1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:03,560 Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:07,560 Speaker 1: and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Minky. Listener, discretion is 3 00:00:07,560 --> 00:00:12,440 Speaker 1: advised before we begin, just a quick note of housekeeping. 4 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:16,160 Speaker 1: Noble Blood is on Patreon, so go to patreon dot 5 00:00:16,160 --> 00:00:20,079 Speaker 1: com slash Noble Blood Tales for episodes, scripts, a little 6 00:00:20,079 --> 00:00:23,959 Speaker 1: bit of bonus content, and bonus episodes where myself and 7 00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:27,520 Speaker 1: a friend of mine go over episodes of the television 8 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:31,160 Speaker 1: series The Tutors. Also, if you want Noble Blood merch, 9 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:35,200 Speaker 1: that's available at d F t b A dot com. 10 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:39,120 Speaker 1: We have toe bags, pins and mugs. I use my 11 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 1: beheaded Marie Antoinette mug I think every day for coffee. 12 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:46,239 Speaker 1: And finally, I have a book coming out, So if 13 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:49,800 Speaker 1: you enjoy the podcast, I really think you'll enjoy this book. 14 00:00:49,800 --> 00:00:52,479 Speaker 1: It's called Anatomy, a love story, and it's all about 15 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:57,000 Speaker 1: the underbelly of the dawn of medicine in nineteen century Edinburgh. 16 00:00:57,440 --> 00:00:59,600 Speaker 1: And if you're interested at all, there's been a weird 17 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:03,400 Speaker 1: issue with the supply chain of publishing and so pre 18 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:06,399 Speaker 1: orders are really really important right now. So if the 19 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:09,600 Speaker 1: story interests you at all, please take a look and 20 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:13,160 Speaker 1: maybe preorder it. We actually moved the publication date up. 21 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:18,240 Speaker 1: It comes out January two, and now onto the episode. 22 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:29,240 Speaker 1: On July nine three, a fashionable foreign couple staying in 23 00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:33,840 Speaker 1: London went to see the Operetta The Merry Widow. The 24 00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 1: pair was well known, notorious even They were fixtures in 25 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:42,440 Speaker 1: gossip columns and at fashionable parties. Though the couple styled 26 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:46,720 Speaker 1: themselves as the Prince and Princess Fammi Bay, the husband 27 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:51,960 Speaker 1: wasn't actually a prince. He Ali Fami Bay was well 28 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:55,960 Speaker 1: a bay, which is an honorary title like governor in Egypt. 29 00:01:56,480 --> 00:02:00,720 Speaker 1: He was exorbitantly wealthy, born into a family rich from 30 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:03,760 Speaker 1: the cotton industry, and he was a playboy in his 31 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 1: early twenties who had traveled to Western Europe and who 32 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:11,200 Speaker 1: had fallen in love with a frenchwoman ten years his senior. 33 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:17,639 Speaker 1: That woman was named Marguerite Alibert. By thirty two, Marguerite 34 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:20,960 Speaker 1: already had a string of famous lovers, and she had 35 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:24,320 Speaker 1: quite a reputation. She had worked as one of the 36 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:27,960 Speaker 1: most elite courtisans in Paris, a sex worker in a 37 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:32,240 Speaker 1: brothel that catered to only the wealthiest and most aristocratic 38 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:35,799 Speaker 1: of callers. By the time she met and married Ali 39 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:40,000 Speaker 1: Fami Bay. She was already quite comfortable financially thanks to 40 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:44,320 Speaker 1: the settlement of an earlier divorce. Whether she married Fami 41 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:48,040 Speaker 1: Bae for money or love, it was fewer than six 42 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:52,680 Speaker 1: months before the marriage imploded in on itself. The couple 43 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:57,880 Speaker 1: fought viciously, sometimes violently. The night of July nine, a 44 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:01,200 Speaker 1: porter in the Savoy Hotel where they were staying heard 45 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:04,679 Speaker 1: them shouting at one another, and then the porter heard 46 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:10,919 Speaker 1: something else three gun shots. Prince Ali Fami Bay had 47 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:15,920 Speaker 1: been shot by his wife. This would be enough of 48 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:19,200 Speaker 1: a scandal to be an interesting episode of noble Blood, 49 00:03:19,600 --> 00:03:23,240 Speaker 1: a marriage gone wrong that ended in murder, But there's 50 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:26,360 Speaker 1: one wrinkle to the story that makes it one of 51 00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:31,079 Speaker 1: the largest royal scandals of the twenty century. The extent 52 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:37,080 Speaker 1: of the scandal wouldn't be fully uncovered until and even today, 53 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:42,960 Speaker 1: details are missing, letters have been burned, police files conveniently misplaced. 