Emilie Charlotte Langtry (née Le Breton; October 13, 1853 – February 12, 1929), known as Lillie (or Lily) Langtry and nicknamed “The Jersey Lily“, was a British-American socialite, actress and producer.
Emilie Charlotte Langtry (née Le Breton; October 13, 1853 – February 12, 1929), known as Lillie (or Lily) Langtry and nicknamed “The Jersey Lily“, was a British-American socialite, actress and producer.
Born on the island of Jersey, upon marrying she moved to London in 1876. Her looks and personality attracted interest, commentary, and invitations from artists and intervention hostesses, and she was celebrated as a young girl of good beauty and charm.
By 1881, she had become an actress and starred in many plays in the UK and the United States, including She Stoops to Conquer, The Lady of Lyons, and As You Like It, eventually admin her own stage production company. In parenthood she performed “dramatic sketches” in vaudeville. She was after that known for her associations with noblemen, including the Prince of Wales, the Earl of Shrewsbury, and Prince Louis of Battenberg. She was the subject of widespread public and media interest.
Born in 1853 and known as Lillie from childhood, she was the daughter of the Very Reverend William Corbet Le Breton and his wife, a recognised beauty, Emilie Davis (née Martin). Lillie’s parents had eloped to Gretna Green and, in 1842, married at Chelsea. Emilie Charlotte (Lillie) was born at the Old Rectory, St Saviour in Jersey where her daddy was Rector and Dean of Jersey.
Lillie was the sixth of seven children and the on your own girl. Her brothers were Francis Corbet Le Breton (1843–1872), William Inglis Le Breton (1846–1924), Trevor Alexander Le Breton (1847–1870), Maurice Vavasour Le Breton (1849–1881), Clement Martin Le Breton (10 January 1851 – 1 July 1927), and Reginald Le Breton (1855–1876). Purportedly, one of their ancestors was Richard le Breton, allegedly one of the assassins in 1170 of Thomas Becket
Lillie’s French governess was reputed to have been unable to direct her, so Lillie was educated by her brothers’ tutor. This education was of a wider and more strong nature than that typically administered to girls at that time. Although their father held the respectable turn of Dean of Jersey, he yet earned an unsavoury reputation as a “ladies man”, fathering illegitimate children by various of his parishioners. When his wife Emilie finally left him in 1880, he left Jersey.
On March 9, 1874, 20-year-old Lillie married 26-year-old Irish landowner Edward Langtry, a widower, who had been married to Jane Frances Price. She was the sister of Elizabeth Ann Price, who had married Lillie’s brother William. They held their wedding reception at The Royal Yacht Hotel in St. Helier, Jersey. Langtry was wealthy enough to own a large sailing yacht called Red Gauntlet, and Lillie insisted that he accept her away from the Channel Islands. In 1876 they rented an apartment in Eaton Place, Belgravia, London, and in advance in 1878 they moved to 17 Norfolk Street off Park Lane to accommodate the growing demands of Lillie’s action visitors.
In an interview published in several newspapers (including the Brisbane Herald) in 1882, Lillie Langtry said:
In 1877 Lillie’s brother Clement Le Breton had married Alice, an illegitimate daughter of Thomas Heron Jones, 7th Viscount Ranelagh, a friend of their father, and Ranelagh, following a fortuitous meeting next Lillie in London had invited her to a reception attended by several noted artists at the house of Sir John and Lady Sebright at 23 Lowndes Square, Knightsbridge, which took place upon 29 April 1877. Here she attracted publication for her beauty and wit. Langtry was in mourning for her youngest brother, who had been killed in a riding accident, so in contrast to most women’s more exaggerate clothing, she wore a simple black dress (which was to become her trademark) and no jewellery. Before the terminate of the evening, Frank Miles had completed several sketches of her that became no question popular on postcards. Another guest, Sir John Everett Millais, also a Jersey native, eventually painted her portrait. Langtry’s nickname, the “Jersey Lily”, was taken from the Jersey lily flower (Amaryllis belladonna), a parable of Jersey. The nickname was popularised by Millais’ portrait, entitled A Jersey Lily. (According to tradition, the two Jersey natives spoke Jèrriais to each new during the sittings.) The painting caused good interest considering exhibited at the Royal Academy and had to be roped off to avoid damage by the crowds. Langtry was portrayed holding a Guernsey lily (Nerine sarniensis) in the painting rather than a Jersey lily, as none of the latter was handy during the sittings. A friend of Millais, Rupert Potter (father of Beatrix Potter), was a Eager amateur photographer and took pictures of Lillie whilst she was visiting Millais in Scotland in 1879. She furthermore sat for Sir Edward Poynter and is depicted in works by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. She became much sought-after in London society, and invitations flooded in. Her fame soon reached royal ears.
