LILLIE LANGTRY : THREE YEARS AS THE MISTRESS OF SEX ADDICT EDWARD ALBERT, PRINCE OF WALES IN THE 1970'S : SHE FOUND HER WAY FORWARD IN MODELING AND ACTING

Author Ian Graham's book, which has a portion devoted to Lille Langtry, a mistress of Edward Albert, Prince of Wales, this month's Mistress of the Month, is the primary reference for the posts I present. This book has a long list of  women who have been "Scarlet." Several of them have already been featured here at Mistress Manifesto. 

In Chapter Six, Princes of Pleasure, we learn that Queen Victoria was disappointed in her oldest son, destined to be King of England, and until then titled the Prince of Wales. Prince Edward Albert was called Flirty Bertie. He did much more than flirt, frequently visiting prostitutes in French brothels, and without concern for what his wife, Alexandra of Denmark, who he married in 1863, might think. Marriage did not confine Edward Albert.

Today practicing Safer Sex is the only way to go, with our valid concerns for our health because venereal diseases, now called SID's, such as HIV and herpes. Then? Edward Albert was a sex addict, as I see it. In his case, having a wife and a mistress, or a series of them, did not cure him. He was involved in several scandals" with married women.

In August 2024 I featured one of his known mistresses, Catherine Walters, as Mistress of the Month, referencing a different book. He is known to have many affairs.

This months we focus on...

An 1885 Portrait of Lily by William Downey

image from Wikipedia

LILLIE LANGTRY - THE JERSEY LILY

Emilie Charlotte Le Breton

"The Jersey Lily"

1853-1929

Emilie Le Breton was a tomboy, running wild with her many brothers as a child and living the life of an island girl. Because her family had the means, she was given an education through tutors though a girl. Her father was a womanizer and adulterer, though a cleric; He reportedly fathered several children with parishioners. At fourteen she began to receive marriage proposals and at twenty she accepted the proposal of Edward Langtry, rich enough to own an eighty foot boat, especially impressive for 1874. They sailed away and set up house in London, where her outstanding beauty was only more obvious because of the simple clothing she wore.

After a lonely first year in London, she was painted by a local artist, who had prints of her image in shop windows. From then she posed for a number of artists and photographers who are respected today. She was welcomed into high society, into literary circles, as a friend and inspiration. Her husband went his own way, socializing with his men friends who went fishing and drinking. He was not paying enough attention. It's said that Lillie would ruin his life. 

In 1877, the Prince of Wales managed to have her sit next to him at a dinner party. In what seems to be the custom of friends of a Prince, they invited her husband to events in order to give Edward Albert and Lillie time to pursue an affair. He also gave her a house which she designed, as a love nest. They enjoyed themselves openly and he gifted her with jewelry and designer clothing. In 1878 she was even formally presented to Queen Victoria, the Prince of Wales' mother. Once presented, other Princes and men of wealth and power were interested in Lillie.

Lillie was acknowledged as Edward Albert's mistress for three years. The relationship began to dwindle when, at this point, Lillie's husband began to activate and may have threatened to divorce her and reveal that the married Edward Albert was his wife's lover. Other women were no doubt attractive to him, and Lillie had competition. 

As well, she began an affair with the Prince of Battenburg and became pregnant. While the Prince of Battenburg was sent away on a navy assignment, she went away to Paris and gave birth to a daughter in March 1881. The infant was soon sent away to be raised by her mother.

Once the Prince of Wales had moved on, creditors moved in on her and her husband, who went bankrupt. She also had to sell some of the rich things she had acquired. She had to go on and, like some other mistresses I've presented here at Mistress Manifesto, she used her beauty and connections to get a break. When she made her debut as an actress, the Prince of Wales attended, showing his support - and friendship. Lillie Langtry moved forward into stage acting and, controversially, divorced her husband. The Prince of Wales persisted in his friendship with Lillie, such as being there in 1897 when a horse she owned won a race.

In 1881 Lillie gave birth to a daughter and left her with her own mother to be raised. The father was Prince Louis of Battenburg.

