Cleo de Merode

Cléo de Merode
1873-1966
Biarritz, France


One of the greatest Parisian beauties, of authentic Austrian nobility, Cleopatra Diane de Mérode was born in Paris, 1873, of Austrian parents. Her father was Karl Freiherr von Merode (1853-1909), living in Mödling (near Vienna) as a distinguished painter of landscapes. This being so, the painter was an offspring of a famous Belgian noble family (de Mérode). Cleo entered the Opera School of Dance at the age of eight and began to dance professionally at the age of eleven. She was a very small girl and because of her size and her great abilities in ballet, at the age of thirteen, she was picked to dance in one of the most prestigious ballets in all of Paris, the "Choryhée. She chose to wear a new hairstyle for this ballet. Parisians fell in love with her new "do" and she became legendary for it.



In 1896, at the age of 23, she was picked to dance as "Phrynee" in the Ballet of the Opera of Bordeaux and it was there she caught the eye of Leopold II, King of Belgium. The Belgian King was negotiating, with the French government, joint colonial interests in Africa against Great Britain. As these negotiations were secret, he needed some excuse. It was known that he admired the ballerina Cléopatre, so he feigned a visit to her as the reason for his Paris trip. She received a bouquet of red roses.


It didn't take long for the King's admiration of her to spread among the Parisians. Cleo de Merode became the joke of Paris and the king was dubbed "Cleopold". While Léopold was not unhappy with the new title, being eager for the Parisian sensations, Cleo de Merode protested. The alleged "affair" of Leopold with Cleo was despiteful, so much, that Cleo went to court to have it be officially stated that there was no such affair, only a gift of a bouquet of roses. Unfortunately, the rumor of the favorite royal remained attached to her name for the rest of her life. Embarrassed and outraged, she left Paris, but continued to dance internationally in Hamburg, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Budapest, and New York. She was the first female to dance with a male dance partner in the Russian Ballet. Finally in 1915, at the age of 42, Cleo de Merode returned to Paris. She received many offers to dance again, but with the Comic Opera. This was considered the bottom of the dance chain in Paris. Embarrassed and outraged, she left immediately, moving to her place of birth, Biarritz, and never returning to Paris again. But she did not stop dancing. She continued to perform, through the Red Cross, for the wounded troops of World War I, wishing to uplift the spirits of those who defended her country. She remained in Biarritz, her hometown, until her death in 1966. Although Cleo de Mérode was never able to live down the rumors of the past, she remains, today, one of the most beautiful and talented women in the world.