Morbid - The Bombing of United Air Flight 629

Episode Date: July 21, 2025

On November 1, 1955, United Airlines flight 629 from Denver, Colorado to Seattle, Washington took off from Denver’s Stapleton Airfield at 6:52 pm, carrying thirty-nine passengers and five crew members. Roughly ten minutes later, the aircraft exploded in the air, killing all forty-four people onboard and scattering fiery debris across several miles of Colorado’s landscape.By the early 1950s, air travel had become a popular means of travel for more and more Americans and, while air disasters weren’t unheard of, they nonetheless called into question the safety of traveling on a passenger flight. This time, however, investigators quickly determined that the explosion of flight 629 hadn’t been an accident; someone had intentionally sabotaged the flight with a suitcase bomb.The explosion of United Airlines flight 629 marked the first time a passenger plane had been bombed in the United States, something few if any authorities ever thought would happen. In the event of an act of terror, an individual or group typically comes forward quickly to claim credit; however, in the case of flight 629, no one came forward and investigators were left to wonder, what possible reason could someone have for killing forty-four people with no obvious connection between them?Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!ReferencesAnastasio, Jeff. 2024. A worst act of terror. August 2. Accessed August 6, 2024. https://www.denver7.com/news/local-news/a-worst-act-of-terror-the-mission-to-build-a-memorial-to-remember-the-bombing-of-flight-629-in-colorado.Associated Press. 1955. "Arraignment for Graham postponed." Daily Sentinel, November 17: 1.—. 1955. "Charge of murder planned in Denver on mother's death." Fort Collins Coloradoan, November 15: 1.—. 1955. "FBI begins investgation of Longmont air crash." Fort Collins Coloradoan, November 8: 1.—. 1955. "Graham denies plane bombing." Fort Collins Coloradoan, November 18: 1.—. 1955. "Graham linked to dynamite." Fort Collins Coloradoan, November 21: 1.—. 1955. "Judge orders hospital check." Fort Collins Coloradoan, December 9: 1.—. 1955. "Paper says bomb evidence found in UAL plane crash." Fort Collins Coloradoan, November 7: 1.—. 1955. "Probe is started by bomb expert." Fort Collins Coloradoan, November 3: 1.—. 1955. "Victim's son bought insurance policy before flight, FBI says." Fort Collins Coloradoan, November 14: 1.2013. A Crime to Remember. Directed by Christine Connor. Performed by Christine Connor.Field, Andrew. 2005. Mainliner Denver: The Bombing of Flight 629. Denver, CO: Bower House Publishing.Garner, Joe. 2005. "Terror in the Colorado sky John Graham's legacy: The mass murder of 44 people in Nov. '55." Rocky Mountain News, October 14.Gauss, Gordon. 1955. "44 die in crash near Longmont." Daily Sentinel, November 2: 1.John Gilbert Graham v. People of the State of Colorado. 1956. 18058 (Supreme Court of Colorado, October 22).Pitman, Frank. 1956. "Graham reportedly resigned to death, overheard telling lawyer 'don't want to appeal'." Daily Sentinel, May 6: 1.United Press. 1955. "44 on plane die in crash in west." New York Times, November 2: 1.  Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, guys. We just wanted to come on here and chat with you for a second because we hear you, we see you, and we love you. And we would like to take your feedback into consideration, and we appreciate it. So we are diving hard back into some more true crime cases because, again, we hear you. We totally understand and thank you for letting us know. Because the reason we were kind of doing a bunch of collab episodes was one, they're just really fun to do. We've been really lucky to be able to hang out with these people. But also we kind of like, we kind of just needed like a mental break from like such hard cases. And it was like a nice little kind of like pull back a little bit.

We feel refreshed. We feel anew. And thank you for being patient with us and giving us that moment just to kind of like mentally reset. Because I mean, we're like, I don't know how many years, more than four years into this now. So I think we just needed like a true crime like reset where we were like trying to figure out what cases really meant something. something to us and which ones we wanted to go forward with. And we gathered them while we were doing those collabs and some of the spooky stuff. And it kind of matched up with spooky season. But now we're in November and it's coming. So.