In 1899 at the age of forty-five Lillie Langtry married Hugo de Bathe, nineteen years younger than she, and became Lady de Bathe when his father died in 1907. She retired in Monaco and died there. Her husband did not attend her funeral. He was not in her will.

This month we'll learn more about Lillie Langtry, and celebrate Valentine's Day. As I read about how Edward Albert, Prince of Wales, and his friends managed so that he could have liaisons with a mistress, I was reminded of Prince Charles, now King Charles III, and Camilla Parker-Bowles, now Queen Camilla - and featured here in the past. You can read about Camilla by going into my archives.

Missy

C 2025 Mistress Manifesto - BlogSpot

Book Review

All Rights Reserved including International and Internet Rights

Information of Lillie Langtry appears in pages 242 - 248 of the book buy Ian Graham.

 

THE MARRIED MAN : THE ROCHES

MYTHS ABOUT MISTRESSES THAT NEED TO BE BUSTED

MYTHS ABOUT MISTRESSES THAT NEED TO BE BUSTED

You've seen the articles and books that would have it that EVERY MISTRESS IS THE SAME and, well, yes some women are going to fit these "truisms." If you're a mistress or are becoming a mistress, you'll have to think about these notions and self assess honesty to decide if they fit you. But let's challenge a bit.

POSSIBLE MYTHS

1) YOU DO AND SHOULD FEEL GUILT about him spending time with you instead of his wife and/or children. All sorts of things trigger that guilt (such as moralistic films.) The exception  to being guilty is that she cannot be guilty because she doesn't know he's married so she does not know she's a mistress.

2) SHE DIDN'T EXPECT TO BE A MISTRESS, it just happened, as the result of a fling or affair.

3) SHE'S JEALOUS of HIS WIFE and the public approval and attention she gets because she wants to be the wife.

4) SHE KNOWS SHE MADE A MISTAKE and HE IS MR. WRONG (because he is married) but stays in the relationship anyway because she is emotionally attached to him. She makes excuses for him.

5) SHE SEES A FUTURE WITH THE MAN. Even if years go by, she is in waiting to be the next Mrs.

All of these assumptions suggest a woman is not in control of her life and doesn't have a choice or make decisions.

HERE IS WHY NOT:

1) He does not have to be married at all (or in any serious committed relationship) in order to have a mistress. Adultery is often defined as a married person cheating. She herself may not be married and therefore may not be committing adultery.

2) She may not want to be married to him or married at all at this time or any time in her life. 

3) She may have good reasons to think he is Mr. Right, or at the very least better than any man she has met before or is meeting currently.

4) She may value her own time, her own other relationships including friends, her own career, her own freedom to travel.

5) He may not have children, she may not have children, or the children are grown or independent.

6) He may be going through a divorce, be legally separated, and she may not be the cause of it.

7) She may understand that he does not want to marry (or have children) again.

Further:

1) He may not have been seeking a mistress but find himself having one.

2) His wife may know - and approve, even encourage him, for her own reasons, to be with another woman.

3) Some people "with eyes open" choose to be in a romantic triad.

Missy

C 2025  Mistress Manifesto - BlogSpot

All Rights Reserved including International and Internet Rights

LOOKING FORWARD

From a vintage 1859 Botanical Book via Graphics Fairy.

 

LESLIE MCRAY ON AGING OUT OF INTERNATIONAL MODELING

Excerpt:  Page 71 (This is the lowest point Leslie experienced as a mistress...)

"I was forty in a world where players in their twenties were overage. I had come to recognize that I was addicted to a highly destructive life-style. Increasingly I had been involved with men who were violent toward me, yet with whom I continued to associate. I retained photographs of myself from when I was a top international model. I framed a letter from the office of a major presidential adviser. I talked of what was happening in Monte Carlo, Cannes, Rome, London, Paris, and other sections of the world, but I was speaking of past trips, past associations. The telephone no longer rang with offers for the modeling jobs I once dominated. The men who contacted me were fewer in number, less sophisticated that in the past, no longer, the world's elite. My time was past and I knew it."

