Editing Lillie Langtry (section)

==Life==
[[File:Lillie langtry.JPG|thumb|Portrait of Langtry by [[Frank Miles]], before 1891]]
Born in 1853 and known as Lillie from childhood, she was the daughter of the Very Reverend William Corbet Le Breton and his wife, Emilie Davis (née Martin), a recognised beauty.<ref name="autogenerated1 " >{{cite web|url=http://www.jaynesjersey.com/lillielang.htm |title=Lillie Langtry |work=jaynesjersey.com |access-date=15 June 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150215023200/http://jaynesjersey.com/lillielang.htm |archive-date=15 February 2015 }}</ref> Lillie's parents had eloped to [[Gretna Green]] in Scotland, and, in 1842, married at [[St Luke's Church, Chelsea]], London.<ref name="Camp, Anthony 2007 p. 366" >[[Anthony J. Camp|Camp, Anthony]]. ''Royal Mistresses and Bastards: Fact and Fiction: 1714–1936'' (2007), p. 366.</ref> The couple lived in [[Southwark]], London, before William was offered the post of [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|rector]] and [[dean of Jersey]]. Emilie Charlotte (Lillie) was born at the Old Rectory, [[Saint Saviour, Jersey|St Saviour]], on [[Jersey]]. She was baptised in St Saviour on 9 November 1853.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home JerripediaBMD |url=http://search.jerripediabmd.net/Default |access-date=2023-01-10 |website=search.jerripediabmd.net}}</ref>

Lillie was the sixth of seven children and the only 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]].<ref>However, Lillie's pedigree in ''Burke's Landed Gentry'' (vol. 3, 1972, pages 526–7) begins in the fifteenth century and suggests a descent from 'Sir Reginald Le Breton, one of the four kts. concerned in the death of Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury'.</ref>

In an 1882-interview Lillie said: 'Yes, I was born and educated in Jersey, but it is not correct for you to say that I spent my bread-and-butter days there. I never had any bread-and-butter days. As the only sister of six stout brothers I shared their outdoor sports in a most boyish fashion. It would be more accurate to describe my girlhood as my " tomboy days," I think.'<ref>{{Cite web |title=INTERVIEWED THE JERSEY LILY. |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DTN18821003.2.21#image-tab |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}}</ref>

Lillie's French [[governess]] was reputed to have been unable to manage her, so Lillie was educated by her brothers' tutor. This education was of a wider and more solid nature than that typically given to girls at that time.<ref>{{cite book|last=Langtry|first=Lillie|title=The Days I Knew – An Autobiography|year=1989|publisher=Redberry Press|location=St. John|page=Chapter 1 – Call Me Lillie}}</ref> Although their father held the respectable position of Dean of Jersey, he earned an unsavoury reputation as a philanderer, and fathered illegitimate (or natural) children by various of his parishioners. When his wife Emilie finally left him in 1880, he left Jersey.<ref>[[Anthony J. Camp|Camp, Anthony]]. ''Royal Mistresses and Bastards: Fact and Fiction 1714–1936'' (London, 2007). p. 365. {{ISBN|9780950330822}}</ref>

===Life in London===
[[File:Red Gauntlet.jpg|thumb|The yacht ''Red Gauntlet'', owned by Edward Langtry, Lillie's husband.|left]]On 9 March 1874, 20-year-old Lillie married 26-year-old Irish landowner [[Edward Langtry]] (1847–1897), a widower. Langtry was the widower of Jane Frances Price,<ref>{{cite web |title=Marriage Register of St Saviour's Church – entry for Edward Langtry, 26 and Emilie Charlotte de Breton, 20 |url=https://catalogue.jerseyheritage.org/collection/Details/archive/110356435?page=2 |website=Jersey Heritage |access-date=24 July 2019}}</ref> whose sister, Elizabeth Ann Price, was the wife of Lillie's brother William.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dudley|first=Ernest|title=The Gilded Lily|year=1958|publisher=Odhams Press Limited|location=London|pages=34–35}}</ref> Lillie and Edward held their wedding reception at The Royal Yacht Hotel in [[St Helier]], Jersey. Langtry owned a large sailing yacht called ''Red Gauntlet'', and Lillie insisted that he take her away from the [[Channel Islands]].<ref>{{cite news |date=22 March 1882 |title=The Yacht Red Gauntlet |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/63186028/5731537 |access-date=20 March 2018 |publisher=Illustrated Australian News}}</ref> In 1876 they rented an apartment in Eaton Place, [[Belgravia]], London.<ref name=":0 " >{{cite book |last=Aronson |first=Theo |title=The King in Love |publisher=Corgi Books |year=1989 |location=London |page=74}}</ref>