Buckle up. But we want to let you guys know that we really do hear you and that you're not just yelling into a void and that like we're not just being like, fuck off. You get spooky. And that's it. Because I understand what you guys are saying. I myself, sometimes if I don't know a guest will skip a collab episode on a podcast. Yeah. So I get it. I totally get it. We have had amazing guests. I was going to say that at the same time, I wouldn't skip any of the guests that we had because they're all incredible and they all deserve to have ears on their incredible work. Exactly. But we have done plenty and we will cool it for a little bit. Do know that we have some like already that are going to be coming out. I think we're going to try to see if maybe we can put them on

Fridays for a little bit to take place of the listener tales. We'll make sure that you're getting enough true crime where you feel like you are where you want to be and where you came for originally, you know what I mean? So we're going to give you all the true crime you can handle. Don't worry. And for those of you that do like the spooky episodes, don't worry, they're not going to go anywhere.

Yeah. We're still going to sprinkle them in because we have fun with them. They are. They're a lot of fun. And that's why, you know, like we wanted to venture out into more of that stuff. But we understand when it's like you go too hard with one thing and you're taken away from the other thing. It's kind of a learning curve.

We're just trying to figure out how to balance it all. But you know what? You guys gave good feedback. We're going to listen. So we're going to make sure we're given a healthier dose of true crime in here. And hopefully you guys like it. And actually, it's starting in this episode and it's going to keep going for a little while. So you have a couple of pretty gnarly ones coming up.

Totally. I have a two-parter next week coming at you. And it's a lot of body parts. Oh, it's all I'll say. Well, listen, guys, just know that, like, we do hear you and we love the feedback. Like, it only makes the show better. So with that being said, I hope you all feel heard. And I hope that we can continue to keep keeping it weird together.

Because you're the reason we're here. So it's about you, man. You're the reason for the season. Love, Ash, and Elena. So I hope you guys enjoy it. Thank you. Hey, weirdos. I'm Elena.

I'm Ash. And this is morbid. Hey yo. Hello, everybody. We just clean the pod lab and it feels really good in here. Oh my God. We're not even actually really done yet, but it is feeling better. We're organizing.

We're hanging up some of the stuff you guys have sent us. We'll burn in some of the candles that you've sent. The vibe is right. The vibes are, the vibes are correct. The vibes are, Vibing. And by the time this comes out, Halloween will be over.

Wow, you brought that to a dark place. No, but we'll be on the way to Thanksgiving and Christmas season, which is always fun with kids. It is so much fun. I'm, like, sad about Halloween this year. It just like, it went by, came up quick and it went by too fast. Way too fast. Yeah. But we had some fun costumes this year, you and I.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Elena was a circus ringleader. Yeah, that got like clawed in the face by a lion. Named John. John was a lion.

Yeah. And Ash and Drew were bride of Frankenstein and Frankenstein. There's Drew. There he is. He just texted me. Sorry. He was like, that's me. He was like, what, you called?

That's me. What? But yeah, it was fun. But it's always like that lead up to Halloween that I get sadder and sadder because it's going to be over. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And then you just have to live spooky season. But like, not everybody understands that. I know. You know. But it's hard. You have Halloween pajama pants on now. I do. I'm still rocking them.

Where are those from? These are from little sleepies, I think. Oh, are those ones you order? Yeah, these are the ones I got the kids the same ones. So we all share the same ridiculous Halloween pajamas. They're really comfy. They look super soft. Little sleepies.

They don't sponsor us, but they should. Lame. Because they're great. Shout out to Little Sleepy, sponsor us. That's right. started this and all of a sudden my throat feels gunky and I'm pissed off. Oh yeah. You know what? It's still that time where it's always that time with your children. Yeah. And we're also, it's flu season. Cold and flu season. Wash your hands. Still still cold and flu season. Wash those damn

hands. Wash your nubs. Wash them. Make sure with soap. And water. Soap is the very important aspect of that. Major key one might say. Water temperature is great but soap is the real important thing. So get those hands washed. But we got that. So we got flu, cold and flu. We still got the cove cove floating around that everybody seems to be forgetting about. Still around. And then we also have RSV going crazy with kids. They're like flooding hospitals. Hospitals literally don't have beds for kids. And didn't you say the flu is like really bad this year? Yeah. The flu is going to, they're calling it like a triple demic or something like that. Because it's like all three are happening at once. I'm done with the demics. Yeah, I'm done with all of it. But we're in a constant state of colds in this house.