Excerpt: Page 73

"Then there was another man because there had always been another man. "Use my house, consider my staff your staff, drive my car." It was a familiar litany I heard and I fantasized that all was well again. I was still in the game, still competing with the twenty year olds ...still a prize to be won by men who competed for the attention my presence on their arm would bring... But the man who loaned me his house could not keep me there, did not want me there. He had his own life, his own kept woman. I was no longer his but merely a friend, or perhaps a faded memory for whom he retained enough love or enough guilt to provide what was a little more than a few day's vacation... I was on the streets, living from my car, desperately calling men I knew, yet trying to disguise the panic in my voice...

C 2010 - 2024 Mistress Manifesto Blogspot

MISSY ON WAITING TO BE A MISTRESS UNTIL YOUR LATE TWENTIES OR EARLY THIRTIES

Question for Missy:   

I've been reading over your Opinions and Advice, Missy. Do you still think that women should avoid being mistresses until they are in their late twenties or early thirties?

Margarite

Memphis

Answer from Missy:

Yes, Margarite I do think that, because I think a young woman in her late teens into her early thirties is/are just getting to understand herself, her sexuality and gender is part of that. Also statistics reveal that, although Americans are generally waiting longer to marry, they still tend to have a first marriage during this period. This is not to say that being a mistress is not as good as marriage or that everyone achieves self-knowledge early, or that people can't change their mind about their gender or sexuality later in life.  

Considerations are : Notions about marriage.  

What would you negotiate as the perfect marriage for yourself?  

Do you want to be married?  

How independent are you?

Although a Classic Mistress is said to be in a Shadow Marriage (a marriage like commitment) there's lots of pressure in our society to be with just one person at a time.

LUSH THISTLE

TRUE TO SELF : DECLARATION FOR MISTRESSES

"I shall be true to myself"

What does it mean to be true to yourself?  I think it's about self knowledge and acceptance and being genuine. Let's take Anna LaChapelle Clark as an example. Of course she had tremendous financial resources, but most women in her financial position felt obligated, even aspired to, be very social.  Such women spend most of their time reinforcing their position in society by make calls on other women of their stature. Dressing the part and making these calls took up much of their days. It seems Anna was just not into that lifestyle so she didn't bother. 

There is a peace in not having to be "on" all the time, of not being an actress, or not always trying to sell yourself or something. Anna preferred a more private life and to associate with those she chose, even if they were not as wealthy as she and W.C. Clark. 

Anna also chose to be with a man over 40 years older than she and, though they offered little explanation or apology for it, in a controversial relationship. She and W.C. chose to keep the relationship and not go out of their way to defend it or explain it other than making a public statement about it when he aspired to political office. It doesn't seem to have held his career back any.

Being true to yourself requires that you also let others be true to themselves and understand it when there are just some things someone else is not interested in or won't do.  You don't spend a lot of energy trying to change them.

C 2014 - 2015 Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot First Published December 13, 2014

EATING DISORDER HOTLINES : IT TAKES BRAVERY TO MAKE THAT FIRST PHONE CALL

IF YOU THINK YOU MIGHT HAVE AN EATING DISORDER. Here's a start:

EATING DISORDER HOTLINES

When you look in the mirror, do you see yourself as you are, or imagine you're too fat?

FLOWERING

 

LESLIE MCRAY ON THE CINDERELLA FANTASY

The following is a list culled from the book of Leslie's "Prince Charmings" 
(She says many Kept women have a Cinderella fantasy.)

The Politician
The Arab Entertainer
The Swiss Industrialist
The Billionaire Industrialists
The Jewelry Magnate

C 1990 by Leslie McRay and Ted Schwarz. William Morrow and Co is the publisher

May 2021

I have been thinking about this idea of a Cinderella Fantasy and the thing is, until recently most women expected to be married and have children and not work outside the home for income. It was considered to be the best way to live, perhaps the only way (unless you wanted to join a monastic group or a nunnery) for a decent woman to live, and there was great pressure on women to fulfill the FANTASY that they would get everything they wanted and needed from one person for the rest of their lives and that they could be all to that one man as well. To me that's circa 2021 a Cinderella Fantasy. Cinderella was an abused orphan who married a Prince who took her away from it all and gave her a good life, not only because she was pretty but also because he was looking for someone so special.  When the shoe fits.