In 1877, Lillie's brother Clement married Alice, an illegitimate daughter of [[Viscount Ranelagh]], their father's friend. After meeting her in London, Ranelagh invited her to a reception attended by several notable artists at the home of Sir John and Lady Sebright on 29 April 1877.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Looking for Lillie Langtry |url=http://kilburnwesthampstead.blogspot.com/2021/05/looking-for-lillie-langtry.html |website=kilburnwesthampstead.blogspot.com}}</ref> Here she attracted notice for her beauty and wit.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beatty |first1=Laura |title=Lillie Langtry: Manners, Masks and Morals |date=1999 |publisher=Chatto & Windus |isbn=1-8561-9513-9 |chapter=Chapter III:London |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/lillielangtryman0000beat/page/32/mode/2up?view=theater |chapter-url-access=registration}}</ref> Langtry was in [[mourning]] for her youngest brother, who had been killed in a riding accident, so in contrast to the elaborate clothes of most women in attendance, she wore a simple black dress (which was to become her trademark) and no jewellery.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Langtry |first1=Lillie |title=The Days I Knew |date=2000 |publisher=Panoply Publications |page=Chapter 2}}</ref> Before the end of the evening, [[Frank Miles]] had completed several sketches of her that became very popular on [[Postcard|postcards]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Frank Miles Drawing |url=http://www.lillielangtry.com/London.htm |access-date=30 May 2008 |publisher=lillielangtry.com}}</ref> Lady Sebrights' salon, where artistic and aristocratic audiences overlapped, was 'the ideal springboard' for Langtry.<ref>Aronson, ''King in Love'', 24.</ref> This company was 'always on the outlook for new diversion, new sensations and new faces'.<ref>Aronson, ''King in Love'', 25</ref> [[File:Lillie Langtry by Millais.jpg|thumb|upright|right|''A Jersey Lily'' by Sir [[John Everett Millais]]. Exhibited at the [[Royal Academy of Arts]] in London to large crowds, this 1878 portrait popularised her nickname, the "Jersey Lily".]]In an 1882-interview, Langty how "[m]y life in Jersey had been spent almost entirely in the open air, and as Mr Langtry was fond of yachting I became an expert yachtswoman and was very fond of all sorts of outdoor exercise, but I longed to see something more of the world."<ref>''Daily Telegraph'', 3 October 1812, Issue 3507, page 4. [https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DTN18821003.2.21#image-tab Copy of the ''New York Herald'' -interview]</ref> She would later remember Miles as one of her "most enthusastic" friends, who first saw her at a theatre then asked around about the unknown "beauty". After learning Lillie's identity, Miles "begged [her] to sit for a portrait." The painting made then was purchased by [[Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany|Prince Leopold]], and Lillie became famous and popular among the nobles of London and the royal family.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Interview with the Jersey Lillie|url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=DTN18821003.2.21|work=Daily Telegraph|issue=3507|date= October 3, 1882|page=4|access-date=November 26, 2013}}</ref>