Luckily, the kids seem to be throwing off colds like it's nobody's business. Because they're throwing them to us. They're just whipping them at us. So I have had a cold for three days. It's not a bad one, but it's still there. But I'm sure you all love hearing about my immune system, you know. That's why you're all here. We can move on to what you are here for, which is not only his immune system or mine.

Today we're going to talk about the princess who killed the. prince, but neither of them were even princesses or princes. Whoa. Marguerite Aliber, we're going to talk about today. There's a lot of French in this story, and I attempted to take French for a minute. I'm not good at languages. I have faith in you. Thank you.

You're welcome. So I'm going to try my best with some pronunciations, and if I do good, I do good, and if I don't, I don't. Yeah. So there's that. There's really no consequences that I'm going to give you if you don't do well. That's good. I'm here for you. And I don't have a Twitter.

I'm here to support you. I don't think anyone really has a Twitter anymore after. Yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah, we won't go there. Yeah, guys, get rid of your Twitter. It's not a good place. No.

Just the fact, like I saw a report the other day that like slurs, specific slurs, have gone up, like 500%. Yeah, it's just no. I think we've reached that point of social media where it's like, all right, we gave that a good go, everybody. Yeah. Bye-bye. Go back to the old-fashioned things. Send me a fucking carrier pigeon so I know it's real. You know, send an email.

Yeah, no. It's fine. No, don't even email me. Don't even email. No, you know you can and you should and I appreciate them. But like I'm just kidding. Send me a carrier pigeon too. Please.

While you're at it. All right, but we're going back to 1920s here. Oh, the raw and 20s. We're going to be in France. We're going to be in London. We're going to be in Egypt. Oh, we're jet setting. Oh, okay.

Let's go. All right. So our story starts on July 10th. 1923 in London at the Savoy Hotel. John Paul Beattie, who worked as the night porter at the hotel, was just, you know, being a night porter carrying up some luggage to the fourth floor. Doing the damn thing. And as he was making his way up the stairs, he thought he heard some arguing.

And then he reaches the fourth floor, and he sees two guests that he knows quite well, and they're spilling out of their room, continuing to scream at each other. Uh-oh. He very much should have known who they were the second, but he even heard arguing, because these two particular guests had actually been staying at the hotel for about nine, ten nights now, and they were constantly at each other's throats. These guests were Ali Fami and his wife, Marguerite Alibair. Ooh.

The former known as an Egyptian prince and the latter known as his princess. Oh. Now, like I said, neither of them were actually royalty at all. I was just going to ask. Fami was a rich man from Egypt who was given the title Bay because of all the philanthropic work that he did. Bay comes from a Turkish word and it signifies a person's rank as a provincial governor. But the press in Europe and America actually mistranslated the word and just advertised him as a prince. But he was not. He was philanthropic, but he was not a prince. And he was super

fucking rich, but not a prince. There you go. There you go. You're smelling what I'm stepping in. Now, it was something that neither he nor Marguerite would go against. Marguerite had been working a long time to get to where she was. She liked her man, She liked them powerful. So she was like, yeah, fuck it, I'm dating a prince. Or excuse me, marrying a prince. Now, she'd been married before, but a lot of her relationships were very short-lived. This one would also prove to be.

Marguerite and Fami had only been married six months, and clearly it was not going well. So Fami looks at the night porter, and he motions to his face, and he screams at the man, look at my face. Look what she's done. And there was a mark on his face. But this was well above John Paul's pay grade. So he called on the hotel's night manager to report the incident and he went along his merry way. He was barely down the hall when he heard three loud bangs, one right after the other.

He ran back to the room and he saw the woman that he knew as Princess Marguerite standing over her husband, the prince. As he watched her. As he watched her. I was like, what happened? Did she not function? I did. As he watched her, a pistol fell from her hand. and landed next to Fami. Oh, no. Fami was bleeding all over himself,

and John Paul could see a hole in his head from a bullet wound. Whoa, that escalated. Now, before he could think twice and before Marguerite could run, John Paul picked up the gun and grabbed Marguerite by the arm. And as he did, she fell to her knees next to Fami and whispered something in French in his ear. It's unclear what it was. Nobody's ever picked it up.

