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Marguerite Alibert

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Marguerite Alibert
Born(1890-12-09)9 December 1890
Paris, French Third Republic
Died2 January 1971(1971-01-02) (aged 80)
Paris, France
Other namesMaggie Meller
Princess Fahmy
Marguerite Laurent
Known forsocialite, acquitted murderer
Spouses
Charles Laurent
​
​
(m. 1919; div. 1920)​
Ali Kamel Fahmy Bey
​
​
(m. 1922; died 1923)​
Children1

Marguerite Marie Alibert (9 December 1890 – 2 January 1971[1][2]), also known as Maggie Meller,[3] Marguerite Laurent, and Princess Fahmy, was a French socialite. She started her career as a prostitute and later courtesan in Paris, and from 1917 to 1918, she had an affair with the prince of Wales (later Edward VIII).[3][1] After her marriage to Egyptian aristocrat Ali Kamel Fahmy Bey, she was frequently called princess by the media of the time.[4] In 1923, she killed her husband at the Savoy Hotel in London. She was eventually acquitted of the murder charge after a trial at the Old Bailey.[3][1]

Life

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Marguerite Marie Alibert was born on 9 December 1890[1] in Paris to Firmin Alibert, a coachman, and Marie Aurand, a housekeeper. At age 16, she gave birth to a daughter, Raymonde. In the following eight to ten years, Alibert led a nomadic life until she met Mme Denant, who ran a Maison de Rendezvous, a brothel catering to a high society clientele. Under the tutelage of Denant, Alibert became a high-class prostitute.[1][5] Subsequently, Alibert had a number of notable relationships.

Edward, Prince of Wales

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Alibert met Edward, Prince of Wales, in April 1917 at the Hôtel de Crillon in Paris.[3] At the time, Edward was in France as an officer of the Grenadier Guards in the Western Front during World War I.[6] Edward became infatuated with her, and during their relationship, he wrote many candid letters to her. Although the affair was intense while it lasted, by the end of the war, Edward had ended the relationship.[3]

Ali Fahmy Bey

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Ali Fahmy Bey became infatuated with Alibert when he first encountered her in Egypt while she was escorting a businessman. He saw her again several times in Paris, and they were eventually formally introduced in July 1922. Following that meeting, they embarked on a tour of gambling and entertainment establishments in Deauville, Biarritz, and Paris. Fahmy returned to Egypt, but soon after, he invited her to the country, feigning illness and telling her that he could not live without her. They were married in December 1922 and had a formal Islamic wedding in January 1923.[1]

Killing of Ali Fahmy

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On 1 July 1923, the couple arrived in London for the holidays. They stayed at the Savoy Hotel with their entourage consisting of a secretary, a valet, and a maid.[1] On 9 July, the couple and the secretary went to see the operetta The Merry Widow.[7][8] Upon returning to the hotel, they had a late supper where they started one of their frequent arguments. At 2:30 a.m. on 10 July, Alibert shot her husband repeatedly from behind, striking him in the neck, back, and head.[3][1] She used a .32 calibre semi-automatic Browning pistol.[9] The victim was transported to Charing Cross Hospital but died of his wounds in about an hour.[1]

Trial

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The trial opened on Monday, 10 September 1923, with many people queuing to enter, including some who had waited since before daybreak. The trial lasted until Saturday, 15 September.[10][11][12] During the trial, Alibert presented herself as the victim of the "brutality and beastliness" of her "oriental husband". Alibert was defended by Edward Marshall Hall, one of the more famous British lawyers of that era.[3] The trial judge disallowed any mention of Alibert's past as a courtesan, ensuring that the name of the Prince of Wales never was mentioned as part of the evidence during the trial. At the same time, Fahmy was described as "a monster of Eastern depravity and decadence, whose sexual tastes were indicative of an amoral sadism towards his helpless European wife".[13] Alibert was acquitted of all charges.[3]

Post-trial

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After the trial, Alibert sued her late husband's family aiming to lay claim to his property. A court in Egypt rejected the verdict at the Old Bailey and dismissed her claim.[3] She lived in an apartment facing the Ritz in Paris until the end of her life.[14] After her death, the few remaining letters from Edward, which she had kept as insurance, were found and destroyed[by whom?].[14]

