Eliza Lynch was born near Blackrock, County Cork. Although her own family was poor, she claimed an exalted Anglo-Irish family tree that included bishops, vice-admirals and magistrates. When Eliza was still a child, her life took a turn for the exotic when the Lynches emigrated to Paris in search of better living conditions.
At just fourteen years of age, Eliza married a vet from the French Army and moved to Algiers. The ill-advised match lasted only two years, after which time Eliza returned to Paris and, as a no-longer-respectable, separated woman, slowly entered the murky world of the courtesan. After several minor liaisons, she started an affair with Don Francisco Solano Lopez, eldest son of the president of Paraguay. When Lopez returned to Paraguay in 1855, Eliza went with him.
In due course, Lopez’s father died and he became the marshall-president of Paraguay (population: one million). Madame Lynch, as she was now known, became his consort and main advisor. Everything was relatively tranquil for nine years until, in 1864, war broke out between Paraguay and the massed forces of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.
While Lopez took charge of the army, Eliza formed and commanded a female regiment made up of the women of Paraguay’s native Guarani people, who fought alongside the men. As the situation became more serious, Lopez made Eliza the Regent of Paraguay so he could concentrate on fighting. The popular Eliza was now in charge of State affairs.
The war continued for four years, during which time Eliza had to leave statecraft and again take up arms alongside Lopez. In a desperate stand at Cerro in northwest Paraguay, she is said to have distinguished herself as a soldier. Two years later, in 1870, Lopez was killed by the enemy forces. Eliza tried to escape with her four sons, but this caused mutiny in the ranks and her eldest son was murdered. It is said she buried both her lover and her son in the same grave with her bare hands.
After capture by the Brazilians and eventual release, Madame Eliza Lynch returned to Europe and lived the rest of her life in poverty. When she died she was buried at Père Lachaise cemetery, Paris, but, in the 1930s, her body was re-interred in the Panthene do Los Heroes in Paraguay’s capital, Ascuncion. Paraguay has since declared her a national hero.