The life of the adventurer Marguerite Alibert - mistress and murderer of princes

She was known as Maggie and Princess Fahmy, she was a prostitute, the mistress of the heir to the British throne and the wife of an Egyptian prince. Marguerite Alibert, which was the real name of this woman, lived a long and adventurous life and went down in history as one of the most daring and successful adventurers in history.

Marguerite Alibert was born in Paris on December 9, 1880. Her family was so poor that they could not always afford lunch, and the clothes of the girl and her younger brother were sewn from worn-out adults. At the same time, parents did not hesitate to beat up children, whom they considered one of the reasons for their poverty.

At the age of four, Marguerite's brother died under the wheels of a car during a game, which the parents immediately blamed on the older sister who was nearby. They didn't want to see her anymore and sent her to a closed boarding school for girls. The new place was little better than home, and soon the young Alibert ran away from the orphanage and began to lead the life of a Parisian tramp.

For several years, the teenager wandered the streets of the French capital, sleeping anywhere and often starving. At a very young age, Alibert gave birth to a child whose father she never named, and perhaps did not even know herself. Fortunately, Marguerite's parents decided to take at least some part in their daughter's life and helped attach the baby to their distant relatives in the province.

The girl's life changed dramatically when she met the owner of the elite brothel Madame Denant. This woman decided to make Marguerite a courtesan of the highest level and the star of her institution. The Denant brothel had a special status, as it was closed and only very wealthy and noble clients visited it.

Very quickly, the beautiful and charming Alibert became the best employee of Denant and she had a circle of regular customers. Men were willing to pay substantial sums for the time spent with Marguerite and the girl's affairs began to improve. Not only was she able to make some savings, but she also found herself a rich lover, which allowed her to say goodbye to Madame Denant.

The chosen one of Marguerite Alibert was fabulously rich and showered her with money, expensive jewelry and outfits. At the same time, he was in no hurry to officially register the relationship, finding various reasons for this. Very soon it turned out that the cavalier ran away from his beloved and unique to his wife, with whom he was not going to divorce at all. The beautiful romance ended, but the courtesan did not regret anything, as she felt a taste of a beautiful life and her power over men.

In 1917, Marguerite meets a member of the British royal family, Edward VIII. The girl met the 23-year-old prince thanks to his friends, who decided to make a gift to the young playboy and paid for a date with the most popular selling woman in Paris.

The meeting took place at the fashionable Crillon Hotel and the Prince of Wales fell in love with Marguerite at first sight. The passionate affair between the heir to the throne and the courtesan lasted a year, during which the couple was forced to resort to incredible tricks to hide their relationship from the public and the press.

After 13 months, the flame of love faded, and the windy prince broke up with Alibert, switching to another object of passion. But the girl was not upset at all, since she had already seen more promising lovers who could be taken with bare hands.

In 1921, while accompanying a major French entrepreneur at one of the receptions, Marguerite met Egyptian Prince Ali Fahmy Bey. In an oriental way, a rich and eccentric aristocrat was fascinated by a woman and immediately began to seek her attention. Experienced in matters of the heart, Alibert kept the prince in suspense for a whole year and only then responded to his courtship.

The tactics of the Parisian courtesan worked and, having barely achieved reciprocity, the Egyptian prince proposed to her. Becoming the wife of a prince from a distant country, and even a Muslim, was not part of the woman's plans, as she counted on easy relationships and material support, but Ali Fahmi Bey was very persistent and indecently generous, so Marguerite agreed to marry him.

From the very beginning it was obvious that this marriage was doomed – the prince needed a meek and virtuous spouse who would give birth to his heirs and be the mistress of his huge house. But Alibert was not attracted to such a life at all – she wanted to be the center of attention, travel and flirt.

Another problem was that the prince, despite his rather young age, showed almost no interest in carnal pleasures, and Alibert was the very embodiment of passion and sexuality. In addition, in the homeland of Ali Fahmy Bey, in Cairo, there were rumors that he prefers men to women, and a beautiful wife is just a cover.

Despite these problems, the couple lived together for several years, filled with constant quarrels and reproaches. It all ended during one of the showdowns on July 9, 1923 in London. Marguerite and Ali attended a cultural event together, after which they went to the Savoy Hotel, where their apartments were located.

At two o'clock in the morning, the guests of the elite hotel were awakened by several shots that rang out from the room of the Egyptian prince and his wife. Upon entering the room, people found Ali Fahmi Bey lying on the floor, covered in blood, and Marguerite sitting next to him with a gun in her hands. During another quarrel, a woman shot her husband three times with a Browning 32-caliber automatic pistol.

The seriously wounded prince was rushed to the best clinic in London, but the wounds turned out to be fatal and an hour later he died. Alibert had already been arrested at that time and was giving evidence to investigators at the police department.

The murder of a person of royal blood in the heart of the British capital was resonant and everyone was looking forward to the murder trial. But Alibert, despite all the seeming hopelessness of the situation, was not going to spend the rest of her life behind bars at all. The adventurer had a cunning plan that worked.

Practically unlimited in funds, Marguerite hired one of the best lawyers in Europe – Edward Marshall Hall. An experienced lawyer, whose services were used even by members of the royal families, was able to convince the court that the murder of the prince was self-defense.

Ali Fahmi Bey was exposed as a tyrant, sadist and rapist, who tormented the defenseless Alibert for years. An important argument was a certificate of beatings, which Marguerite presented to the court as proof of her husband's cruelty. Another trump card of the cunning courtesan was her correspondence with the Prince of Wales, which she carefully kept all these years.

More than 20 letters of intimate content could seriously affect not only the reputation of Edward VIII, but also the entire royal house, which already had many shameful secrets. It is not known for sure whether Alibert used this secret weapon, but many historians tend to believe that it was necessary to blackmail a member of the royal family.

Probably, the help of Edward VIII, who was completely uninterested in divulging the details of his turbulent youth, helped Marguerite escape punishment. Alibert, contrary to public expectations, was acquitted on all counts, recognizing the murder of the prince as necessary self-defense.

After her release from an English prison, Marguerite decided that she had had enough adventures. The woman returned to her native Paris, where she lived a long life in abundance without intrigues and shocks, changing lovers and shining in the light until her old age. The most daring and successful adventurer of the XX century died at the age of 80 and, they say, on her deathbed she absolutely did not regret anything.