Another guest, Sir [[John Everett Millais]], also a Jersey native, eventually painted her portrait, titling it ''A Jersey Lily'' after the Jersey lily flower (''[[Amaryllis]] belladonna''), a symbol of the country. The portrait popularised Jersey Lily as Langtry's nickname,<ref name="crosby " >{{cite news |last1=Crosby |first1=Edward Harold |title=Under the Spotlight |work=Boston Sunday Post |date=23 January 1916 |page=29}}</ref> although Langtry was portrayed holding a [[Nerine sarniensis|Guernsey lily]] (''Nerine sarniensis'') in the painting, as no Jersey lilies were available.<ref name=":2" /> According to tradition, the two Jersey natives spoke [[Jèrriais]] during the sittings. The painting attracted great interest when exhibited at the [[Royal Academy of Arts|Royal Academy]] and had to be roped off to avoid damage by the crowds.<ref name="crosby " />  A friend of Millais, Rupert Potter (father of [[Beatrix Potter]]), was a keen amateur photographer and took pictures of Lillie during her visit to Millais in Scotland in 1879.<ref name=":2">{{cite web |last1=Potter |first1=Rupert |title=A Jersey Pair |url=http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1368019/a-jersey-pair-photograph-potter-rupert/ |website=V&A Search and Collection |date=September 1879 |publisher=V&A |access-date=13 February 2020}}</ref> She also sat for Sir [[Edward Poynter]] and is depicted in works by Sir [[Edward Burne-Jones]]. In early 1878, the Langtrys moved to 17 Norfolk Street (now 19 [[Dunraven Street]]) off [[Park Lane]] to accommodate the growing demands of Lillie's society visitors.<ref name=":0 " />

Lillie Langtry arrived in the late 1870s, the heyday of 'the Professional Beauties'. [[Margot Asquith]] later explained that Langtry's youth was the time 'of the great beauties. London worshipped beauty like the [[Ancient Greece|Greeks]]'.<ref>Margot Asquith, ''The Autobiography of Margot Asquith'' (Thornton Butterworth, London, 1920) 58</ref>  According to Asquith, Langtry became the centre of a social excitement excelling that around the other 'Beauties'. '"The Jersey Lily" – as Mrs. Langtry was called – had Greek features, a transparent skin, arresting eyes, fair hair, and a firm white throat. She held herself erect, refused to tighten her waist, and to see her walk was if you saw a beautiful hound set upon its feet. It was a day of conspicuous feminine looks and the miniature beauties of to-day would have passed with praise, but without emotion.'<ref name=":1 " /> Langtry was beautiful in an 'unusual' way in vogue with [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood|pre-Raphaelite]] ideals: 'the column of a neck, the square jaw, the well-defined lips, the straight nose, the slate-blue eyes, the pale skin (she was nicknamed Lillie, she tells us, because of her lily-white complexion), even the hair loosely knotted in the nape off the neck'.<ref>Aronson, ''King in Love'', 23. </ref>

Her looks offered a good opportunity for painters: '[m]y sketches of Lillie during her first London season', wrote Miles twenty years later, 'earned far more than I've ever made on the largest commissions for my most expensive paintings.' Winning Lillie even wider recognition were her photographic likeness, a relatively new art. The 'Professional Beauties', all members of high society, were photographed in every conceivable attitude. The craze for collecting these pictures – a craze foreshadowing the popularity of first film stars and then pop stars – was not confined to the middle classes. Also many an aristocratic drawing room boasted a leather-bound, brass-locked album featuring the faces of the "Professional Beauty's" of the season.<ref>Aronson, ''King in Love'', 34.</ref>

Asquith heard from her sister, Chartie Ribblesdale, about a ball at which "several fashionable ladies had stood upon their chairs to see Mrs. Langtry come into the room. In a shining top-hat, and skin-tight habit, she rode a chestnut thoroughbred of conspicuous action very evening in [[Rotten Row]]. Among her adorers were the [[Edward VII|Prince of Wales]], (King Edward) and [[Hugh Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale|the present Earl of Lonsdale]]." Ribblesdale also remembered a story about Langry and Lonsdale "paus[ing] at the railings in Rotten Row to talk to a man of her acquaintance. I do not know what she could have said to him, but after a brief exchange of words, Lord Lonsdale jumped off his horse, sprang over the railings, and with clenched fists hit Mrs. Langtry's admirer in the face. Upon this, a free fight ensued, and to the delight of the surprised spectators, Lord Lonsdale knocked his adversary down.'<ref name=":1 " >Margot Asquith, Countess of Oxford, ''More Memories''(Cassell, London 1933) 31-32</ref>

