In 1848, Lola Montez plunged the Kingdom of Bavaria into an unprecedented crisis, which ultimately led to King Ludwig I's abdication and resignation of his crown. The 61-year-old king was so infatuated with the 25-year-old dancer from Ireland that he incited a large portion of the population against him, forced his government to resign, granted Lola citizenship rights to elevate her to Countess of Landsfeld, purchased her a luxury palace, and showered her with money and gifts. The three-year relationship, which had always been trivialized as a romantic affair, was the greatest state affair of the Kingdom of Bavaria, the extent of which only became apparent through the correspondence between the two released 150 years later and the records of architect Leo von Klenze. Sex, power, and money were, as in today's celebrity scandals, the breeding ground for the scandal that the charming Lola stirred up in 1850.