In culture

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Books

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The killing of Alibert's husband was the focus of the 1991 book, Scandal at the Savoy: The Infamous 1920s Murder Case by judge and historian Andrew Rose.[15] In the 2013 follow-on work, The Prince, the Princess and the Perfect Murder, Andrew Rose revealed — with the help of Alibert's grandson — that the acquittal of Alibert of the charges of murdering her husband was part of a deal for returning the love letters of the Prince of Wales to him and a guarantee by Alibert that Edward's name would not be mentioned in court.[3] Rose stated: "Really this was a show trial, the authorities wanted Marguerite to be acquitted. A murder conviction would have been catastrophic for the Crown."[2][16][4]

The story of Alibert is retold in the 2022 debut novel, The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page, as told by the character Mrs. B., a former spy, to the keeper of stories, her cleaner, Janice; Alibert is given the alias Becky. This is clarified in the Author's Note found on page 375 of the paperback version.[17]

Television

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In 2013, the UK Channel 4 aired the documentary Edward VIII's Murderous Mistress: Was there a cover-up of Edward VIII's fling with a murderess?[18]

Radio

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The trial of Marguerite Alibert for the murder of Ali Fahmy Bey was presented in a 2023 episode of the BBC Radio 4 series Lucy Worsley's Lady Killers.[19]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lucy Bland (2013). Modern women on trial: Sexual transgression in the age of the flapper. Manchester University Press. pp. 142–143. ISBN 978-1-84779-896-1.
  2. ^ a b Belinda Goldsmith (4 April 2013). "Sex, murder and conspiracy sheds new light on Edward VIII". Reuters.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Ian Graham (2016). Scarlet Women: The Scandalous Lives of Courtesans, Concubines, and Royal Mistresses. St. Martin's Press. pp. 183–185. ISBN 978-1-4668-6817-5.
  4. ^ a b Andrew Rose (2013). The Prince, the Princess and the Perfect Murder. Hodder & Stoughton. p. 7. ISBN 978-1-4447-7648-5.
  5. ^ "The Perfect Murder". Vol. 23, no. 1. Royalty Magazine.
  6. ^ Adrian Phillips (2016). The King Who Had To Go: Edward VIII, Mrs Simpson and the Hidden Politics of the Abdication Crisis. Biteback Publishing. p. 21. ISBN 978-1-78590-157-7.
  7. ^ Bland (2013), p. 133.
  8. ^ James Moore (2015). Murder at the Inn: A History of Crime in Britain's Pubs and Hotels. History Press. p. 170. ISBN 978-0-7509-6333-6.
  9. ^ Richard Whittington-Egan (2011). Murder on File. Neil Wilson Publishing. pp. 131–132. ISBN 978-1-906476-53-3.
  10. ^ Bland (2013), p. 134. "The trial at the Old Bailey opened on Monday 10th September and concluded the following Saturday. It was noted that of the huge numbers queuing to enter the court the majority were women,..."
  11. ^ "The Prince, the Princess and the Perfect Murder by Andrew Rose". The Times. People started queuing well before dawn on Monday, September 10, 1923.
  12. ^ The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service. "Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) Decision notice" (PDF). Marie Marguerite Fahmy, a French national, was charged with the murder of her husband Ali Kamel Fahmy bey on 10 July 1923. After a trial at the Central Criminal Court, Mme Fahmy was acquitted on 15 September 1923 on both counts of the indictment. The relevant Metropolitan Police file, MEP03/1589, was opened some years ago, and it is available for public inspection at the National Archives.
  13. ^ Tom Sykes (14 May 2013). "The King & the Courtesan: Inside Edward VIII's Steamy French Affair". The Daily Beast.
  14. ^ a b Cheryl Stonehouse (5 April 2013). "A new book brings to light the scandalous story of Edward VIII's first great love". Sunday Express.
  15. ^ "Scandal at the Savoy: The Infamous 1920s Murder Case".
  16. ^ Selina Hastings (13 April 2013). "Books – 'The Prince, the Princess and the Perfect Murder', by Andrew Rose – review". The Spectator.
  17. ^ The Keeper of Stoies, by Sally Page, paperback edition 2022, Harper Collins Publishers. First published as an eBook 2022. ISBN 978-0-00-845351-0
  18. ^ Benji Wilson (21 April 2013). "Edward VIII's Murderous Mistress: Was there a cover-up of Edward VIII's fling with a murderess?". The Daily Telegraph.
  19. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley, 17. Marguerite Fahmy". Retrieved 1 May 2023.
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