregrina Pearl

Queen Mary I has gone down in history as the first queen to rule England in her own right. A popular queen who ascended the throne with the goodwill of the people, eventually turned out to become one of the most unpopular monarchs in the history of England, and acquired the most infamous name of "Bloody Mary." This was due to her inability to adapt herself to the new circumstances in the country, and her fanatic adherence to Roman Catholicism, a religion that had been rejected by her father who founded the Anglican Church. Queen Mary emboldened by her success in defeating a Protestant insurrection against her in 1554, just before she married Philip II of Spain, restored Catholicism as the state religion, and revived the laws against heresy. For the next three years, heretics were relentlessly executed, and around 300 were burned alive at the stake. Mary and her Spanish husband were hated and distrusted, and she was held responsible for all the slaughter carried out in the name of religion. She then acquired the infamous name "Bloody Mary." However, Queen Mary did not live long. In the fifth year of her rule, in 1558, she died, bringing a great sense of relief to her subjects who suffered under her rule.

The La Peregrina pearl is returned to Spain after Queen Mary's death

After the death of Queen Mary, the "La Peregrina" pearl was returned to Spain, and once again entered the Crown Jewels of Spain. The renowned pearl remained in the crown treasury for the next 250 years, and became a favorite ornament of most of the queen consorts, until the year 1808, when Spain was captured by Napoleon, who installed his brother, Joseph Bonaparte on the Spanish throne. Evidence for the use of the "La Peregrina" pearl by the wives of Philip IV (1621-1665), Queen Isabel (Elizabeth) and Queen Mariana (Maria Anna), is seen in the famous 17th century Velazquez paintings, two separate portraits of the queens on horseback, each wearing the La Peregrina. Philip IV was a poet and patron of the arts and a friend of the painter Velazquez; and most of his paintings portray Philip and the members of his court. In 1660, the pearl gained attention at King Louis XIV's court in France, when King Philip IV of Spain wore it as a hat ornament at the wedding of his daughter Marie Therese to King Louis XIV.

The La Peregrina Pearl comes into the possession of Joseph Bonaparte in 1808

Napoleon Bonaparte installs his elder brother Joseph Bonaparte as ruler of Spain

Spain had remained an ally of Napoleon Bonaparte during his military campaigns, and co-operated with him in the invasion of Portugal in 1807. The position taken by Spain was more due to its weak military position rather than being a matter of choice. Around this time in-fighting between supporters of King Charles IV and his son and heir-apparent Ferdinand VII had reached a new height, and Charles IV was forced to abdicate in favor of his son Ferdinand VII; and the unpopular prime minister Godoy was dismissed from his post. Napoleon saw this as a golden opportunity to intervene directly in the affairs of Spain and rid Europe of its last Bourbon rulers. He summoned both Charles IV and his son Ferdinand VII, to Bayonne in April 1808 and forced them to abdicate and interned them in Talleyrand's Chateau. Napoleon then offered the Spanish throne to his elder brother Joseph Bonaparte, which became a highly unpopular move, and led to the organization of an underground resistance movement against French occupation in Spain. An uprising against the French in May 1802 in Madrid was violently suppressed, but was successful in other parts of Spain where French military power was weak. Then in July 1808, the Spanish regular troops defeated an inferior and poorly equipped French army at a battle in Baylen, forcing Joseph Bonaparte to retreat hastily from Madrid. Angered by this humiliation Napoleon himself led an attack on Spain in 1808, inflicting defeat after defeat on the inferior Spanish forces, capturing the entire peninsula within a short period and restoring Joseph Bonaparte to the Spanish throne in Madrid by the end of 1808.

Joseph Bonaparte

Napoleon's forces are defeated in the battle of Vitoria in 1813, and withdraw from Spain. Joseph Bonaparte carries the La Peregrina pearl to France

Joseph Bonaparte then ruled Spain for the next five years until 1813. The Iberian Peninsula with the Portugal and Spanish resistance fighters, fighting the occupation of the French forces, became a bridgehead in Europe for the British forces led by the duke of Wellington, to attack Napoleon's forces. The Anglo-Spanish-Portuguese combined forces under the command of the duke of Wellington achieved decisive successes and in 1813, at the battle of Vitoria a combined Anglo-Spanish-Portuguese army of 72,000 troops led by the duke of Wellington, defeated a French army of 57,000 troops, led by Joseph Bonaparte, thus gaining control of the Basque provinces of Spain, and eventually causing the French forces to retreat over the Pyrennes and back into France.

When Joseph Bonaparte left Spain after reigning for five years, it is said that he carried part of the Spanish Crown Jewels with him that also included the "La Peregrina Pearl."

Joseph Bonaparte leaves the La Peregrina Pearl to his nephew Charles Louis Napoleon

Joseph Bonaparte goes into exile in the U.S. but later moves to Florence where he dies in 1844

After the final fall of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815, Joseph Bonaparte emigrated to the United States where he took up permanent residence. He later visited England, and for a time resided in Genoa, from where he moved to Florence. He died in Florence in 1844. At the time he died he left the "La Peregrina Pearl" and other important items of jewelry to his nephew Charles Louis Bonaparte, the son of his brother Louis Bonaparte.

