Lillie Langtry was the most famous beauty of the Victorian age – actress, royal mistress, and a genuine celebrity before the word existed
Lillie’s Wine Bar and Restaurant holds a 4.9 from seventy-three people – a strong score, though on a modest sample – and its name, in this part of London especially, almost certainly evokes one particular Lillie: Lillie Langtry, the most famous beauty of the Victorian age, a genuine superstar before the age of stardom.
The Jersey Lily
Lillie Langtry, born on the island of Jersey (hence her nickname, “the Jersey Lily”), became, in the 1870s and 1880s, one of the most famous women in the world – celebrated above all for her extraordinary beauty. She burst onto the London social scene and was instantly the sensation of the age: her image was reproduced endlessly, crowds gathered to see her, and she became one of the first true “celebrities” – famous, in large part, simply for being famous and beautiful, in a way that anticipated the whole modern culture of celebrity.
She was painted by the greatest artists of the day, including Millais (whose portrait of her holding a Jersey lily gave her the nickname), and photographed endlessly – her image sold in vast quantities as postcards and prints, making her face one of the most recognisable in the world. She was, in effect, a Victorian supermodel and celebrity rolled into one, at a time when the machinery for creating such fame was only just coming into being.
The royal mistress
Langtry’s fame was sealed and complicated by her romantic life. She became the mistress of Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales – the future King Edward VII – the most public and celebrated royal mistress of the age. This liaison, conducted with a certain openness, made her more famous still, and connected her name permanently to the raffish, pleasure-loving world of the Prince of Wales and his circle.
She later became a successful actress, touring to great acclaim, and a shrewd businesswoman – a woman who turned her fame and beauty into a genuine career and fortune, at a time when few women could. She was a racehorse owner, a theatre producer, an independent and formidable figure who used the celebrity of her beauty to build a life of remarkable autonomy for a Victorian woman. There is a real substance behind the famous face.
The Lillie Langtry connection
This part of west London – the Fulham and West Brompton area – has a genuine Langtry connection: there is a Lillie Road and a Lillie Bridge nearby, and the area’s association with her name is long-standing. A wine bar called Lillie’s here is almost certainly nodding to the great Jersey Lily, drawing on her glamour, her beauty, and her association with the pleasure-loving high society of the Victorian age – a fitting patroness for a place devoted to wine and enjoyment.
The wine bar
A well-regarded wine bar and restaurant doing a strong 4.9 across a modest sample, named – in all likelihood – after the most famous beauty and celebrity of the Victorian age, whose glamour still clings to the streets of this part of London.
Verdict
Strongly rated on a modest sample, and named after Lillie Langtry – the Jersey Lily, Victorian superstar, royal mistress, and celebrity before her time.
Have a glass of wine at Lillie’s, and raise it to the Jersey Lily – the beautiful, formidable woman who turned a famous face into fame, fortune and freedom, over a century ago.
Alan Nafzger was born in Lubbock, Texas, the son Swiss immigrants. He grew up on a dairy in Windthorst, north central Texas. He earned degrees from Midwestern State University (B.A. 1985) and Texas State University (M.A. 1987). University College Dublin (Ph.D. 1991). Dr. Nafzger has entertained and educated young people in Texas colleges for 37 years. Nafzger is best known for his dark novels and experimental screenwriting. His best know scripts to date are Lenin’s Body, produced in Russia by A-Media and Sea and Sky produced in The Philippines in the Tagalog language. In 1986, Nafzger wrote the iconic feminist western novel, Gina of Quitaque. He currently lives in Holloway, North London. Contact: [email protected]
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