54 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:48,000 Speaker 1: Because you see, one of Marguerite Alibert's earlier lovers was 55 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:50,880 Speaker 1: a man who used the pseudonym the Earl of Chester 56 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:55,560 Speaker 1: while cavorting with the Demi Monde in Paris. Marguerite would 57 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:58,960 Speaker 1: have called him David. You might know him as the 58 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:03,280 Speaker 1: Prince of Wale, or the Duke of Windsor, or the 59 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:07,360 Speaker 1: future King Edward the eight, the man who would ultimately 60 00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:10,440 Speaker 1: abdicate the throne of England so that he could marry 61 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:16,000 Speaker 1: his twice divorced American paramore Wallace Simpson. King Edward the 62 00:04:16,080 --> 00:04:20,400 Speaker 1: Eighth isn't short on scandals. There was the aforementioned giving 63 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:23,479 Speaker 1: up the crown for a divorcee, and then there were 64 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:27,760 Speaker 1: his shocking Nazi sympathies during the Second World War. But 65 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:32,760 Speaker 1: his relationship with Marguerite Alibert led to another scandal that's 66 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:36,480 Speaker 1: largely gone ignored by the public thanks to a careful 67 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 1: cover up by the British royal family. With the death 68 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:43,400 Speaker 1: of Czar Nicholas the Second and the Romanov family just 69 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:46,840 Speaker 1: a few years in the past, the situation for all 70 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:50,360 Speaker 1: of the royal families of Europe remained precarious at the 71 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: beginning of the nineteen twenties. With no real power, the 72 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:59,839 Speaker 1: British monarchy relied on public goodwill and popularity. It was 73 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:03,520 Speaker 1: just then that Marguerite Alibert was going to stay on 74 00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:06,640 Speaker 1: trial in England for the murder of her husband, and 75 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:09,360 Speaker 1: she just so happened to have kept all of the 76 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:13,280 Speaker 1: incriminating love letters that the Prince of Wales had written 77 00:05:13,279 --> 00:05:18,680 Speaker 1: to her. It was a formula for disaster. I'm Danis 78 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:32,000 Speaker 1: Schwartz and this is noble blood. The future King Edward 79 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:34,520 Speaker 1: the Eighth, who I'll just refer to from now on 80 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:37,039 Speaker 1: as the Prince of Wales his title at the time 81 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:41,400 Speaker 1: of the story, was a late bloomer. Sexually, he was 82 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:46,119 Speaker 1: an awkward formal boy, fastidious about his figure, and also 83 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:50,800 Speaker 1: self centered and narcissistic in a way that made him shortsighted. 84 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:54,800 Speaker 1: He lost his virginity at age twenty two at a 85 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:57,719 Speaker 1: meeting with a French sex worker set up by two 86 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:01,240 Speaker 1: palace aides. He was eager to continue to sow his 87 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:04,719 Speaker 1: wild oats, so to speak, with the many high class 88 00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:08,039 Speaker 1: courtisans in Paris, where he was stationed for much of 89 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:11,599 Speaker 1: World War One, while England and the rest of Europe 90 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:16,760 Speaker 1: was experiencing cataclysmic violence and never before seen death in 91 00:06:16,839 --> 00:06:21,400 Speaker 1: trench warfare. The heir to the throne had nominal military 92 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:24,440 Speaker 1: duties in France and instead spent most of his time 93 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:29,240 Speaker 1: enjoying the nightlife. That was where the young Marguerite Alibert, 94 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:34,360 Speaker 1: going by the Nomdiger Maggie Miller caught his eye. Marguerite 95 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:38,039 Speaker 1: was a petite woman with long auburn hair. She was 96 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:40,839 Speaker 1: several years older than the Prince, who was by then 97 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:45,400 Speaker 1: twenty three, and she was well known for being sexually adventurous. 98 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:49,440 Speaker 1: I read one description of her as a quote renowned 99 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:54,839 Speaker 1: Boudoir gymnast. Marguerite was born in eighteen ninety to a 100 00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:58,960 Speaker 1: working class Parisian family. Her mother was a housekeeper, her 101 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:02,919 Speaker 1: father was a captain driver. Marguerite was the oldest of three, 102 00:07:03,080 --> 00:07:06,520 Speaker 1: with a little sister and a little brother. Later in 103 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:10,360 Speaker 1: life she would exaggerate and embellish her own childhood. She 104 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:15,200 Speaker 1: would make her life sound exciting, even romantic. Marguerite would 105 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:17,840 Speaker 1: say that her brother was a soldier killed during the 106 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 1: Great War, but the truth was far sadder and more mundane. 