I want to know. I want to know, too. been something like, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do this, or like, fuck you. Or it could have been like, told you sucker or something really intense. Yeah, exactly. Because she didn't mess around. She sounds intense. She's, so. That's one way to describe her. It's just me. It's so far. Taking the vibes here so far. Just, just wait. So just then, the night manager arrived on the scene. And from the floor, Marguerite looked up at him crying and she just kept asking, what have I done? And the night manager was like, why, why did this happen? How did this happen? And Marguerite replied,

Oh, sir, I have been married six months and it has been torture to me. I have suffered terribly. And then she just stared off in the distance and repeated over and over to no one in particular. I lost my head. I lost my head. Oh, man. Isn't that so creepy? That is really creepy. So we'll get back to that scene. But first, you ought to know about the key people here a little bit better. So we're going to start with Marguerite. Marguerite was born. Marie. Marguerite Alibair in Paris on December 9th, 1890. She did not come from much. Her family was pretty poor, and her parents were both of working class.

Elena's blowing out the candles and motioned for me to keep going, but I was like, wait, what? I'm sorry, the candles were making a little flickering sounds. They're one of those, like, flicker candles. And I was worried that, like, an hour into this, all of a sudden, it was going to be like, wait a second, can you guys hear that? People are like, what the hell? What the hell? But Marguerite, she didn't come from much. Her family was working class folk. Her father, Formin, was a coachman for a wealthy Parisian family. And her mother was a maid for another wealthy family. Okay.

They lived in a very, very small, very, very cramped apartment on Rue de Arameyi, I think. Oh, I know it well. Yeah, me too. It was a really nice area, actually, overall. And Marguerite was surrounded by, like, rich people and beauty, all the the latest fashions, jewels, beautiful people, everything was at her fingertips, but all she could do is stand by and kind of watch it, hoping someday that she'd be able to enjoy the luxuries. But for now, she was stuck with baby watching duty. Her little brother was four years old, and while her parents worked, it was her job to look after him.

But unfortunately, one day while she was watching him, tragedy struck. Oh, no. Her little brother was hit and actually killed by a truck while they were playing in the street. As soon as her parents were called to the scene, Marguerite's mother placed the blame on her, even though she was a child watching a child. Oh, man. And she was sent away to live in a religious home run by nuns known as the Sisters of Mary. Oh, wow. They literally, like, banished her from the home.

And it's like, can you imagine the trauma she went through being there when that happened? No, that's the thing. Geez. Now, it wasn't far from where she lived with her parents, but she was abandoned and completely alone now. luckily it didn't sound like she suffered the kind of abuse that we know sometimes happens in stories like this when children are sent away to homes like this. Yeah. She learned, I mean, we can assume that it probably wasn't like peaches and roses and sunshine, but I couldn't find that she was like abused there. Yeah. She learned to saying she got a basic education. She was also taught etiquette and different social graces that would be necessary to navigate her way through French society. So it wasn't all bad.

And then when she turned 15, the sisters felt like it was a good time for her to get a job. And she was sent to work as a housemaid for a lawyer named Henry Jules Languie. He lived in a mansion with his family, actually not too far from where Marguerite's parents lived. So it must have been kind of weird for her. Yeah. And again, she was living around these high society people. So while she was performing her servant duty, she did her best to kind of study the people that she worked for and the rich people that they lived near. She wanted to know all the ins and outs of high society, and she was really able to learn through her time there.

But it would not last very long because in the summertime of 1906, when she was just 16 years old, she got pregnant. And she was immediately fired and excommunicated, excuse me, from the family. Oh my God. She just keeps getting kicked out of family. I know. So when I heard that, I was like, was she like getting it on with Henry there? Yeah, like what's happening here? Is that why she was kicked out?

nobody is actually quite sure who the father was to this baby. Oh, wow. My money's on Henry or like someone in that house. Something's going on there. Because the way that they were like, get the fuck out of here. Yeah. I think it might have been. But Marguerite did give a couple of options.