Charles Louis Bonaparte (future Napoleon III) - his childhood and youth in exile

Charles Louis Bonaparte was the third son of Napoleon's brother Louis Bonaparte, who was the King of Holland from 1806 - 1810, and his wife Hortense de Beauharnais, stepdaughter of Napoleon I. Charles Louis Bonaparte's childhood and youth were mostly spent in exile, after his mother Hortense de Beauharnais was banished from France in 1815 after the fall of Napoleon. She first settled in Switzerland where she purchased a castle. Charles Louis attended grammar school in Augsburg, Germany, but was later taught at home by private tutors. He was inspired by his mother about his lost fatherland and an admiration of the genius of Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1832, after the death of his cousin the Duke of Reichstadt, the only son of Napoleon Bonaparte, he considered himself as the legitimate claimant to the French throne. He then underwent military training and also pursued studies in economics and social problems. He then published his own writings on political and military subjects, and expressed the view that only an emperor could give France both glory and liberty.

Charles Louis Bonaparte - his attempts to regain his uncle's throne, and exile in the U.S. and Britain

In October, 1836, he attempted a coup d'etat against King Louis-Philippe, who exiled him to the United States. He returned to Switzerland in the following year during his mother's last illness. After being expelled from Switzerland in 1838, he settled in England. While in England he published several writings trying to transform Bonapartism into a political ideology. In 1840, he landed near Boulogne, France, with 56 of his followers, and attempted to win over the town's garrison, but failed. He was arrested, brought to trial, and sent to permanent confinement in a fortress, from which he escaped in 1846, and fled back to England. During the republican revolts of 1848 against the monarchies of Europe, he traveled to Paris, but was again deported by the provisional government, but his supporters organized a Bonapartist party and presented him as their candidate for the Constituent Assembly. The party made considerable gains in the June and September elections.

Charles Louis Bonaparte returns to France and runs for the presidency of the second republic

Charles Louis Bonaparte then arrived in Paris, and began preparations to run for presidency, and was supported by the adherents of the Bourbons, Louis-Philippe and Catholics. Charles Louis Bonaparte promised his voters to bring back the glorious days of the Napoleonic era, and was duly elected as president obtaining almost 5.5 million votes.

Emperor Napoleon III

After his first 4-year term in office, Charles Louis Bonaparte holds a plebiscite and becomes the Emperor of France, as Napoleon III

After a successful 4 years in office, he was not eligible for a second term in office according to the constitution. He then engineered a coup d'etat, dissolving the legislative assembly and decreeing a new constitution, which was approved by a plebiscite. A second plebiscite held in November 1852, confirmed him as the emperor of France as Napoleon III. In 1853 he married countess Eugenie de Montijo. He continued his authoritarian rule until 1870, and during his two decades of rule gave France prosperity and a stable government. Finally in the Franco-German war of 1870-71, he was defeated and surrendered to the Germans. After, being released by the Germans he went to live in England with his wife Empress Eugenie. He died in 1873, at the age of 65 years, after undergoing surgery for the removal of bladder stones.

Charles Louis Bonaparte sells the La Peregrina Pearl to the 2nd Marquis of Abercorn

During his exile in England, Charles Louis Bonaparte is believed to have sold the "La Peregrina Pearl" to Lord James Hamilton, the 2nd Marquess of Abercorn, at a time of grave financial difficulties. This sale must have taken place before his arrival in France in 1848 to contest the presidential elections, while Lord Hamilton was still the 2nd Marquess of Abercorn. In the year 1868, Lord Hamilton was created the first Duke of Abercorn.

Lord James Hamilton-Ist Duke of Abercorn

Lord James Hamilton, the 2nd Marquess of Abercorn, was born in Mayfair, London, on January 21, 1811, and was the son of James Hamilton, Viscount Hamilton, who died when his son was only three years old. Hamilton who was educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford, succeeded his grandfather as the 2nd Marquess of Abercorn in 1818. In the year 1832, he married Lady Louisa Russell, the daughter of the 6th Duke of Bedford, John Russel. The couple were blessed with fourteen children, thirteen of whom survived infancy. Other titles bestowed on him, and posts held during his life time were :-

1) Knight of the Garter in 1844

2) Lord Lieutenant of County Donegal

3) Privy Counsellor

5) Groom of the Stole to Prince Albert

6) Viceroy of Ireland in 1866

7) The 1st Duke of Abercorn in 1868

8) Marquess of Hamilton

9) Envoy extra-ordinary for the investiture of King Umberto I of Italy

10) Chancellor of the University of Ireland

The La Peregrina Pearl is lost at least on two formal occasions but recovered soon after

Lord James Hamilton gave the pearl set on a necklace to his wife, who used it for formal occasions in the Buckingham Palace. On one such occasion Lady Louisa Jane Russel (Lady Hamilton) discovered to her utter dismay that the "La Peregrina Pearl" was missing from the setting in her necklace. Fortunately, however the lost pearl was spotted on the velvety folds of the train of another lady going into dinner. She again lost it on a second occasion at Windsor Castle, but fortunately this time too it was recovered from the upholstery of a sofa. Lady Jane Hamilton gave the historic pearl to her son the 2nd Duke of Abercorn, who had it drilled and securely fastened to its setting.