107 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:26,360 Speaker 1: Marguerite's brother didn't live long enough to serve in any war. 108 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:29,960 Speaker 1: He died when he was four years old, hit by 109 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:32,080 Speaker 1: a truck when he was out playing in the street 110 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:38,560 Speaker 1: while a teenage Marguerite was supposed to be watching him. 111 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:43,080 Speaker 1: The grief was overwhelming, something Marguerite had to compress and 112 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:47,559 Speaker 1: lock into a box somewhere deep inside herself. The rest 113 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:50,880 Speaker 1: of her family blamed her for her brother's death, and 114 00:07:50,920 --> 00:07:54,880 Speaker 1: as punishment or penance, she was sent to live with nuns, 115 00:07:55,120 --> 00:08:00,120 Speaker 1: the Sisters of Mary. Life under the nuns was grueling 116 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:04,360 Speaker 1: and emotionally fraught. They braided her daily with their thin 117 00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 1: lips and spittle, telling her that her sins were the 118 00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:11,360 Speaker 1: cause of her brother's death. But they also gave her 119 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:14,840 Speaker 1: an education, and it was there that Marguerite would learn 120 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:17,680 Speaker 1: the foundations that would come to serve her well in 121 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:21,480 Speaker 1: her society life to come. She learned to sing. They 122 00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:24,600 Speaker 1: say that Marguerite had a pleasant mezzo soprano that she 123 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:28,600 Speaker 1: would eventually put to you, singing in nightclubs and at parties, 124 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:33,960 Speaker 1: performing to catch the eyes of possible customers. But before 125 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:37,200 Speaker 1: all that, while Marguerite was still a teenager, the nuns 126 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:40,160 Speaker 1: placed her as a domestic servant in the household of 127 00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:44,200 Speaker 1: a lawyer named on Rie Jules Lingua, although in Marguerite's 128 00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:47,199 Speaker 1: version of the story, she was the beloved god daughter 129 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:51,520 Speaker 1: of Madame Lingua. But Marguerite's position there wouldn't last long. 130 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:54,320 Speaker 1: She was kicked out of the house when she became 131 00:08:54,400 --> 00:08:58,240 Speaker 1: pregnant at age sixteen. We don't know who the father was, 132 00:08:58,640 --> 00:09:01,480 Speaker 1: but the way, Marguerite told that he was a childhood 133 00:09:01,520 --> 00:09:05,839 Speaker 1: friend who became a colonial administrator in India, also killed 134 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:09,760 Speaker 1: in the Great War. It's almost certainly a lie or 135 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:15,000 Speaker 1: an exaggeration. With no employment, Marguerite returned to her family 136 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:19,640 Speaker 1: home with her infant daughter, Raimond. Her family could barely 137 00:09:19,679 --> 00:09:22,880 Speaker 1: provide for themselves, let alone for a baby, and so 138 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:26,480 Speaker 1: Ramond was sent to stay on a farm in central France. 139 00:09:27,080 --> 00:09:30,120 Speaker 1: It would be years before Marguerite, as an adult, would 140 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:32,160 Speaker 1: be able to send for her daughter to come back 141 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:36,160 Speaker 1: to Paris. It was at some point during this period 142 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:40,560 Speaker 1: that Marguerite's charm and attractiveness caught the attention of a 143 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:44,760 Speaker 1: Madame Dinar, the mistress of a high class brothel in 144 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:50,079 Speaker 1: the sixteenth are Andissement. According to Dinner, Marguerite was instantly 145 00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:55,240 Speaker 1: comfortable among the upper class. Marguerite became, according to dinner quote, 146 00:09:55,559 --> 00:09:59,359 Speaker 1: the mistress of nearly all of my best clients, gentlemen 147 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:04,079 Speaker 1: of wealth and position in France, England, America and other countries. 148 00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:09,120 Speaker 1: One of Marguerite's clients was the married businessman Andre Millare, 149 00:10:09,480 --> 00:10:14,679 Speaker 1: whose last name Marguerite would borrow temporarily. Miller was wildly 150 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:18,200 Speaker 1: jealous and He would eventually pay Marguerite off with two 151 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:21,440 Speaker 1: hundred thousand francs to and their dalliant, and she would 152 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:25,520 Speaker 1: kick herself later for not negotiating a higher fee. But 153 00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:29,200 Speaker 1: Marguerite would soon have an even more powerful lover, the 154 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:36,640 Speaker 1: Prince of Wales himself. After seeing the woman he called 155 00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:40,240 Speaker 1: Maggie Miller, he asked his friends to arrange a lunch 156 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:42,880 Speaker 1: between the two of them at the Hotel de Creon 157 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:46,480 Speaker 1: in Paris. Those were the sort of machinations that were 158 00:10:46,520 --> 00:10:49,760 Speaker 1: common at the time among the aristocratic as cover for 159 00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:54,880 Speaker 1: the very common practice of employing sex workers. Marguerite and 160 