Lillie Langtry

Laura Beatty

Editions

Review

Born in Jersey in 1853, Lillie had the misfortune to marry Mr Langtry just before she shot to superstardom as a fashion icon / society beauty.  But perhaps it wasn’t such a misfortune, for it enabled her to carry on behind a mask of respectability - and what should a humble cuckold do when the Prince of Wales gave the offence?  And carry on she did, invigorated by the heat of luxury and gossip, until it seemed to cause her downfall.  Bankruptcy and an illegitimate child might have been her ruin, had it not been for her extraordinary energy, and the patronage of Wilde when his star was at its height.

This book is a fascinating study of a person and an illuminating portrait of an age.  The two aspects are locked together, so that the age would seem less interesting without Lillie, and she only makes sense in the context of her age despite being at odds with it in so many ways.  It is a mark of the book’s success that she seems to define the age every bit as much as another Victorian, Lord Salisbury, to say nothing of Wilde himself.  In this light, Andrew Roberts' superb biography, Salisbury: Victorian Titan hbk £25pbk £12.99, gives the reader the opportunity to make many interesting comparisons between the different worlds of the two subjects. - review by Johnny de Falbe