{{Quote box
| title = Recollections of Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick
| quote = "In the studio I found the loveliest woman I have ever seen. And how can any words of mine convey that beauty? I may say that she had dewy, violet eyes, a complexion like a peach, and a mass of lovely hair drawn back in a soft knot at the nape of her classic head. But how can words convey the vitality, the glow, the amazing charm, that made this fascinating woman the centre of any group the entered? She was in the freshness of her young beauty that day in the studio. She was poor, and wore a dowdy black dress, but my stepfather lost his heart to her [...] The friends we had invited to meet the lovely Lily Langtry were as willingly magnetised by her unique personality as we were. To show how little dress has to do with the effect she produced, I may say that for that evening she wore the same dowdy black dress as on the previous day, merely turned back at the throat and trimmed with a Toby frill of white lisse, as some concession to the custom of evening dress. Soon we had the most beautiful woman of the day down at Easton, and my sisters and myself were her admiring slaves. [...] [M]y own infatuation, for its was little less, for lovely Lily Langtry continued for many a day... [...] The average of good looks to-day is much higher, but there is none to equal Lily Langtry."<ref>Frances, Countess of Warwick, ''Life's Ebb & Flow'' (Hutchinson & Co, London, 1929) 46-47. Lady Warwick was also a very good friend of King Edward VII and supposed to be more than that.</ref>
}}

The royal biographer [[Theo Aronson]] has highlighted the importance of social changes that formed the backdrop of Langry's success. In the late 1870s, high society became less exclusive following the example of the [[Edward VII|Prince of Wales]], who preferred the company of 'very rich men', regardless of whether they had an [[Aristocracy|aristocratic]] lineage. By the time Langtry was introduced, '[b]usiness acumen, beauty and, to a lesser extent, brains were becoming enough to get one accepted'. This 'opening-up' partially explains the success of Langtry. While she was not an aristocrat and would not have been welcomed during previous decades, her husband was a wealthy landowner and her father, as a clergyman, counted on the same level as [[landed gentry]]. Her behaviour was in line with aristocratic expectations: 'her air, despite her vivacity and sensuality, was well-bred: she knew how to conduct herself in public'.<ref>Aronson, ''King in Love'', 32.</ref> 

In 1878, Langtry attracted a lot of attention during the [[Ascot Racecourse|Ascot races]], being 'at the height of her beauty and fame'. Crowds followed her everywhere she went, and she became 'the most advertised beauty in Europe'. According to Lady Augusta Fane's recollections, Langtry was made so popular by her 'naturalness' and charm; 'she had no affections and no "make-up," either of face or mind; she was just herself, so no one could help loving her, with her gay, light-hearted nature'.<ref>Lady Augusta Fane, ''Chit-Chat'' (Thornton Butterworth, London, 1926) 70-71.</ref> However, there was another reason why Langtry attracted so much attention in 1878: the Prince of Wales was often seen in public with her.

===Royal mistress===
[[File:Lilly Langtry, 1885.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=A photograph of Lillie Langtry, dated to August 1885.|Portrait of Langtry by [[W. & D. Downey|William Downey]] of Ebury Street, London, 1885]]
[[File:Cupboard in Langtry Manor Hotel - 2012.jpg|thumb|Cupboard in Langtry Manor Hotel - 2010]]
On 24 May, 1877, while his wife was staying in [[Athens]] with her brother, [[George I of Greece|King George I of Greece]], [[Edward VII|Albert Edward, Prince of Wales]] took [[supper]] with the [[Arctic exploration|Arctic explorer]] Sir [[Allen Young]]. There, he met Edward and Lillie Langtry. The 23-year-old Lillie had been discovered only a month earlier but had already taken London society by storm. It was soon presumed that Langtry had become the [[Mistress (lover)|mistress]] of the Prince of Wales, but no immediate scandal arose. The Princes's wife, [[Alexandra of Denmark]], accepted the situation and received her at parties in [[Marlborough House]], the couple's London residence.<ref>Philip Magnus, King Edward the Seventh (London 1964) 153-154; Gordon Brook-Shepherd, Uncle of Europe. The Social and Diplomatic Life of Edward VII (London 1975) 55-56</ref>

However, there are some doubts. [[Jane Ridley]] has questioned the myth which Lillie Langtry created about herself, especially the role of the future Edward VII. She critiques Langtry's narrative of herself as an innocent country girl to whom success just happened. Ridley considers Langtry's entrance to London society to have been carefully planned, even if more successful than she could have hoped. In an 1882 interview, Langtry herself said that '[m]y pedigree was good and my person in Jersey society being assured, it was not surprising that I should be well-received'. At the same time, she denied that she had ever set herself up as a beauty. 'I never thought I was one, and I don't think I am now. I am never in the least surprised when I hear people say they are very much disappointed about my beauty'.<ref>Jane Ridley, ''Bertie. A Life of Edward VII'' (London 2012) 202-204.</ref>

