The Legend of Lily Langtry
On this day in 1853, theatre star and socialite Lily Langtry was born. With a career and life defined by speculation and applause, Langtry is an important part of British theatre history – and, perhaps, royal history as well.
Written by Aaron Cawood
The Jersey Lily
Born Emilie Charlotte Le Breton, Lily was the daughter of the Dean of Jersey, where she was raised. From the start, Lily’s story was one of bold certainty. In a family of seven children, Lily was the only girl, and she rejected the governess tasked with wrangling her, opting to be educated alongside her brothers instead. It would be in 1872 when, having left Jersey, Lily took a husband. Edward Langtry was a landowner – and, maybe more importantly for our story, a boat-owner. Upon The Red Gauntlet, Edward’s yacht, the two would sail away for London, after Lily would take a lesson from a serious bout of typhoid and argue that London would be good for her health.
Whether or not London was truly good for her health may be unprovable, but it was certainly good for exposure. By the end of 1877, three years after arriving in London, much of Lily’s fate would change. First, a dinner saw her introduced to artist Sir John Everett Millais. It would be from Millais that Lily took the nickname The Jersey Lily, which also made up the title of the portrait he would go on to produce of her. Frank Miles, also in attendance, created popular postcards of sketches of her face. Her beauty was, in a literal sense, the talk of the town, whether she was turning heads at Ascot, or chatting casually over dinner. Hibbert says, in his biography of the life of Edward VII, that she had swiftly “established herself as one of the most sought after beauties in London.” With that reputation for striking beauty and cutting wit, Lily would soon find herself taking the stage by storm, as well as taking the eye of a notorious royal…
A Jersey Lily by John Everett Millais. Credit: Jersey Heritage
Lily Langtry
Lily's name in the logbooks for City Varieties Music Hall
A right royal secret, and a star
Lily Langtry attended a dinner in May 1877, during which she was introduced to Prince Edward VII. She’d already generated quite the name for herself as a socialite, and some accounts of this story suggest this private dinner was organised for that very reason. Others say it was a chance encounter. Whatever the truth, Hibbert’s biography notes that the prince was “captivated by this tall, graceful, glowingly voluptuous woman,” and the pair would go on to have strangely synchronised social diaries for the years to follow. Some of those engagements included parties hosted by the prince’s wife, Alexandra, at their home in London.
Like all scandals, secrets, and rumours, there is no historical way to verify the affair – except for chance encounters and similar schedules. There is speculation about much of Lily’s account of her relationship with the prince, but what is verifiable is that the two of them kept in close contact for the rest of their lives. Though most accounts agree that their affair ended around 1880, their friendship continued, as Edward would go on to support her professional endeavours moving forward. In Leeds, we have a personal connection to one specific endeavour of Lily’s…
Following a period of financial stress which saw Langtry parting with prized possessions and searching all avenues for stability, it was her friend Oscar Wilde who suggested that she take to the stage. It would also be Wilde who famously said, of Lily, “I would rather have discovered [Lily] Langtry than America.” From Twickenham to Theatre Royal Haymarket, all the way to several successful UK tours, Langtry and her plays were favourites with the public.
Lily Langtry
In a book on The Grand’s history, previous General Manager John Beaumont said; “June 12th [1882] brought the greatest event of the year, when Mrs Langtry paid her first visit to Leeds. She was the daughter of the Dean of Jersey, and became a famous Society beauty. After starting on the amateur stage she took up a professional career, and made her first appearance at the Haymarket Theatre on December 15th 1881, when she played Miss Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer. Her debut was such a sensation that the stalls were snatched up at £5 each. Then she came on tour, evidently to gain experience, for we are told that she improved rapidly in her acting. When she came to the Grand in She Stoops to Conquer the verdict of Leeds was that she possessed a natural power for acting which wanted developing.”
The royal crest at City Varieties Music Hall
And that’s not where our connection to Langtry, or her royal connection, ends in Leeds. As part of their ongoing friendship, it’s understood that the prince attended many of her performances, and even worked personally to drum up support and sales for her. At The Varieties, the story goes that our previous General Manager would sneak the prince in through a back entrance, from which he would slip into Box D. With the curtains drawn, he would peep through to catch a glimpse of her performance. Prince Edward was known to attend Harewood House, where he would stay and shoot grouse – and rumour suggests that, sometimes, Langtry would join him after her shows. Who’s to say how much of that is true? All that can be said for certain is that years later, once he was king, Edward gifted The Varieties a royal crest, which sits above the stage to this day. For ‘service to the arts,’ by all accounts – though it’s hard to argue that it wouldn’t also be a fairly reasonable way to thank us for our discretion…
Lily would go on to stardom in the states, training in Paris, and even managing Imperial Theatre in London. The legacy of her life would be undeniable – maybe best evidenced by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who is said to have used Langtry as inspiration for the inimitable Irene Adler. An international woman of talent, ingenuity, intrigue and beauty… yes, that sounds about right.
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