Jersey Lily dead at 76

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February 12, 1929

Lillie Langry, the Jersey Lily, who was once a good friend of King Edward VII, died today at Monte Carlo. She was 76-years-old and succumbed to a serious attack of influenza. She was once known "as the loveliest woman of her day."
"Scions of royalty worshipped with the poets, painters and social aristocrats before the shrine of Lady de Bathe," when she was young and known as the Jersey Lily.

Two of Queen Victoria's sons, Prince Leopold, who showed his adoration for Lillie, by hanging her portrait over his bed, and the Prince of Wales who became a very close friend. The Prince and Mrs. Langtry, as she was then known, were often seen riding in Rotten Row, and "sought her company at social functions."

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She was divorced for some years from her first husband when she married Sir Hugo de Bathe in 1898. Hugo, who was 25 years Lillie's junior, inherited his father's baronetcy a few years later. It was rumored that he courted Lillie's daughter, but ended up marrying her mother.

Lady de Bathe, who starred on the London stage and also toured the United States,  is survived by her only daughter, Jeanne-Marie, Lady Malcolm and several grandchildren. Mother and daughter have been largely estranged for some years. A misunderstanding arose when Jeanne-Marie married Sir Ian Malcolm, and she cut off all contact with her mother. This caused disappointment to Lady de Bathe, who was deeply saddened by her daughter's actions.
Although Jeanne-Marie had the surname Langtry, she was not fathered by Edward Langtry. Her father was Prince Louis of Battenberg, who later married Princess Victoria of Hesse and By Rhine. In 1917, Prince Louis renounced his German titles and was created Marquess of Milford Haven.

[Arthur Clarence Jones, an old friend of Lily, has been determined to be Jeanne-Marie's father, based on his personal papers.]

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