00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:58,120 Speaker 1: the Prince hit it off instantly. They had a lot 161 00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:02,720 Speaker 1: in common as people. They were both vain and vaguely frivolous, 162 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:06,680 Speaker 1: but perhaps more importantly in this context, she provided the 163 00:11:06,679 --> 00:11:11,840 Speaker 1: Prince with a wealth of sexual experiences and experimentation. It 164 00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:14,400 Speaker 1: would be a trend throughout the Prince's life that he 165 00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:19,280 Speaker 1: gravitated toward older, sexually dominant women, and according to sources, 166 00:11:19,320 --> 00:11:23,880 Speaker 1: Marguerite was no exception. The pair was together for eighteen 167 00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:27,040 Speaker 1: months throughout the First World War while the Prince was 168 00:11:27,080 --> 00:11:31,320 Speaker 1: stationed in Paris. In that time, he wrote Marguerite around 169 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:35,240 Speaker 1: twenty letters in which he called her mom babil and 170 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:38,680 Speaker 1: with the poor judgment that I would argue would characterize 171 00:11:38,679 --> 00:11:41,600 Speaker 1: the rest of his life, in which he also shared 172 00:11:41,679 --> 00:11:46,160 Speaker 1: detailed war secrets and made insulting comments about his father, 173 00:11:46,679 --> 00:11:50,600 Speaker 1: King George the Fifth. The Prince, with the arrogance of youth, 174 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:53,600 Speaker 1: assumed that because he was sending the letters through the 175 00:11:53,679 --> 00:11:57,559 Speaker 1: King's Messenger, a service of couriers employed through the British 176 00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:01,800 Speaker 1: Foreign Office who hand delivered important documents, that the letters 177 00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:08,960 Speaker 1: were entirely secure. He was wrong. When the Prince's attentions 178 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:13,040 Speaker 1: moved on to another paramore, a married woman named Frida 179 00:12:13,160 --> 00:12:17,640 Speaker 1: Dudley Marguerite, wielded the letters as weapons to prevent herself 180 00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:21,120 Speaker 1: from being cast aside and ignored, with nothing to show 181 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:24,240 Speaker 1: for it. In a letter to one of his advisers, 182 00:12:24,280 --> 00:12:29,559 Speaker 1: anticipating blackmail, the Prince wrote, quote, Oh, those bloody letters, 183 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:31,560 Speaker 1: and what a fool I was not to take your 184 00:12:31,559 --> 00:12:34,959 Speaker 1: advice over a year ago. I'm afraid she's the one 185 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:38,600 Speaker 1: hundred thousand pounds or nothing type, though I'm disappointed and 186 00:12:38,640 --> 00:12:41,840 Speaker 1: didn't think she'd turned nasty. Of the whole trouble is 187 00:12:41,920 --> 00:12:46,200 Speaker 1: my letters, and she's not burnt one. But then something 188 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:49,439 Speaker 1: would happen to Marguerite that would make blackmail less appealing. 189 00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:52,400 Speaker 1: She met a man who seemed keen to marry her, 190 00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:58,120 Speaker 1: a young Air Force officer named Charles Laurent, whose family 191 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:01,520 Speaker 1: just so happened to be filthy, which they owned a 192 00:13:01,559 --> 00:13:05,680 Speaker 1: department store and, ironically enough, the Hotel de Crean where 193 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:09,439 Speaker 1: Marguerite had first met the Prince for lunch. With a 194 00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:13,920 Speaker 1: high profile marriage as a dangling possibility, Marguerite didn't want 195 00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:17,600 Speaker 1: to invite the possible scandal of blackmailing a royal prince, 196 00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:22,320 Speaker 1: and so the issue, to the Prince's relief was dropped. 197 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:27,240 Speaker 1: Marguerite married Charles Laurent for a brief, unhappy few months, 198 00:13:27,720 --> 00:13:31,960 Speaker 1: after which, to the vast relief of Laurents scandalized family, 199 00:13:32,480 --> 00:13:36,160 Speaker 1: the marriage was dissolved, but Marguerite would leave the marriage 200 00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:39,440 Speaker 1: with a hefty payout, rich enough to begin to live 201 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:44,400 Speaker 1: her life independently in an apartment on the fashionable Enny Martie, 202 00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:49,240 Speaker 1: living with servants, a full time groom, two limousines, and 203 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:55,160 Speaker 1: a closet full of couture chanel. Just a year later, 204 00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:58,719 Speaker 1: she made the acquaintance of Ali Fami bay An Egyptian 205 00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:03,120 Speaker 1: cotton air with an annual income of over two million pounds. 206 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:07,040 Speaker 1: Fammy Bay was in his early twenties, but he lived 207 00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:09,880 Speaker 1: like he had been in the upper class his entire life, 208 00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:14,480 Speaker 1: generously spending his money and running in elite social circles. 209 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:18,960 Speaker 1: Within six months of meeting the thirty two year old Marguerite, 210 00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:22,600 Speaker 1: he overrode the objections of his family and married her, 211 00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:26,760 Speaker 1: first in Europe and then in a Muslim ceremony in Egypt. 