Ridley also expressed doubts on the nature of Langtry's relationship with the Prince of Wales. No letters from this time have survived,<ref>Ridley, ''Bertie'', 207. Theo Aronson assumes that Lillie Langtry has probably destroyed compromising letters just like she refused many offers from publishers to write revealing memoirs. Her published memories in ''The Days I Knew'' were innocent. There is no mention in ''The Days I Knew''about her extramarital daughter; most of her lovers, including Prince Louis of Battenberg, are not even mentioned. Aronson, ''King in Love'', 260-268. Philip Magnus describes in his biography ''King Edward the Seventh'' (page 461) that the king had ordered by his will that all his private and personal correspondence, including those with Queen Alexandra and Queen Victoria, should be destroyed. All papers after his death were in 'dire confusion' and it was clear a vast number of papers were burned.</ref> and many of the stories seem to be exaggerated or wrong. For example, Langtry is alleged to have [[Consummation|consummated]] her relationship with Prince Edward when his wife, Alexandra, refused to accompany him to a royal house party at [[Crichel]] in January 1878. In fact, Alexandra played a central role at this event.<ref>Ridley, ''Bertie'', 207.</ref>

According to Ridley, Langtry published a false story about her presentation at court to [[Queen Victoria]]. Langtry alleges that despite being presented towards the end of the evening, by when the Queen had usually retired, Victoria waited to see her. At a ball later that night, she was supposedly told that the Queen had 'had a great desire to see [her], and had stayed on in order to satisfy herself as to [Langtry's] appearance. It was even added that she was annoyed because [she] was so late in passing'.<ref>Lillie Langty, ''The Days I Knew'' (Redberry Press, 1989) 65-66.</ref> Ridley concludes that this [[anecdote]] was made up by Langtry, as she alleged the presence of the Prince and Princess of Wales, who were in Paris at the time, probably on purpose to avoid embarrassing them by presenting the alleged mistress of Bertie.<ref>Ridley, ''Bertie,'' 207.</ref> In Ridley's view, Langtry invented stories implying that she was recognised as royal mistress.<ref>Ridley, ''Bertie'', 211; referring to Beatty, ''Lillie Langtry'', 1-9.</ref> Langtry manor in Bournemouth, supposedly built for clandestine meetings between the Prince and Lillie at his orders, was in fact built for [[Emily Langton Massingberd|Emily Langton Langton]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://anthonyjcamp.com/pages/anthony-j-camp-additions | title=Anthony J. Camp - ADDITIONS }}</ref>

Ridley couldn't find evidence about the exact nature of the relationship between Lillie Langtry and the Prince of Wales. However, there is correspondence between the Prince's private secretary, [[Francis Knollys, 1st Viscount Knollys|Francis Knollys]], and the Prince's [[solicitor]], [[Sir George Lewis, 1st Baronet|George Lewis]], which suggests that Edward Langtry used George Lewis as a broker, offering his silence and cash in exchange for the Prince's love letters. Lewis kept Knollys closely informed about the death of Edward Langtry in 1897. The Prince of Wales, meanwhile, maintained a lifelong friendship with Lillie.<ref>Ridley, ''Bertie'', 225-226, notes 69 & 72 on page 530</ref> 

Whatever it exactly was, Lillie's liaison with the Prince lasted from late 1877 to June 1880.<ref>{{cite book |last=Beatty |first=Laura |author-link=Laura Beatty |title=Lily Langtry: Manners, Masks and Morals |publisher=Chatto & Windus |year=1999 |isbn=1-8561-9513-9 |location=London |page=173 |chapter=XX: The Storm Breaks |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/lillielangtryman0000beat/page/172/mode/2up?view=theater |chapter-url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="mistresses">Camp, Anthony. ''Royal Mistresses and Bastards: Fact and Fiction: 1714–1936'' (2007), pp. 364–67.<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed --></ref>