She first said that the man was a 28-year-old who she had known her entire life. She said they were actually engaged to be married, but that her dowry was not good enough for him. And that's when everything came crashing down around her. And then she gave another option, according to Andrew Rose, who wrote the woman before Wallace, Prince Edward, the Parisian courtesan, and the perfect murder. And according to AM, Andrew Rose, the father was an Englishman, and his father was a colonel administrator working in India. But this man's father wouldn't give him permission to marry Marguerite, so their engagement was called off. Oh, sad.

Now, it's pretty well known that Marguerite loved to exaggerate stories and kind of fabricate them here and there. I'm not shocked at all. No, so who knows if any of those options are true. But what was true was the fact that now she was expecting. And in January of 1907, she gave birth to a daughter that she named Raymond. But since she didn't have much to take care of the baby, the baby was actually sent to live on a farm with like a completely different family. So sad. So she not only lost her baby in job, but now she'd also lost her place to live with the sisters of Mary because they were like, you sinned, girl.

Yeah, that's a no-no. So now she's 16, jobless, homeless, and completely alone. Oh, man. So in order to get by and survive, she did really the only thing that she could at that point. Yeah. She started working as a sex worker. Now, there's really not a lot known about like this specific period, like right when she kind of got out on the streets. But we can assume that it was not easy and that I'm sure it came with a significant amount of trauma. Yeah. Like we all heard the five-part Jack the Ripper series. Oh, yeah. But eventually, Marguerite learned that there were different levels to sex work. I guess you could say to this job and some aviourner. news that could provide her a much better life. Now, in the early 20th century in France, sex workers could be organized into three categories. La Cortesan, La Fille di occasion et la Prostitutee Professionale, which is the cortisin, or excuse me, the cortisin, the woman for hire, and the professional sex worker. But we say it a little different here. Yeah. Now, while the last two are pretty similar to what sex work looks like kind of in the present day, working as a cortisone actually afforded women

much more opportunity. All I can think of is Mulan Rouge. Yes, exactly. And that's kind of like what it is. Yeah. It's very that. And that's what Marguerite wanted to do. And she actually caught the attention of a woman named Madame de Nart, who owned a high-class brothel known as Maison de Rondevous. Ooh. Now, it's not clear if that was the actual name of the establishment, because that actually just translates into meeting house. So I don't know if like at all the brothels they were referred to like that or if it was a little meta name for this particular brawl. Yeah, very meta. But either way, Madame de Dardt was really taken with Marguerite.

She felt like there was something special about Marguerite, and so she took her under her wing. She taught her how to play the piano. She gave her speech lessons. She taught her how to dress, how to act if she wanted to accompany these rich, powerful men in Paris. And Marguerite was actually said to be a fast learner. And, you know, she'd been studying this way of life pretty much all of her life so far.

So she was ready in her own way. And in no time, Madam said that Marguerite became incredibly popular among her best clients. She specifically said that she was, quote, the mistress of nearly all my best clients, gentlemen of wealth and position in Paris, England and America and other countries. The sparkling diamonds. The jewel. Oh, what's it in the crown jewel? No, the sparkling diamond.

Oh, the sparkling diamond. That's what you were saying. That's what I said. Went right over my head. You're like, it's that. Why am I done? But the money that she was making and the people she was meeting really afforded her some new opportunities. And she started kind of becoming interested in the arts of Paris, the museums and the theaters.

And she actually even started performing in plays and cabaret shows. Wow. And sometimes at some of the most famous establishments in Paris. Now, it was her goal to meet a rich and powerful man so that she could always enjoy these luxuries and not have to depend on work to do so. Yeah, of course. And she also didn't want to worry about where her next check was coming from. Oh, no. And she didn't realize that throughout her life she would meet not one of these men, but a lot of these men.

Wow. And that wasn't really the plan, but that's how it happened. But here we are. Yeah. So the first man was Andre Miller. And she actually wasn't set up with him as a cortisone. They met by happenstance. He was 40 years old.

He was tall. He was very handsome. And of course, very rich. We love a tall man. We love a tall, rich, handsome man. Now, his father had a tall, he was a tall, handsome man. had been a wine dealer who supposedly got wine for the Vatican when they needed it. Oh, okay.