The Prince of Wales, Albert Edward (“Bertie”, later Edward VII), arranged to sit against Langtry at a dinner party pure by Sir Allen Young upon May 24, 1877. (Lillie’s husband Edward was seated at the other fall of the table.) Although the Prince was married to Princess Alexandra of Denmark and had six children, he was a Famous philanderer. He became infatuated later Langtry, and she soon became his mistress. She was presented to the Prince’s mother, Queen Victoria. Princess Alexandra chose to never display any jealousy not quite her husband’s infidelities and all the rage and traditional Lillie.
Lillie’s liaison considering the Prince lasted from late 1877 to June 1880. Although enduring friends taking into account the Prince, Lillie Langtry’s physical connection with him ended when she became pregnant. The daddy was probably her old buddy Arthur Jones, who accompanied her to Paris for the birth of the child, Jeanne Marie, in March 1881.
In July 1879, Langtry began an affair subsequently the Earl of Shrewsbury; in January 1880, Langtry and the earl were planning to run off together. In the autumn of 1879, scandal-mongering journalist Adolphus Rosenberg wrote in Town Talk of rumours that her husband would divorce her and cite, among others, the Prince of Wales as co-respondent. Rosenberg in addition to wrote about Patsy Cornwallis-West, whose husband sued him for libel. At this point, the Prince of Wales instructed his solicitor George Lewis to sue also. Rosenberg pleaded guilty to both charges and was sentenced to two years in prison.
For some time, the Prince saw Tiny of Langtry. He remained fond of her and spoke with ease of her in her later career as a theatre actress; he used his change to support and support her. With the invalidation of royal favour, creditors closed in. The Langtrys’ finances were not equal to their lifestyle. In October 1880, Langtry sold many of her possessions to meet her debts, allowing Edward Langtry to avoid a support of bankruptcy.
In April 1879, Langtry had a sudden affair taking into consideration Prince Louis of Battenberg, but next had a longer relationship with Arthur Clarence Jones (1854–1930), the brother of her sister-in-law and out of the ordinary illegitimate child of Lord Ranelagh. In June 1880, she became pregnant. Her husband was not the father; she led Prince Louis to acknowledge that he was. When the prince told his parents, they had him assigned to the warship HMS Inconstant. The Prince of Wales gave her a total of money, and Langtry went into her confinement in Paris, accompanied by Arthur Jones. On March 8, 1881, she gave birth to a daughter, whom she named Jeanne Marie.
The discovery in 1978 of Langtry’s excited letters to Arthur Jones and their publication by Laura Beatty in 1999 hold the idea that Jones was the dad of Langtry’s daughter. Prince Louis’ son, Earl Mountbatten of Burma, had always maintained that his dad was the daddy of Jeanne Marie.
In 1902, Jeanne Marie married the Scottish politician Sir Ian Malcolm at St Margaret’s, Westminster. They had four children, three sons and a daughter. Lady Malcolm died in 1964. Her daughter Mary Malcolm was one of the first two female announcers on the BBC Television Service (now BBC One) from 1948 to 1956. She died upon 13 October 2010, aged 92. Jeanne Marie’s second son, Victor Neill Malcolm, married English actress Ann Todd. They divorced in the late 1930s. Malcolm remarried in 1942 to an American, Mary Ellery Channing.