24th May 1877
Lillie Langtry and the Prince of Wales begin their affair
Lillie Langtry first met King Edward VII at a dinner. He was still plain Bertie, then (Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales), and had specifically asked that she sit with him. They were both already married – he to Alexandra of Denmark and she to Edward Langtry – but that didn’t stop them becoming romantically involved.
Whether this was a problem for the prince’s wife is unclear, but she is said to have accepted Langtry, whom Bertie even introduced to his mother, Queen Victoria.
A woman of many men
The affair lasted for three years, but Langtry was seemingly involved with another man, Arthur Jones, for it is thought that he was the father of the daughter to which she gave birth in 1881.
Langtry later had affairs with the Earl of Shrewsbury and Prince Louis of Battenberg. She divorced Edward Langtry in 1897 and married Sir Hugo Gerald de Bathe two years later, although the two spent much of their time apart.
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Other events that occured in May
Potato diggers start work but end up in court
- Philippe Simon appeared in court when he refused to pay the labourers he’d employed to dig up his potatoes.
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An Occupation escape attempt goes wrong
- Three Jersey men were captured when their wartime escape attempt failed. They were sent to mainland Europe where Maurice Gould died.
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A jilted lover shoots his bride to be (or was she his wife?)
- Francis Caillot, a town crier and boot maker, was convicted of murder and was transported to Tasmania as punishment.
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Jersey court fines man three months’ pay for swearing
- The Jersey court fined a man almost three months' pay for uttering a single swear word at his boss in 1891.
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