212 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:32,040 Speaker 1: The mitch match was obvious from the start. Coming from 213 00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:36,000 Speaker 1: a more traditional family, Ali fami Bay had anticipated that 214 00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:39,200 Speaker 1: marriage would mean his wife would settle down and become 215 00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:44,880 Speaker 1: more domestic, less of the flirtatious socialite Marguerite had always been. 216 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:49,200 Speaker 1: In a letter to Marguerite's younger sister, Yvonne, Fammy Bay 217 00:14:49,280 --> 00:14:53,320 Speaker 1: playfully wrote that he believed Marguerite could be tamed, but 218 00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:57,160 Speaker 1: in the meantime he was bitterly jealous. The way Marguerite 219 00:14:57,160 --> 00:15:01,280 Speaker 1: writes it later, Fammy Bay was emotionally abusive and he 220 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:04,680 Speaker 1: kept her all but captive. But it's also worth noting 221 00:15:04,840 --> 00:15:08,800 Speaker 1: I think that that characterization of the relationship after the 222 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:14,360 Speaker 1: fact would be a very convenient narrative given what happened next. 223 00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:24,360 Speaker 1: The couple was staying at the fashionable Savoy Hotel in 224 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:28,680 Speaker 1: London in July of nine three. They went to the 225 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:31,920 Speaker 1: opera to see the Merry Widow and returned to their 226 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:36,400 Speaker 1: suite Later that evening. A porter in the hallway overheard 227 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:39,720 Speaker 1: a violent shouting match, but he couldn't make out exactly 228 00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:42,840 Speaker 1: what the couple was saying. But there was no mistaking 229 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:49,320 Speaker 1: what the porter heard next three gun shots, one, two, three. 230 00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:53,320 Speaker 1: The porter rushed into the room to see Ali Fami 231 00:15:53,400 --> 00:15:56,920 Speaker 1: Bay slumped against a wall, bleeding from a shot to 232 00:15:56,960 --> 00:16:01,080 Speaker 1: the head. Marguerite was standing with a brow thirty two 233 00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:05,600 Speaker 1: caliber pistol in her hand. I've lost my head, she 234 00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:11,200 Speaker 1: allegedly said, I've shot him. Medical attention arrived and they 235 00:16:11,240 --> 00:16:13,800 Speaker 1: brought Ali Fami Bae to the hospital, where he died 236 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:18,560 Speaker 1: an hour later. The authorities then came from Marguerite, arresting 237 00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:21,720 Speaker 1: her and charging her with the murder of her late husband. 238 00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:25,600 Speaker 1: It was a chaotic night at the Savoy, with police 239 00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:28,920 Speaker 1: sirens and lights going off through the night, But there 240 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:32,720 Speaker 1: was another chaotic scene happening in London, one that was 241 00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:37,600 Speaker 1: happening with much less public attention. The official household of 242 00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:41,080 Speaker 1: the Prince of Wales had gotten word that his former 243 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:45,119 Speaker 1: mistress had shot a man, and they went into crisis 244 00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:49,960 Speaker 1: mode immediately. The Prince's summer schedule, which had included several 245 00:16:50,040 --> 00:16:54,080 Speaker 1: visits to Wales, was canceled and the Prince was instead 246 00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:57,880 Speaker 1: booked on a three month stay in Canada. They bought 247 00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:00,760 Speaker 1: him a ticket on an ocean liner out of Liverpool 248 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:06,320 Speaker 1: for as soon as humanly possible. The goal was crisis management, 249 00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:10,639 Speaker 1: preventing anyone from discovering that the Prince had been sexually 250 00:17:10,760 --> 00:17:15,840 Speaker 1: involved with a scandalous murderous They knew all too well 251 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:19,320 Speaker 1: that if Marguerite Alibert was found guilty, she would be 252 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:23,240 Speaker 1: sent to be hanged at the gallows. And nothing is 253 00:17:23,280 --> 00:17:26,840 Speaker 1: more dangerous than a woman with nothing left to lose. 254 00:17:32,840 --> 00:17:36,320 Speaker 1: Eight weeks after Marguerite was arrested at the Savoy Hotel, 255 00:17:36,760 --> 00:17:39,760 Speaker 1: she was put on trial at the Old Bailey. Her 256 00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:43,919 Speaker 1: defense lawyer was a man named Edward Marshall Hall, nicknamed 257 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:47,480 Speaker 1: the Great Defender, already famous in England for the high 258 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:51,120 Speaker 1: profile cases he had worked on. One of those high 259 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:55,000 Speaker 1: profile cases was for another sex worker, an Austrian woman, 260 00:17:55,160 --> 00:17:59,960 Speaker 1: for whom in he successfully had a murder charge downgraded 261 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:04,720 Speaker 1: to manslaughter. Famously, Hall had turned to the jury and pled, quote, 262 00:18:04,960 --> 00:18:07,840 Speaker 1: look at her, gentleman. God never gave her a chance, 263 00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:13,400 Speaker 1: won't you. Other famous cases for Hall included the Brides 264 00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:17,000 Speaker 1: in the Bath murderer, in which the defendant had three 265 00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:20,960 Speaker 1: wives who all suspiciously drowned while taking baths, and a 266 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:24,240 Speaker 1: murder that's often referred to as the green bicycle case, 267 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:28,080 Speaker 1: in which the victim was seen riding alongside a man 268 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:32,200 Speaker 1: on a green bicycle before her death. Hall's client was 269 00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:34,920 Speaker 1: a man who had been traced to the victim and 270 00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:40,240 Speaker 1: who had inconveniently enough thrown his distinct green bicycle into 271 00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:43,680 Speaker 1: the river Sore with the serial number filed off after 272 00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:47,080 Speaker 1: the case had been made public. The client was acquitted. 