=== The Shrewsbury scandal ===
In July 1879, Langtry began an affair with [[Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury|Lord Shrewsbury]]; in January 1880, they were planning to run away together.<ref>{{cite book |last=Beatty |first=Laura |author-link=Laura Beatty |title=Lily Langtry: Manners, Masks and Morals |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/lillielangtryman0000beat/page/164/mode/2up?view=theater |year=1999 |publisher=Chatto & Windus |location=London |isbn=1-8561-9513-9 |pages=164–165 |chapter=XIX: Storm Clouds |chapter-url-access=registration}}</ref> In the autumn of 1879, 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]]. The Prince of Wales instructed his solicitor [[Sir George Lewis, 1st Baronet|George Lewis]] to sue. Rosenberg pleaded guilty was sentenced to two years in prison.<ref>{{cite book|last=Juxon|first=John|title=Lewis & Lewis|year=1983|publisher=Collins|location=London|page=179}}</ref>[[File:Inside Langty Manor House in 2010.jpg|thumb|Original poster - on show in Langtry Manor House in 2010.]]

In 1880, Langtry's reputation was tarnished by the Shrewsbury scandal, rumours of divorce, and a secret pregnancy. Many people refused to receive her, and with the withdrawal of royal favour, [[Creditor|creditors]] started demading their money. The Langtrys' finances were not equal to their lifestyle. In October 1880, Langtry sold many of her possessions to meet her debts, allowing him to avoid a declaration of [[bankruptcy]].<ref name="Jaynes " >{{cite web|url=http://www.jaynesjersey.com/lillielang.htm |title=Changing fortunes |publisher=jaynesjersey.com |access-date=30 May 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150215023200/http://jaynesjersey.com/lillielang.htm |archive-date=15 February 2015 }}</ref> Lillie went abroad to give birth. Afterwards, the Prince of Wales, staunch in friendship, procured an opening for her: he introduced her to the actor-manager [[Squire Bancroft]], who controlled the [[Theatre Royal Haymarket|Haymarket Theatre]] and the Prince of Wales’ theatres. The Prince of Wales encouraged her by visiting the theatre while she was on stage and did everything in his power to help her.<ref>Magnus, King Edward the Seventh, 172-173; Brook-Shepherd, Uncle of Europe, 56-59</ref>

===Daughter===
Lillie Langtry had a short affair with [[Prince Louis of Battenberg]]. However, the discovery of letters of Lillie Langtry to Arthur Clarence Jones (1854–1930), gives the impression she also had an affair or at least an intimate friendship with this childhood friend of her brothers who continued to live on Jersey. Arthur Jones was the brother of her sister-in-law; both were illegitimate children of Lord Ranelagh.<ref name="RoyalMistresses " >[[Anthony J. Camp|Camp, Anthony]]. ''Royal Mistresses and Bastards: Fact and Fiction: 1714–1936'' (2007), pp. 364–67</ref> 

In June 1880, Lillie became pregnant. Her husband was not the father. Edward Langtry had walked out after a libel case. The obvious candidate was Prince Louis of Battenburg. Jane Ridley compared the dates with the diary of the Prince of Wales: Prince Louis was staying at Marlborough House on June 27, the likely conception date. Anyway, Lillie led Prince Louis to believe that he was the father of her child. Lillie was lent 2000 pounds by the Prince of Wales to pay her debts. At the same time, Edward Langtry, who often visited her unannounced, was prevented from seeing her. Edward Langtry was constantly occupied with invitations to shoot or fish. Keeping him in ignorance of the pregnancy was vital: he was angry and resentful. The worry was that if Edward Langtry discovered that his wife was pregnant by another man, he might sue for divorce, dragging the Prince of Wales into the law courts. Lillie spent the summer holiday in Jersey. One Friday in October, by now four months pregnant, she visited London briefly and saw the Prince of Wales. On 17 October, the Prince of Wales held a meeting with his doctor, Oscar Clayton, and saw Louis Battenberg. The same day, Louis departed on a two-year voyage round the world on the aptly named warship {{HMS|Inconstant|1868|6}}. Lillie herself was spirited away to France. On 18 March 1881 she gave birth to a baby – a girl named Jeanne Marie.<ref>Ridley, ''Bertie'', 224</ref> 