The La Peregrina Pearl remains in the Hamilton family up to 1969, and comes up for auction at Sotheby's in London. Richard Burton purchases the pearl as a Valentine's gift for Elizabeth Taylor

The La Peregrina Pearl purchased by the 2nd Marquess of Abercorn remained in the Abercorn family for over a hundred years, and finally assigned to the House of Sotheby's in London for auction in 1969, and was purchased by Richard Burton for $ 37,000 as a Valentine's gift for Elizabeth Taylor.

Burton lavished extraordinary jewelry on Elizabeth Taylor, throughout their relationship. His attachment to his wife at one time was so intense that he is reported to have said "I cannot see life without Elizabeth . She is my everything - my breath, my blood, my mind and my imagination." The jewelry gifts given by Burton, was not only spectacular, but pieces with real history and provenance.

The La Peregrina Pearl he purchased has a history of nearly 500 years and has passed through the aritocratic families of Spain, France and Britain. Among the other renowned pieces of jewelry he purchased included the Krupp diamond once owned by Vera Krupp, the second wife of the steel magnate Alfred Krupp, the 69.68-carat, pear-shaped, G-color diamond, which came to be known as the Taylor-Burton diamond, a Bulgari pendant set in platinum with an 18.61-carat emerald surrounded by diamonds, and the 17th-century heart-shaped Taj Mahal diamond, given to her on her 40th birthday in 1972. "I would have liked to buy her the Taj Mahal itself," Burton remarked, "but it would cost too much to transport."

Elizabeth Taylor wearing the La Peregrina Necklace

In her book Elizabeth Taylor, My Love Affair with Jewelry, she wrote of her delight in receiving the amazing gift, the La Peregrina, and the panic and horror when it went missing soon after. To her greatest relief the La Peregrina was safely retrieved from the mouth of one of her pet dogs. She wrote that it took her a week to sum up the courage to tell Burton of the mishap !

At the time Burton purchased the "La Peregrina" it was suspended as a pendant to a delicate pearl linked necklace, which did not suit their taste. Therefore they decided to have the necklace re-designed using the expertise of Cartier. The result was the masterpiece shown above consisting of pearls, rubies and diamonds.

http://www.internetstones.com/la-peregrina-pearl-elizabeth-taylor-napoleon-iii-philip-ii-queen-mary-i.html

1953

1954

Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor and Loraine Day 1954

1956

1956

1956

1963

1967

1970

1970

1974

1982

Paul Newman and Liz - who had both starred in

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - were reunited at the Oscars.

1992

Burton's nicknames for Taylor included, "Twit Twaddle", "My little Twitch", "Ocean" and

"Dearest Scrupelshrumpilstilskin". Taylor and Burton were married in March 1964. The couple

divorced in June 1974. They were remarried in October 1975 but divorced again in July 1976.

1964 - A glowing retro beauty described by then-

husband Richard Burton as "unquestionably gorgeous".

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor on vacation in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in 1963

Thanks for the lovely post:) Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor looked great together and of course the jewels are spectacular too!

November 1948

November 1948

eyes dramatically lined—winged

January 1962

March 1965

Taylor with Richard Burton on vacation at La Fiorentina, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat

September 1967

Her husband twice over, Richard Burton, never a stranger to hyperbole (their romance ignited on the set of Cleopatra—how could he have resisted that golden headdress?), wrote in the magazine in 1965 that “She is famine, fire, destruction, and plague, she is the Dark Lady of the Sonnets, the only true begetter… Her breasts were apocalyptic, they would topple empires down before they withered. Indeed, her body was a miracle of construction and the work of an engineer of genius… It was true art…”.

Budapest, 27 February 1972. Elizabeth Taylor at the party for her 40th birthday. She wears Bulgari: a sautoir in platinum with sapphire and diamonds, 1969, (the sugar-loaf cabochon sapphire of approximately 65 carats). The sautoir was given to Elizabeth Taylor by Richard Burton as a gift.

Richard Burton’s droll quip: “I introduced Liz to beer, she introduced me to Bulgari.”

Elizabeth Taylor, Rome, 1967

Bulgari gold Serpenti bracelet watch that slithers up the arm with a diamond head and tail and emerald eyes

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were married in a civil ceremony at the Ritz-Carlton

Hotel on Sherbrooke St. in Montreal in 1964.

1965 – Elizabeth Taylor wearing Bulgari jewels: en tremblant brooch with diamonds and emeralds, an emerald parure (gift of Richard Burton).

Vanity Fair published an excerpt from one of Burton's many letters to Taylor during their marriage. "My blind eyes are desperately waiting for the sight of you. You don't realize of course E. B. how fantastically beautiful you have always been, and how strangely you have acquired an added and special and dangerous loveliness. Your breasts jutting out from that half-asleep languid lingering body, the remote eyes, the parted lips."