I'm like, geez. But the issue was that this man, this Andre guy, this fella, what do you think? Was he married? He was married. Yeah, he was married. Although it really didn't seem like too much of an issue because this fucker was able to live two separate lives, one at home with his wife and one at the apartment where he set up Marguerite. Oh, no. As a kept woman.

Andre. Andre. Come on. Not only did he rent her an apartment, but he bought her fancy presents all the time. He would travel with her. He would go take her to his racing stable where he kept his horses. And he actually taught her how to ride horses there. And she fell in love with riding horses.

Wow, this is very pretty woman. No, I wasn't thinking that. But I agree. It's also very Thomas Shelby and Grace and Peaky Blinders. I haven't seen Peaky Blinders yet. Yeah, you got to watch it. Maybe it's based on it. Good, guys. It's getting good. Season four. Tell me what happens. I'm watching White Lotus

Season 2 right now. There you go. So fucking good. Now, she actually, yep, she learned to ride horses. Yeah, she did like grace. And they even went on trips across Europe together and they stayed at all of his multiple residences that he had everywhere. Andre. They spent a beautiful question mark seven years together. Whoa. Yeah. Marguerite even started going by Madame Meller and Maggie Meller, like taking his last name. common law. That is actually, that's precisely common law. I don't know when common law started. I don't know if it would have been back then. Well, and I think it's, I don't know if that's just a strictly American thing. Yeah, probably. Yeah. Taxes. Taxes and such, you know. But so she was, she was with Andre, but she was still working for Madame Dunart when Andre was away on business or, you know, being a husband to his actual life. You know. She started to get lonely while he was away, so they would

argue when he came back around because she was always very vocal if he did something to piss her off. And that was something that he wasn't really used to with his wife back home. And he also didn't really like that Marguerite was still working and he did not love the attention that she was always getting from other men. Eek. So he's away, she's mad about that. When he's away, she's working and he's mad about that. So they were at each other constantly. And sometimes their arguments would become physical. Marguerite on her own admission actually, started baiting Andre into fights by like feeding his jealousy. One night they got into a really, really bad, loud argument in public. And as they were fighting, Marguerite just walked out

and walked home without Andre. But to his home. And when she got there, she locked him out of his own house and let all his horses loose on his estate so that they could just roam around. Oh, damn. Yeah. So he had enough and he ended things with Marguerite. Eek. Yeah, it was not good. So it was 1914 when their relationship came to an end. And he was nice enough to give her a settlement of 200,000 francs, which would be about 30,000 U.S. dollars back then and about $900,000 in U.S. dollars today. Damn. Like a pretty sick settlement for a dude she wasn't even married to. So with all her new coin, Marguerite actually rented her own apartment in Paris. Get it. She's like, get it, Marguerite. Yeah, exactly. She was also able to hire two of

her own servants and by a stable with a few horses. Whoa, look at her. She had climbed a few rungs on the social ladder. Oh, I keep forgetting she's a murder. Yeah, she's a murderer. That slipped my mind for a second. At that time, she had climbed up a few rungs at the social ladder and she was really determined to get

all the way to the top. So for the next few months of her life, she did all the glamorous things she possibly could. She went to the theater, she made well-connected friends, shopped for the newest fashions, rode her horses and hell she even bought a car. Get it. Which was a really big deal back then. Yeah. Actually, I guess France was like one of the leading like places when cars were first coming about.

Oh, really? Yeah, but it was still really rare for anyone to have a car. And it was a big deal for a woman to have her own car. That makes sense. So she got herself a 2030 Renault touring car. It's picture like one of those black buggy looking cars with like the big wheels. Oh yeah. And the convertible looking top. Yep. But yeah, exactly. So having her car meant that she could get even more connected to the upper echelon of the time because she was able to use her car to offer chauffeur services to like doctors and nurses, anyone with a high-paying job at a prominent establishment, and then she makes connections there. That's enterprising.

She's a good enterpriser. She is. She's a good business woman. So it was going well for a while, but then seemingly out of nowhere she became sick. Now, it's not specified anywhere what she was actually suffering from, if anything, all, but her doctor suggested a warmer climate. Okay. So in the winter of 1915, she boarded a ship that was heading to Cairo, Egypt.