The discovery in 1978 of Langtry's letters to Arthur Jones and publication of quotations from them by [[Laura Beatty]] in 1999 support the idea that Jones was the father of Langtry's daughter. Possibly she told him ''he'' was the father of the child. Anyway, in a letter she pressed Jones to go a chemist to buy potions to make her miscarry. During her pregnancy she wrote him passionately written letters and assured him how much she needed him. Jones probably stayed with her in Paris after she wrote him a letter with the dates she would give birth – according to her doctor.<ref>Beatty, ''Lillie Langtry'', 177, 186-215. The letters were already mentioned by Theo Aronson in ''The King of Love'', 74: 'A cache of sixty-five love letters, written by Lillie to Arthur Henry Jones, was discovered in a battered green box in an attic in a Jersey farmhouse. The box had apparently been brought there by Arthur Jones’s niece, many years ago. The tone of these letters is passionate; the relationship between Lillie Langtry and Arthur Jones was undoubtedly sexual. Always addressing him as "My Darling", she often tells him when it will be safe for him to visit her. "Please, please, hurry back," she writes on one occasion. "I want you so much."' Aronson himself referred to an article in ''The Times'', but used the wrong date. The quotations are from this article, published on 30 November 1978. The letters were sold through Christie's to an anynomous buyer. Lord Mountbatten of Birma and the granddaughter of Lillie Langtry, in the 1950s a well-known BBC-announcer, denied both to be the buyer of the letters. ''The Times'' stated in this article, which included also published the key-quotation of the chemist, that Arthur Jones was the secret lover of Lillie Langtry. The (65) letters were sold in the period that the television series ''Lillie'' was broadcast. Laura Beatty was the first to use the letters. She doesn't recall the name of owner of the letters. Her only reference: 'I am also indebted to Richard Macnutt who was instrumental in finding the Jones correspondence and negotiating it access. With the help of these two, this book would simply never have been written. 'The first person is Mary McFadyen, Lillie's granddaughter. She was helpful in general in her support of the project. Beatty, ''Lillie Langtry'', 317.</ref>

Prince Louis' son, [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Earl Mountbatten of Burma]], however, had always maintained that his father was the father of Jeanne Marie.<ref>''Daily Telegraph'', 27 September 1978; ''Evening News'', 23 October 1978.</ref><ref>''Daily Telegraph'', 27 September 1978, p. 19: "Mountbatten 'knew of affair'.'Earl Mountbatten of Burma knew that the affair between his father, Prince Louis of Battenberg, and Lillie Langtry produced an illegitimate child, it was disclosed yesterday. The child, a girl, was the mother of Mary Malcolm, the former BBC television announcer. The heartbreak of the subsequent hush-up is recalled by Mary Malcolm in an interview with Woman’s Own. Lord Mountbatten was not available for comment yesterday but his spokesman said of the illegitimacy: "Certainly he is aware of it. Whether it was ever discussed with his father I have no idea. I would imagine not— that is going back a long time."'Digital available in ''The Telegraph Historical Archive/Gale Primary Sources''. Access through library-subscription is necessary.</ref>

Jeanne Marie was only told who her father was, by [[Margot Asquith]], when she was twenty years old.<ref>''Chips, The Diaries of Henry Channon'' (London 1967) 241.</ref> A story around this discovery tells Jeanne Marie complained bitterly of her illegitimacy. She was asked sharply by her mother, 'Who would you prefer to have as a father, a penniless drunken Irishman or a Royal Prince and the most handsome of all naval officers?'<ref>Quoted by Hough, ''Louis and Victoria'', 98. Hough doesn't give a reference to this quotation so it possible it is apocryphal. However, the letters of Lillie Langtry to Arthur Jones – as published partly by Laura Beatten – Lillie's husband "Ned" was not only a suspicious nuisance and a problem during the pregnancy, but also a drunkard: 'Darling, I am utterly miserable and your letter makes me still more so. Ned is drinking and behaving so badly. I don't think he will stay with me. We quarrelled just now about the amount of drink he consumes and he had rushed off to....get money to pay the bill. I don't know ''even'' if he will come to Berkeley Street where we go today.' Other letters to Jones make clear Arthur Jones also drank too much; this worried Lillie Langtry. Beatty, ''Lillie Langtry'', 199-200.''</ref>