Fictional Character Biography
According to "A Scandal in Bohemia," Adler was born in New Jersey in 1858. She followed a career in opera as a contralto, performing in La Scala, Milan, Italy, and a term as prima donna in the Imperial Opera of Warsaw, Poland, indicating that she was an extraordinary singer (in reality, there was no Imperial Opera in Warsaw). While in Warsaw she was described as "a well-known adventuress" (a term widely used at the time in ambiguous association with "courtesan"). It was there that she became the lover of Wilhelm Gottsreich Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein and King of Bohemia, who was staying in Warsaw for a period. According to the king, she had "the face of the most beautiful of women and the mind of the most resolute of men". The king eventually returned to his court in Prague. Adler, then in her late twenties, retired and moved to London.
On 20 March 1888 the king made an incognito visit to Holmes in London. He asked the famous detective to secure a photograph from Adler showing the king with her. The 30-year-old King explained to Holmes that he intended to marry Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the King of Scandinavia; the marriage would be threatened if his prior relationship with Adler should come to light.
Using his considerable skill for disguise, Holmes traced her movements and learned much of her private life, notably that she is about to be married. He then set up a faked incident to cause a diversion that would let him discover where the picture was hidden. Adler detected Holmes through his disguise, but, before this, she treated him, as the supposed victim of a crime outside her home, with spontaneous care and solicitude.
When he came back to snatch the photo, he found Adler gone, along with her new husband and the goods, which had been replaced with a letter to Holmes, explaining how she had outwitted him, but also that she was happy with her new husband, who had more honourable feeling than her former lover. She added that she would not compromise the king, provided he did not try anything against her in the future.
Read more about this topic: Irene Adler
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