Eva-Maria Veigel (1724 - 1822). Eva Marie Veigel was a dancer and the wife of actor David Garrick. Eva Marie Veigel was born in Vienna. She was a well-known dancer of her day, using the stage name Violette or Violetti, said to be a nickname given to her by Empress Maria Theresa based on the meaning of her surname, a corruption from the Middle High German viol, violet. As Chester says, Nothing appears to be absolutely known concerning her origin. There is some doubt as to her paternity, with some saying she was the daughter of a respectable Viennese businessman named John Veigel; but Veigel and her husband were known to say she was of noble paternity. Guido Wald Rudiger, Count of Starhemberg and Richard Boyle, the Earl of Burlington are thought the most likely candidates if this claim is true. Boyle was reported to have given E6,000 as a marriage portion and to have acknowledged her as a natural daughter. She had a brother, Ferdinand Charles, who was also a ballet dancer. One French biography of her life claimed she was known to be one of the most beautiful women in all of Europe. She emigrated to London in 1746, speaking little English. It is rumored that the Empress sent her there as a banishment, after noticing the Emperor taking too great a fancy to her for her beauty, though this story is often thought unlikely.