Missy

C 2010- 2025  Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot

All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights

THISTLE BLOOMING

 

LESLIE MCRAY on IMDB HAS A BIO : SHE'S ACCOMPLISHED!

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0574447/bio/   click on the link and keep reading!

Excerpt:  Leslie McRay was born on her mother's fifteenth birthday. She was brought up living in and out of orphanages. Through a series of numerous step-fathers she was eventually brought to Hollywood, California. Having no self-esteem, her mother put her in the local beauty contest and she became "Miss Fullerton". After that win photographers then sponsored her in many other contests in which she was often successful, including "Miss Los Angeles" in the "Miss Universe Contest", "Miss Hawaii in the "Miss World Pageant" and consequently won a trip around the world with "Miss Universe". She ended up in the Philippines and was asked to marry into the Marcos family. 

LESLIE MCRAY BOOK AUTHOR, ACTRESS, ACTIVE FILM PRODUCER : WE REVISIT HER DARK MEMOIR

(First published November 2, 2010, this month we revisit this important book, a memoir of a mistress who had a particularly horrible experience with it.)

LESLIE McRAY was our MISTRESS OF THE MONTH, NOVEMBER 2010

Leslie wrote a book that was published in 1990 called "KEPT WOMEN" subtitle which is now in it's 3rd edition.  She wrote it with Ted Schwartz.

The book is heavily dependent on psychotherapy, and the diagnosis of kept women as being abused children who grow up with a real lack of self esteem and an addiction to the approval of men, usually based on their beauty and sexual prowess.

Yet, I noticed, she said that many of these Mistresses had their own incomes of $30,000 to $100,000 a year. So most of them really didn't need the money, as I see it, and probably had some education or intelligence and the self esteem to be competitive in the work place.

I feel sorry for Leslie that her mistresshood came to what it did and I admire her courage to overcome her past and her own demons to write the book, which does delve into a very dark, scary, aspect of mistressing that some, not all, mistresses experience. This includes sadio-masochism.

Many mistresses apparently "shared and bared" their souls to Leslie, and of course they remain unnamed.

Leslie is also psychology-sure that the whole set up of being kept, by a usually married man, is one in which the man and the mistress are people who cannot keep a commitment (something I personally do not believe is always true either).

Leslie is from a world of beauties who modeled, won contests, and met and were kept by men of international fame. She won something like 70 beauty pageants.

These men who kept Leslie and other women were men with great fortunes - doers - important men. Yet her experience with them was horrible.

She left the mistressing life that caused her so much pain and survived. She is now an active film producer. She has a film on the 9/11 terrorist attack to her credit.

Missy

C 2010-2025  Missy Rapport/Mistress Manifesto All Rights Reserved including International and Internet Rights

A NEW YEAR, A NEW MONTH, NEW PROJECT : WHAT'S HAPPENING AT MISTRESS MANIFESTO!

Hello My Readers!

Since the very beginnings of this blog in 2009, I've wanted to write a book.  And this year I feel I must at least gather all the notes I've been keeping and assemble them. I feel from the insights I've gained after all these years later I'll have more to share. I haven't run out of Mistresses to write about but in looking over this blog, I realize that some of my earliest posts are so long ago that certain Mistresses of the Month are due for a revisit or more exploration!  And so I've selected certain someones to focus upon, doing just that as I move forward. Yes, this fifteenth year Mistress Manifesto will also have new writing, new reading and research, and new surprises but it will also include topics covered years ago.

Missy

OUR MISTRESS OF THE MONTH JANUARY 2025 WILL PREMIER  tomorrow!

This month's posts will begin on Saturday January 4th, 2025