273 00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:51,080 Speaker 1: All of which is to say Marguerite was well represented 274 00:18:51,080 --> 00:18:54,560 Speaker 1: by a tenacious and well practiced man when it came 275 00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:59,120 Speaker 1: to murder charges. His defense for the Princess Fammy Bay 276 00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:01,720 Speaker 1: was that her husban Spin was a brute and a 277 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:04,800 Speaker 1: sexual pervert, and that her first two shots had been 278 00:19:04,840 --> 00:19:07,760 Speaker 1: into the air to scare him off attacking her when 279 00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:10,960 Speaker 1: he kept coming at her. Only then did Marguerite point 280 00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:14,040 Speaker 1: the gun at him. And shoot mistakenly thinking that she 281 00:19:14,160 --> 00:19:17,720 Speaker 1: was out of bullets. The actual core of the defense 282 00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:23,359 Speaker 1: strategy was rooted in exploiting extremely racist imagery. Hall paints 283 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:27,399 Speaker 1: Fammy Bay as a cruel and unnatural foreigner, and that 284 00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:31,480 Speaker 1: his poor white wife was helpless to protect herself against him. 285 00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:35,560 Speaker 1: To quote one of Hall's racist comments, I dare say, 286 00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:39,280 Speaker 1: the Egyptian civilization is one of the oldest and most 287 00:19:39,359 --> 00:19:42,960 Speaker 1: wonderful civilizations in the world. But if you strip off 288 00:19:43,119 --> 00:19:50,280 Speaker 1: the external civilization, you get the real Oriental underneath. Another quote, 289 00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:55,120 Speaker 1: her great mistake, possibly the greatest mistake a woman could make, 290 00:19:56,160 --> 00:19:59,800 Speaker 1: was a woman of the West in marrying an Oriental. 291 00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:06,760 Speaker 1: Hall's defense alluded unsubtily to the prince's sexual appetites being unnatural, 292 00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:11,639 Speaker 1: playing into a racist trope about sodomy and polygamy, both 293 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:15,240 Speaker 1: being practices from the East come to corrupt the poor, 294 00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:20,560 Speaker 1: chasted white women in the West. Hall argued that Famibe 295 00:20:20,600 --> 00:20:23,919 Speaker 1: was a pervert, and Hall also ensured that the jury 296 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:27,600 Speaker 1: never thought of his poor former wife as anything but 297 00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:31,480 Speaker 1: a woman of pure virtue. Any mention of her previous 298 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:34,439 Speaker 1: sex work was forbidden from being included in the trial, 299 00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:39,040 Speaker 1: let alone any possible allusions to her one time relationship 300 00:20:39,200 --> 00:20:44,800 Speaker 1: with the Prince of Wales. This is where writer Andrew 301 00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:49,080 Speaker 1: Rose makes his most stunning claim in his twenty book 302 00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:54,640 Speaker 1: The Prince, The Princess and the Perfect Murder. Rose suggests, 303 00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:57,760 Speaker 1: based on interviews and evidence he was able to uncover, 304 00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:00,760 Speaker 1: in conjunction with the evidence that he found to be 305 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:05,879 Speaker 1: strategically missing from the record, that a covert arrangement was 306 00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:11,600 Speaker 1: made between Marguerite Alibert and the royal family. The royal 307 00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:15,159 Speaker 1: family's reputation at the beginning of the nineteen twenties was 308 00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:18,560 Speaker 1: of the utmost importance for the preservation of the monarchy. 309 00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:23,920 Speaker 1: Labor and populous movements were gaining popularity throughout Europe, and 310 00:21:24,080 --> 00:21:27,080 Speaker 1: the murder of the Romanovs by the Bolsheviks in Russia 311 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:31,840 Speaker 1: sent shock waves throughout every royal family. After all, Zar 312 00:21:31,960 --> 00:21:35,760 Speaker 1: Nicholas and the Serena Alicky we're both King George, the 313 00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:40,520 Speaker 1: fifth first cousins, the young Prince of Wales, then was 314 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:43,320 Speaker 1: a key figure when it came to presenting the British 315 00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:47,760 Speaker 1: royal family as likable. He was, in his twenties, attractive 316 00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:51,159 Speaker 1: and the heir to the throne. The equivalent in the 317 00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:54,240 Speaker 1: modern era to what a young Prince William once was, 318 00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:58,399 Speaker 1: and here was a murderess