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
Traffic returns to the “right” side of the road
- Throughout the occupation, the Channel Islands moved to German time and traffic switched from the left-hand side of the road to the right.
- Read more…
Discovery of The Jersey Mummy
- The Jersey Mummy was discovered in Egypt and brought to the island via Paris, but the man accompanying it died on the way.
- Read more…
Jersey’s last ever death sentence is passed
- The last man sentenced to death on Jersey had his sentence commuted to life in prison, as had become customary, in 1984.
- Read more…
King of the Ecrehous is admitted to hospital
- Phillipe Pinel was known by many as the King of the Ecrehous, under which title he ruled the islands off Jersey’s north-east coast.
- Read more…
