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Lillie Langtry, known as “The Jersey Lily,” was a British actress and model famous for her beauty and scandalous affairs with powerful men, including the Prince of Wales. She embarked on a successful acting career and became an American citizen after a five-year theater tour. She later married and settled in Jersey, where she died in 1925. Her life continues to fascinate people and has been portrayed in various films and television programs.
Lillie Langtry was a British actress and model who was famous for her beauty. Nicknamed “The Jersey Lily,” she became an overnight sensation simply for her looks and garnered record prices for her stage performances. Lillie Langtry was also known for her scandalous affairs with powerful men, including Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales, who would later become King Edward VII.
Lillie Langtry was born Emilie Charlotte Le Breton on 13 October 1853 to the Dean of Jersey and his wife Emilie. The only child in a family of seven, she Lillie inherited her mother’s appearance and has been called by the nickname Lillie, a reference to her perfect complexion, since childhood.
Lillie married her brother-in-law, the widower Edward Langtry, in 1874 and the two moved to London two years later. For the most part, their first year there was uneventful, although Edward began to drink heavily. A chance encounter with artists John Millais and Frank Miles at an 1877 party had beauty Lillie the talk of the town. Millais’ celebrated portrait of her, titled A Jersey Lily, cemented her fame and her picture of her was soon all over London.
Lillie Langtry met the Prince of Wales in 1877 and the two began an affair soon after. Though both were married, their relationship was no secret. Lillie Langtry also got an introduction to Queen Victoria and became friends with celebrities Oscar Wilde and James McNeill Whistler.
Lillie’s relationship with the prince was short-lived, ending after she drank too much and made a fool of herself at a party. However, the two remained friends and Lillie later became attached to her cousin, Prince Louis of Battenberg. When Lillie Langtry became pregnant in 1880, however, Prince Louis returned to the navy at the family’s insistence, and the Prince of Wales arranged for Lillie to remain in Paris until she was born.
At this point in her life, Lillie Langtry was in a state of crisis. In addition to the illegitimate pregnancy, her husband was declared bankrupt and her fame was supplanted in London by that of newcomer Sarah Bernhardt. When her daughter was born in 1881, Lillie sent her to live with her grandparents and she began a new career as an actress.
In 1882, Lillie Langtry embarked on a tour of America which turned into a five-year venture. She was once again a beloved celebrity and she began a relationship with millionaire Freddie Gebhard. At the end of her American theater tour, Lillie obtained American citizenship and a divorce from her husband.
Lillie Langtry returned to England, where she continued acting and developed an interest in horse racing. In 1899, she married the much younger Hugo de Bathe and bought a house in Jersey. During this time, she also became estranged from her daughter when she learned the truth about her parentage.
In her fifties, Lillie Langtry has tried on many different hats, performing in vaudeville in New York, writing creatively, and appearing in film. She spent her last years in Munich, settling her husband in a nearby house and spending much of her time with her butler’s widow Mathilda Peat. Lillie Langtry published an autobiography in 50 and died of influenza on February 12, 1925. She is buried in Jersey.
Lillie Langtry’s exceptional beauty and colorful life continued to fascinate people long after her death. She has been portrayed in many films, books and television programs, most notably in the 1978 miniseries Lillie, starring Francesca Annis.
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