RICHARD BURTON AND ELIZABETH TAYLOR IN LOVE IN PUERTO VALLARTA

How to see the world through the eyes of Hollywood's golden couple Liz and Richard

By Frank Barrett, Mail on Sunday Travel Editor

Last updated at 1:47 PM on 21st January 2011

Port Talbot to Puerto Vallarta: from the Welsh valleys to a sunbaked Mexican seaside town - for Richard Burton a journey much further and more amazing than the mere 5,500 miles that separates the two places on the map.

His life encompassed probably the world's most famous adulterous romance and subsequent marriage (twice); it involved some of the world's most expensive pieces of jewellery, huge critical acclaim, raging alcoholism, yachts, jets, Swiss homes, Broadway triumphs and a level of global fame that had never been known before.

There has certainly never been another love affair which has held the world's fascinated gaze like the passionate partnership of Richard Burton, the miner's son from Pontrhydyfen near Port Talbot, and Elizabeth Taylor, the Hollywood princess.

In a time before the world was littered with celebrities, it became addicted to the extraordinary details of 'Liz and Richard's' amazing lives.

They met on the set of Cleopatra - at the time the world's most expensive film - and fell in love. The consequence was mayhem - or 'le scandale', as Burton chose to describe it. For a decade their individual careers soared, each becoming in turn the highest-paid actor in Hollywood, and they lived their lives in public.

Burton variously described Liz and himself as 'doomed nomads' and 'professional itinerants'. And like a medieval royal family proceeding in state from castle to castle, Liz and Richard's global procession went from hotel to hotel - nearly always the world's finest - where they would live in several suites running up huge bills on flowers and alcohol (mostly alcohol) as they entertained lavishly and incessantly.

And just like a royal court, they travelled with a retinue of servants and functionaries: drivers, security men, make-up artists, dressers, agents, secretaries, nannies, family members and friends. At one time Burton estimated that the couple had to pay the monthly wages of some 50 people.

They lived a life of unimaginable self-indulgence. While in London in 1963, Taylor decided to surprise Burton with a Van Gogh painting that she bought in Sotheby's on Bond Street for £92,000.

Incredibly, she simply took it back to The Dorchester in a taxi and carried it up to Burton's penthouse suite where she hammered a nail above the fireplace and hung the painting herself, ready for Burton's return. (She recently put the painting up for sale for £13million.)

The one real fixed point in their vast universe was the house they bought soon after they married in 1964 - Casa Kimberley in Puerto Vallarta. Bought by the couple when Burton was filming the John Huston film The Night Of The Iguana with Ava Gardner, the Mexican house became the only place they could find peace and seclusion together.

It was so dear to them both that when Burton died in 1984, Taylor immediately sold it, declaring that she could not return to a house that held so many happy memories of the man she had loved so passionately.

I once read on the internet that somebody had done a tour of the house - actually two houses joined by a bridge - and last month I decided to take a peek for myself, looking forward to entering this most famous of love nests. Sic transit gloria mundi, as they say - or thus passes the glory of the world.

Casa Kimberley is being gutted. All that remained of its interior was a pile of shattered tiles that lay in a sad heap next to the house. I gathered a few blue fragments and I have them now on my desk - dusty mementoes of a very fine romance.

It was Larkin who wrote that after death 'what will survive of us is love'. Love and a few broken tiles. Oh, and all those sumptuous hotel suites favoured by Burton and Taylor whose walls could tell a tale or two ...

London - The Dorchester

The exquisite Penthouse Terrace at The Dorchester

This was something of a second home for Taylor before she got together with Burton. She knew it in her days as a child star and made the largest of the three roof suites, The Harlequin, her own. It boasts a master bedroom with an en suite bathroom and dressing room, a dining room, living room, bar and large outside terrace overlooking Hyde Park.

The suite's second bedroom still has the original pink marble bathroom that was installed for Taylor. According to legend, the couple carved 'RB xxx ET' into the marble after one night of carousing - something to search for next time you check in.

London calling: The couple spent a lot of time at Park Lane's Dorchester Hotel

It was in this very suite that Taylor received news of her record-breaking, multi-million pound deal to star in Cleopatra. It was also here that she suffered a near-fatal bout of pneumonia.

When they became a couple, The Dorchester was the pair's London centre of operations around which their social life revolved. They took adjoining suites and The Dorchester moved Heaven and Earth to keep them happy.

In 1967 Burton brought down 150 friends and family from South Wales for the Royal Command Performance of The Taming Of The Shrew. The Burton family were ferried by Rolls-Royce from Paddington to The Dorchester, where 14 suites were among rooms booked for the occasion. Fresh flowers were supplied by ET herself, and a legendary all-night party ensued.

Beverly Hills Hotel

Not many cities take their names from a hotel, but then there aren't many hotels like the Beverly Hills. Just before the First World War its founders came drilling for oil but found a much more valuable commodity: water. The hotel, which opened in 1912, was seen as the potential hub of a future housing development.