on trial for her life, 319 00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:01,760 Speaker 1: not only with the history of a relationship with the Prince, 320 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:06,720 Speaker 1: but with over a dozen incredibly incriminating letters from him, 321 00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:11,000 Speaker 1: in which the Prince proves to be well, wildly irresponsible, 322 00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:17,439 Speaker 1: with terrible judgment. Andrew Rose postulates that in exchange for 323 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:20,399 Speaker 1: the letters and the Prince's name never coming up in 324 00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:24,359 Speaker 1: the trial, the royal family work behind the scenes to 325 00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:31,040 Speaker 1: ensure Marguerite Alibert's acquittal. As it stands, all of the 326 00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:35,480 Speaker 1: passages from the Prince of Wales wartime diaries referencing Maggie 327 00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:39,199 Speaker 1: have been ripped out, and several important documents from the 328 00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:43,560 Speaker 1: Metropolitan Police Special Branches report on Marguerite have either been 329 00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:48,080 Speaker 1: destroyed or removed from the archives. It's clear that there 330 00:22:48,119 --> 00:22:51,359 Speaker 1: has been a systemic attempt by those in power to 331 00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:56,720 Speaker 1: remove evidence relating to the pair's relationship, unlike there was 332 00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:01,439 Speaker 1: with the actual murder. There is no smoking gun to 333 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:06,000 Speaker 1: prove Andrew Rose's claims, although at least in my mind, 334 00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:10,760 Speaker 1: it seems more than likely Marguerite had these tremendous bargaining 335 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:14,840 Speaker 1: pieces and her life was at risk. Whether it's beyond 336 00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:17,600 Speaker 1: a reasonable doubt or not is up to you. But 337 00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:20,960 Speaker 1: the evidence, at least as it stands to me, is 338 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:24,520 Speaker 1: that the royal family engineered one of the most notorious 339 00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:29,280 Speaker 1: cover ups in history and permitted a vast miscarriage of justice. 340 00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:36,159 Speaker 1: Whether it was the racism or external influence, the jury 341 00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:39,320 Speaker 1: took less than one hour to reach the verdict of 342 00:23:39,359 --> 00:23:45,560 Speaker 1: not guilty. It's a challenging situation to frame discussing whether 343 00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:50,040 Speaker 1: or not Marguerite was actually guilty, especially when she raises 344 00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:54,720 Speaker 1: the claims of domestic violence. But at least from my perspective, 345 00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:59,760 Speaker 1: as it stands, the racism used in her defense was grotesque, 346 00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:03,040 Speaker 1: and her claims were backed up not with any evidence, 347 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:07,040 Speaker 1: but with horrific stereotypes that played into the age old 348 00:24:07,119 --> 00:24:11,040 Speaker 1: fear of protecting white women's bodies from men of color, 349 00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:14,840 Speaker 1: even when in this situation the white woman was the 350 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:20,280 Speaker 1: one literally holding the smoking gun. That certainly was Andrew 351 00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:23,679 Speaker 1: Rose's conclusion. He had an earlier piece of writing on 352 00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:26,679 Speaker 1: the murder in which he characterized it as a crime 353 00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:30,200 Speaker 1: of passion, but after completing his research for his twenty 354 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:34,239 Speaker 1: thirteen book, Rose concluded that in his opinion, it was 355 00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:38,920 Speaker 1: a murder for gain an execution, a perfect crime that 356 00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:43,080 Speaker 1: Marguerite Alibert got away with because she had blackmail over 357 00:24:43,119 --> 00:24:45,760 Speaker 1: the heads of some of the most powerful people in 358 00:24:45,800 --> 00:24:49,520 Speaker 1: the country. Marguerite would go on to sue the Fammy 359 00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:53,040 Speaker 1: family for her late husband's fortune, which would be dismissed 360 00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:56,399 Speaker 1: as the Egyptian court flatly rejected the verdict of the 361 00:24:56,400 --> 00:25:00,000 Speaker 1: British court and determined that Fammy Bay's death was a murder. 362 00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:03,639 Speaker 1: But as an acquitted woman, Marguerite lived the rest of 363 00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:08,719 Speaker 1: her life in financial comfort, being looked after by at 364 00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:12,800 Speaker 1: least four wealthy gentlemen in succession until her death at 365 00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:17,640 Speaker 1: age eighty in nineteen seventy one. Her apartment, which faced 366 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:21,119 Speaker 1: the writs in Paris, still contained one or two of 367 00:25:21,160 --> 00:25:24,880 Speaker 1: the Prince's letters, which she kept as an insurance policy. 