From the start it attracted the Hollywood elite: Charlie Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino and later Spencer Tracy. When Taylor was a child her father had an art gallery at the hotel, and in a display next to the hotel gym you can see a photograph of her at the art shop with him.

Hollywood Heights: The Beverley Hills Hotel, where John Wayne interrupted Burton's Oscars party

It says something of her affection for the place that part of six of her eight honeymoons were spent at The Beverly Hills.

Bungalow Suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel

The hotel boasts a luxurious complex of private bungalows and it was in their favourite, Bungalow Five (which these days is still popular because it has its own pool), that Burton and Taylor drowned their sorrows after he again missed out on an Oscar for his role in Anne Of The Thousand Days. It went to John Wayne for his performance in True Grit.

Wayne turned up at the Bungalow Five party and pushed his Oscar under Burton's nose, declaring: 'You son of a pinkberry, you should have this, not me.'

Burton was nominated seven times but never won.

Paris - Hotel Lancaster

Located in the heart of Paris just off the Champs-Elysees, the Hotel Lancaster was the perfect luxurious hideaway for Burton and Taylor to go to ground in as they tried to escape the paparazzi amid the controversy surrounding their adulterous affair. Even the Vatican had weighed in with a Papal condemnation of their romance.

Still feeling very much like the intimate 19th Century private mansion it was (it was built in 1889), it's a surprise to discover that it has 46 rooms and 11 suites over eight floors. It's not hard to see why the couple enjoyed rooms and lounges furnished with antiques and fine works of art.

When the Burton and Taylor circus came to town - their friendship with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and the Rothschilds meant that Paris was a favourite place - the couple would take over two floors of the hotel.

Puerto Vallarta - Casa Kimberley

Search on YouTube for the 'behind the scenes' film about the making of The Night Of The Iguana. It shows a youthful Burton and Taylor heading by boat from the beach at Puerto Vallarta to Mismaloya, where the film set was.

Director John Huston described Puerto Vallarta as hardly changed for centuries and isolated by bad roads with access only possible by sea or air. Little can the locals have realised that after Hollywood came to town in 1963, their isolation would rapidly come to an end.

Beach life: Taylor looks relaxed as Burton holds court at a local bar in Puerto Vallarta in 1964, weeks

before they married

1964: at Casa Kimberley, the house in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, given to her by

Richard Burton when they married that year

Almost overnight the patronage of Burton and Taylor and their acquisition of Casa Kimberley, a villa in the old town, helped to put Puerto Vallarta on the tourist map.

Today it boasts more than 100 hotels and has become a major cruise port.

Burton is said to have bought Casa Kimberley, a nine-bedroom villa, for £37,000 as a gift to Liz for her 32nd birthday. As a gift to himself, and to ensure he would always have somewhere quiet to sit and read, he bought the villa across the road and linked it to Casa Kimberley with a bridge that is said to resemble Venice's Bridge of Sighs - it actually looks like the Ponte della Paglia from which tourists take pictures of the Bridge of Sighs.

After Burton and Taylor divorced for the second time in 1976, he gave her up but refused to abandon Puerto Vallarta. Burton bought Villa Bursus as a Valentine's Day gift for his third wife Susan: hence the name Bur-Sus. The property was later bought by American hotelier Janice Chatterton who, with four other neighbouring villas, created the Hacienda San Angel.

Burton's bedroom is now the Celestial Suite - one of 14 suites - and the Hacienda also has three large heated pools, one with panoramic views of the city and Banderas Bay, and another in a tranquil setting with fountains. Chatterton also now owns Casa Kimberley and is remodelling the house into another hotel.

Montreal - Ritz Carlton

A love affair to remember: Richard Burton weds Elizabeth Taylor in Montreal in 1964

The city's iconic grand hotel, confusingly not part of the international Ritz-Carlton group, grabbed the headlines when Burton and Taylor suddenly arrived on March 15, 1964, for what was to be their first marriage.

Montreal was chosen for the ceremony, conducted by a Unitarian minister, because of the prevailing complications involved in divorcees getting remarried - Taylor was a converted Jew and Burton was a chapel boy.

Taylor wore a yellow chiffon dress and the £100,000 diamond and emerald necklace that was a present from her new husband.

Rome - St Regis Grand Hotel

When Burton and Taylor were filming Cleopatra in Rome at the beginning of the Sixties, the St Regis Grand was in its heyday - a celebrity hangout of writers, artists, actors, musicians and politicians. It remains one of the city's truly grand hotels.

Vienna - Hotel Imperial

On a weekend trip to Vienna in 1972, Burton and Taylor checked in to the Hotel Imperial on Vienna's Ringstrasse.

As the favoured hotel of the Austrian emperor, it had attracted the most distinguished clientele including Wagner, who wrote parts of several of his operas here, and Charlie Chaplin.

Less illustriously it was also the favourite hotel of Adolf Hitler, who worked here as a day labourer but returned as conquering hero following Germany's annexation of Austria in 1938.