368 00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:29,320 Speaker 1: They were destroyed after her death. As for the Prince 369 00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:33,320 Speaker 1: of Wales, he also eventually more or less disappeared from 370 00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:37,760 Speaker 1: public life when King George the Fifth died in nineteen 371 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:42,200 Speaker 1: thirty six, famously given a mixture of cocaine and morphine 372 00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:44,879 Speaker 1: by his doctors to hasten his death so that it 373 00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:47,800 Speaker 1: would make the morning papers as opposed to the less 374 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:52,280 Speaker 1: respectable evening papers. The Prince of Wales became King Edward 375 00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:56,560 Speaker 1: the Eighth, but he abdicated even before his official coronation. 376 00:25:57,160 --> 00:26:00,600 Speaker 1: He chose instead to marry Wallace Simpson, a woman with 377 00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:03,920 Speaker 1: two living ex husbands, which is forbidden by the Church 378 00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:08,120 Speaker 1: of England. Normally that wouldn't really matter, but the King 379 00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:11,320 Speaker 1: of England is after all the head of the Church, 380 00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:15,919 Speaker 1: and so Edward the eight abdicated, choosing to live the 381 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:18,919 Speaker 1: rest of his life as the Duke of Windsor. His 382 00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:23,560 Speaker 1: younger brother became King George six, the father of the 383 00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:28,879 Speaker 1: current Queen Elizabeth the Second. Edward the eighth life of 384 00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:32,800 Speaker 1: scandal threatened to undermine the British monarchy when it was 385 00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:36,080 Speaker 1: at its most fragile, and it also may have helped 386 00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:49,040 Speaker 1: a murderer walk free. That's the strange story of the 387 00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:53,000 Speaker 1: Prince of Wales affair with Marguerite. Alibert would keep listening 388 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:55,960 Speaker 1: after a brief sponsor break to hear a little more 389 00:26:56,000 --> 00:27:09,639 Speaker 1: about the Prince and Princess Fammy Bay. The murder of 390 00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:13,800 Speaker 1: Ali Fami Bay in London coincided with another major event 391 00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:17,840 Speaker 1: with regards to the relationship between Egypt and Great Britain. 392 00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:23,200 Speaker 1: Just the year before Fami Bay's death, two Englishmen discovered 393 00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:27,280 Speaker 1: Tutton Common's tomb. It was one of the most thrilling 394 00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:32,879 Speaker 1: archaeological discoveries of the twenty century, the first burial chamber 395 00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:37,000 Speaker 1: unsealed in Egypt for Western eyes that hadn't been previously 396 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:41,600 Speaker 1: emptied by tomb robbers. According to People magazine at the time, 397 00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:46,199 Speaker 1: within King Tut's tomb were quote treasures so rich and 398 00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:50,199 Speaker 1: wonderful that the first to behold them uttered cries of amazement. 399 00:27:51,119 --> 00:27:54,199 Speaker 1: But some say the tomb also carried with it a 400 00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:59,560 Speaker 1: curse death upon anyone who entered or associated with it. 401 00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:03,960 Speaker 1: Six weeks after the tomb's opening, one of its discoverers, 402 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:09,000 Speaker 1: Lord Carnavon, died from a mosquito bite. A number of famous, 403 00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:12,240 Speaker 1: high profile tragedies have also been ascribed to the curse. 404 00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:16,719 Speaker 1: King touched revenge on those who had disturbed him. Prince 405 00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:21,960 Speaker 1: Ali famy Bay and Marguerite Alibert, as newlyweds, had visited 406 00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:26,399 Speaker 1: the tomb in February of nineteen twenty three, immediately after 407 00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:30,600 Speaker 1: its opening, just weeks after they were married. They also 408 00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:35,040 Speaker 1: hosted Lord Carnavon and Howard carter On their yacht for lunch. 409 00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:39,640 Speaker 1: If you're the superstitious type, you might consider it noteworthy 410 00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:43,440 Speaker 1: as a data point that Ali Famy Bay was dead 411 00:28:43,640 --> 00:28:54,480 Speaker 1: within the year. Noble Blood is a production of I 412 00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:57,920 Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Minky. The 413 00:28:57,920 --> 00:29:01,760 Speaker 1: show was written and hosted by Dana Schwartz. Executive producers 414 00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:06,600 Speaker 1: include Aaron Manky, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. The show 415 00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:10,440 Speaker 1: is produced by rema Ill Kali and Trevor Young. Noble 416 00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:13,480 Speaker 1: Blood is on social media at Noble Blood Tales, and 417 00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:15,560 Speaker 1: you can learn more about the show over at Noble 418 00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:18,920 Speaker 1: blood Tales dot com. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, 419 00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:22,640 Speaker 1: visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 420 00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:25,760 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows. M