Grandeur: The Royal Suite at the Imperial Hotel in Vienna, which was famously used by Hitler

At check-in, Burton asked for Hitler's suite and he and Liz immediately jumped into bed to enjoy what he described as 'lovely love'.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1333826/Elizabeth-Taylor-Richard-Burtons-favourite-hotels-Londons-Dorchester-Beverly-Hills.html#ixzz16ehl3AkS

Portofino - Hotel Splendido

It was in Portofino, probably during a stay at the Hotel Splendido that Richard Burton proposed to Elizabeth Taylor for the first time, on a break from filming Cleopatra in Rome. The romantic proposal is thought to have taken place on the wisteria-covered terrace of the hotel's bellissima first floor junior suite.

The spectacular view from the Hotel Splendido suite

Inspired by this event, Fred Buscaglione, a famous Italian singer of that period, wrote the song 'I found my love in Portofino'. To this date, this is the song that celebrates the love between Burton and Taylor and represents the 'soundtrack' to the Hotel Splendido and Portofino. For instance, if you are ever put on hold whenever you call the Splendido, that's the song you will listen to - how gorgeous is that!

http://blogs.hellomagazine.com/passporttothestars/2011/03/elizabeth-taylors-romantic-hotel-hideaways.html

Heat

By Jennifer Theriault

Published: 2011-03-14

Marcello Geppetti's famous shot of Burton and Taylor on the Amalfi Coast.

"From those first moments in Rome we were always madly and powerfully in love." — Elizabeth Taylor, 1932-2011. "A man who comes through that ordeal of fire in Rome must emerge a different or a better man." — Richard Burton, 1925-1984.

In 1961 when award-winning director Joseph Mankiewicz moved the calamitous 20th Century Fox production "Cleopatra" from Pinewood Studios in England to Cinecittà in Rome and plunked down $250,000 to buy the Welsh actor Richard Burton out of his "Camelot" contract on Broadway to play a drunk, go-go tunic wearing Marc Antony to Elizabeth Taylor's Crayola-eyed Egyptian queen, no one could have guessed that the film, already fraught by a runaway budget and a domino effect of delays owing to foul English weather and Taylor's fragile health, would ignite the most decadent and lambasted romance the world had ever seen.

A decade before Liz and Richard's torrid affair exploded all over Rome, the actors had a quick, thorny run-in at the house of actors Stewart Granger and Jean Simmons in Bel Air, California. Taylor, 20-year-old Hollywood royalty two years into her second marriage to English actor Michael Wilding, had spurned the advances of Burton, a Shakespearean actor poised to inherit the lofty reigns of John Gielgud. It was Burton's first year in Hollywood and the 26-year-old was building a steady reputation as an affable and randy raconteur and womanizer, the latter talent much to the chagrin of his wife Sybil. Taylor had no interest in becoming, as she put it, "another notch on his gun belt."

But fate begged to differ. Ten years later, in January 1962, while filming on "Cleopatra's" gargantuan Cinecittà set, Burton as Antony and Taylor as Cleopatra shared their first onscreen kiss, locking lips well after Mankiewicz, feeling like an intruder on his own set, repeatedly cried "Cut!"

If Taylor and Burton were concerned about concealing their new infidelity from Sybil and Eddie Fisher, Taylor's fourth husband, hitting Rome's Via Veneto was hardly a surreptitious move.

In 1962 the posh, serpentine avenue atop the Quirinal Hill was a celebrity-studded playground swarming with intrusive photographers whom two years earlier Federico Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" had introduced into zeitgeist as paparazzi. After a long March day shooting Cleopatra's zany, bacchanalian banquet scene, Taylor, donning a matching leopard coat and hat, and Burton were snapped for the first time in public on the Veneto. Le scandale, as the mellifluous-tongued Burton coined it, was born.

Transgressions far worse than Taylor and Burton's are de rigueur for celebrities today, but in an era when stars' images were heavily sanitized by the studios, Liz and Richard's brand of infamy was a trailblazing moral shock.

Two weeks after the Via Veneto photos appeared, the powerful Vatican weekly L'Osservatore della Domenica published a scathing 500-word open letter to Taylor, whose third husband, Michael Todd, had been killed in a plane crash. "Even considering the [husband] that was finished by a natural solution there remain three husbands buried with no other motive than a greater love that killed the one before," read the condemnation, before warning the future Mrs. Richard Burton of "an erotic vagrancy ... without end or without a safe port." In the United States, Georgia congresswoman Iris Blitch picked up the Vatican's torch, calling for the attorney general to bar the adulterers from returning to the U.S. "on grounds of undesirability."

Burton's wife Sybil left Rome for London. Fisher went back to America where he began kicking off his nightclub act with the song "Arrivederci Roma."

With their spouses out of the picture, Liz and Richard hid their affair in plain sight, their extravagance and debauchery a perfect match for Italy's baroque capital.

Burton spent more than a few nights at Taylor's opulent 14-room Villa Papa on Via Appia Antica and dropped over $100,000 at Bulgari on Via dei Condotti for Taylor's legendary emerald-and-diamond Grand Duchess Vladimir necklace. The pair rendezvoused at the Grand Hotel (now the St. Regis Grand), dined at Taverna Flavia just off Via Venti Settembre (a back dining room is still dedicated to Taylor today) and at Tre Scalini on the Piazza Navona. Paparazzi always laid in wait. Over Easter weekend they attempted a romantic getaway to Porto Santo Stefano, but paparazzi again sniffed the lovers out.

In mid-June "Cleopatra" invaded the island of Ischia in the Gulf of Naples to film the Battle of Actium scenes. Taylor and Burton were whisked in by helicopter and checked into luxury suites at the sumptuous Regina Isabella seaside resort. Celebrity photographer Bert Stern joined them to document Taylor basking in the Mediterranean sun, but it was paparazzo Marcello Geppetti who snapped the infamous Ischia money shot: An allongée, swimsuit-clad Taylor with Burton kissing away at her neck on the stark white deck of a yacht.

"Cleopatra" wrapped filming in Italy in July, exceeding its original $2 million budget and nearly bankrupting 20th Century Fox with an astronomical $44 million price tag — the equivalent of more than $300 million today. The movie was the first of 11 that Taylor and Burton, who would famously go on to marry twice and divorce twice, made together.

Of these, two more were shot in Rome. In 1968 the couple was picked over Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni to star in Franco Zeffirelli's raucous Shakespearean extravaganza "The Taming of the Shrew," filmed at Dino De Laurentiis studios, and they returned again in 1973 to film their final cinematic dalliance together, "Divorce His, Divorce Hers." Rome is gorgeous in this made-for-TV movie that chronicles a couple's divorce after 18 years from his-and-hers perspectives, but unfortunately for the bickering Burtons it seems a parody foreshadowing their tragic duo of alcohol-and ego-fueled divorces.

http://www.theamericanmag.com/article.php?article=273

A hunk, a hunk of burning Liz and Richard

"Furious Love" tells of the passionate pair who transformed celebrity culture itself.

July 18, 2010|By Carrie Rickey, Inquirer Movie Critic

'I am forever punished by the gods for being given the fire and trying to put it out," Richard Burton, in Promethean temper, wrote to Elizabeth Taylor in an undated letter.

"The fire, of course, is you."

One of Taylor's favorite wedding photographs - from the

first wedding, in 1964.

So begins Furious Love, a five-alarm blaze of a biography that enthralls like an Olympian epic, an account of the affair and subsequent marriages - there were two - between the doomed Welshman with the soul-stirring voice and the Hollywood siren with the heart-stopping face.

In its sympathetic chronicle of a dazzling couple whose glitter gradually dulls and whose power struggle devolves into marital stalemate, the book by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger reads like F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night - with oceans more booze and conspicuous consumption.

Burton, 27, first noted Taylor, 21, sunbathing at a Hollywood pool party in 1953. "Her breasts were apocalyptic; they would topple empires," he noted in his diary. Certainly, they had that effect on his personal realm.

Fast forward nine years: In 1962, as the tabloids branded Taylor a homewrecker (for breaking up Eddie Fisher's marriage to Debbie Reynolds), she took the title role in Joe Mankiewicz's Cleopatra. In it, her character serially lures Caesar (Rex Harrison) and then Antony (Burton) from their marital beds.

Taylor, as many have observed, is a drama queen who has lived her roles and acted her life instead of the other way around. Burton, a womanizer married to the supremely forgiving Sybil, possibly regarded his costar as the next cut on his much-notched belt.

The inevitable affair, which Burton dubbed Le Scandale, would break up their marriages and make obsolete the morals clauses in Hollywood contracts. It would also, as Kashner and Schoenberger write, expand the cottage industry of gossip into an empire of "Celebrity culture on a scale never before seen."

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, at the time the most photographed couple in the

world, on location for "The Sandpiper," 1964.

"Liz and Richard," as they were called in the tabloid headlines, were bigger than silent-film sweethearts Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, bigger even than Brangelina. The Burton/Taylor binges and brawls and bijous were so epic that coverage of the pair moved from gossip pages to front pages. A letter to the Vatican weekly denounced Taylor for "erotic vagrancy." A U.S. congresswoman with the colorful name of Iris Blitch asked her colleagues to make Liz and Richard ineligible for reentry to the United States on the ground of immorality.

During the limbo between their affair and their eventual marriage, Laurence Olivier, whom Burton was expected to succeed as Britain's greatest actor and with whom he reportedly had a youthful affair, sent his protégé a telegram demanding, "Make up your mind - do you want to be a great actor or a household name?"

"Both," Burton answered, not without hubris. He was bewitched by Taylor's beauty and stardom; she was beguiled by his talent and erudition. They did some splendid work together - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Taming of the Shrew. He did some great work solo: The Night of the Iguana, Becket, and The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. In Liz and Richard's first act, his Hollywood career soared and her work was taken more seriously.

Theirs would seem to be a time-honored showbiz transaction: He gave her class and she gave him star quality. They lived on a scale envied by royalty and at a velocity only race-car drivers enjoyed.

The authors make an excellent case that each deepened the other's craft. Stage-trained Burton learned the art of screen stillness from his bride; Hollywood-bred Taylor, whose voice was high-pitched, especially next to Burton's resonant instrument, learned to deepen her range and her timbre.

Their blended family was symbolized in the Kalizma, the yacht named after his daughter, Kate, her daughter, Liza, and their daughter, Maria. Even when the couple no longer took pleasure in each other, they enjoyed the kids and grandkids.

Magazine writers Kashner and Schoenberger, themselves married, provide a lively account of the compromises and struggles of marriage in general as well as a vivid portrait of this particular two-career marriage on steroids. Sexually, Burton and Taylor delighted in each other (his letters to Taylor are odes to lust and wonder). Professionally, they nursed a mutual jealousy. Despite his talent, Burton felt like a consort to the Hollywood queen (she had two Oscars, he was zero-for-seven). Despite her celebrity, the movies he made without her were far superior to those she made without him. (While Taylor films like Boom! and X, Y, and Zee were miscalculations, Michael Caine, Taylor's costar in the latter, observed that she "was the only actor I ever worked with who never flubbed a line.")

The pair's epic brawls earned them the epithet "the battling Burtons." Taylor explained, "We both let off steam by bawling at each other. But it means nothing. And we both feel so much better for it." Until they felt so much worse. Their relationship was too hot not to cool down.

Blame it on the alcohol? Privately, Burton did. He confided to a friend that Elizabeth "didn't exactly encourage me not to drink, but then she complained that I wouldn't stop." During the periods when he did, she continued imbibing with a vengeance. Before long they began to resemble "two heavyweight champions who had fought each other to exhaustion but couldn't quit," as Burton biographer Melvyn Bragg colorfully put it.

The nadir was in 1972 during a televised interview with David Frost: Both were sozzled. The Liz and Richard show had been on for eight years and now was running on fumes. They couldn't live with each other. They divorced. They couldn't live without each other. They remarried. The first time was tragedy, the sequel farce. They divorced a second time. Both would wed others.

But the passion - evidenced by Burton's poetic letters, the last written the afternoon of his death - continued to burn.

http://articles.philly.com/2010-07-18/entertainment/24968476_1_elizabeth-taylor-marriages-liz-and-Richard#

BUILT – 1906 BY RAMAGE AND FERGUSON

Originally launched as Minona in 1906, she has also carried the name Cortynia and Odysseia. She was also used in both World Wars by the British Navy. She is the luxury yacht most renowned by Richard Burton who bought her for Elizabeth Taylor in 1967. M/Y Kalizma is a 165 foot Edwardian motor yacht, which was named ‘Kalizma’ after Burton’s children Kate, Liza and Maria.

First paparazzo Ron Galella on those yacht pictures

23 March 2011 Last updated at 13:34 GMT

Kalizma, moored on the river Thames at Wapping

Photographer Ron Galella had to camp out in a warehouse for days to capture exclusive photographs of film stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton on Burton's yacht.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12441723

Warhol's Elizabeth Taylor portrait to be auctioned

LONDON | Thu Mar 24, 2011 12:35pm EDT

Workers adjust Andy Warhol's ''Elizabeth Taylor'' hanging beside Edvard

Munch's ''Madonna'' at Bonhams auction house in London July 9, 2010.

(Reuters Life!) - A portrait of Hollywood actress Elizabeth Taylor by Andy Warhol will go under the hammer in New York on May 12 and is expected to fetch as much as $30 million, auctioneers Phillips de Pury said on Thursday.

A portrait of actress Elizabeth Taylor by Andy Warhol is seen at the

Phillips de Pury gallery in New York, March 28, 2011.

"Liz #5" was painted in 1963 and is "a dazzling tribute to Elizabeth Taylor," the auction house said in a statement.

Taylor died on Wednesday aged 79.

"Liz #5 is a pristine gem," said Michael McGinnis, head of contemporary art at Phillips de Pury.

"It is Warhol at his very best with a perfect screen, glowing colors, and impeccable provenance. She is classic yet every bit as cutting edge as she was when Warhol painted her nearly 50 years ago."

According to the company, the portrait "embodies the most important themes of Warhol's oeuvre including celebrity, wealth, scandal, sex, death and Hollywood.

"The epitome of old-world Hollywood style and glamour, Liz Taylor was one of Warhol's most famous inspirations alongside Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy."

The painting is estimated to be worth $20-30 million.

British actor Hugh Grant sold a Warhol portrait of Taylor in New York in 2007 for $23.6 million, several times what he paid for the work.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Steve Addison)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/24/us-elizabethtaylor-auction-idUSTRE72N55B20110324

Andy Warhol, Red Liz, 1962; painting; synthetic polymer paint and silkscreen

ink on canvas, 40 in. x 40 in. (101.6 cm x 101.6 cm); Collection SFMOMA,

Fractional purchase and bequest of Phyllis Wattis; © The Andy Warhol

Foundation for the Visual Arts / ARS, New York

Andy Warhol’s Liz #5, a turquoise portrait of the celebrity who died this week, will be auctioned at

Phillips de Pury in New York on May 12th. The work was once part of the Ileana Sonnabend collection

which was acquired by Gagosian gallery. The current seller presumably bought it from Gagosian two

years ago.