Now, she needed an aid to travel with that would protect her because this was during World War I, and it was a really risky time to be traveling at all, but especially as a woman alone. Yeah. Now, her man, her man, her man, whoa. Her aide was a man named Mehmet Sharif, and she knew him actually because they had met in Paris years earlier. He was previously a Turkish ambassador to Sweden.

And he escaped death during the Turkish revolution by hiding out in Monaco in France. But he was a wanted man because he had spoken out against the Ottoman Empire and had been sentenced to death. But being constantly on the run was kind of his only option to stay away from that. I have to say that he was a pretty impressive dude. But like, I don't know if I would have felt safe with him because people quite literally were constantly in search of him so that they could kill him. Yeah, it feels a little counterintuitive. Yeah, a little bit. A little bit.

So he was her aide, and while they were traveling in Europe, he had been, or in Egypt, excuse me, he would get shot at multiple times. And he was like, you know what, I'm actually a little bit worried about getting you caught up in all of this. Yeah, he's like, you know what? It just struck my mind that like, you might get shot. You might get shot while you're with me. And my whole purpose right here is to protect you. So I should probably dip. He's like, people shoot in me.

I forgot to mention that. It, like, actually a lot. During the job interview. Happened multiple times. He's like, it didn't come up. You didn't ask me straight out, do people shoot at you? Yeah, on a regular basis. You got to ask the burning questions.

You got to do it. So one night, he was like, I think enough is enough. I need to move on to the next location. So Marguerite woke up to a signed photograph from him. Wow. And he slipped under her door before he got on a board, before he got on board a ship heading to Geneva. That is. So extra.

I just like, here's a signed headshot. Here you go. But people like did that shit back in the day. People were so fucking weird. It was so awesome. You would just give somebody a photo of yourself and like write something on the back. Like how narcissistic but beautiful. Like everyone was narcissistic but in like the best way. Yeah. It was like a pure narcissism. A kind of narcissism that you can write home about. Yeah. It was a good one. A kind of narcissism that made the heart grow fonder. Yeah. Not the kind we have now. No. That's a bad kind. But with her companion gone, Marguerite really had no.

choice but to go back to Paris because she's like, I can't travel alone. No. And it was also going to be too hot of a summer for her to endure in Egypt. Oh yeah. It needed to be a warm climate, not a fucking burning climate. Not the sun. So by the summer of 1915, she was already on her way back. She only had spent a few months in Cairo. But I'm sure you know, as well as I do by this point, Egypt had not seen the last of Marguerite. Because remember, oh, I know. Fami was an Egyptian prince, quote, unquote. That's right. So when she got back, she was not in the good graces of Madame Dynart anymore. Madame Dernart was pissed. She would not allow her to come back and work in the brothel. And for a minute, things were pretty hairy for Marguerite. Madame Dynart was one of the most

well-known and powerful madame's in town, so she was not someone you wanted on your bad side. She's going to blacklist you. But at the same time, Marguerite had a really good reputation on her own and was well-known enough to find work at another high-end brothel. There you go. This one was run by a woman called Madame Sonia di Cthaval. Okay. Yeah. So, Madame Sonia's brothel was a bit different than Madame Dinart's. Madame Sonia had a waiting room for her gentlemen, and as they sat, they would look through

photo books of the cortisans. There were all kinds of different girls that these men could choose from. What a fucking awful sentence that was. Yeah. There were married women, girls known as errand girls, girls looking for support for their theater careers. and a lot of theaters and cabarets at the time would look to women like Madam Sonia and Madame DeNart to offer girls to act in their shows because it would bring in more business if you could be like after the show she's available. Wow. Which is like really fucked up. It also reminds me of last night in Soho. Yeah, I was thinking that too. Yeah. Yeah. That was like a real thing that happened and such a good movie. Guys, great movie.

Criminally under marketed. Yes. And badly marketed. Like go watch that movie. You won't remember. credit. Yeah. Terrible marketing on that movie. When I watched the commercials, I had no interest at all. And then for some reason, oh, one of my friends told me she was like that it's really good, you'll like it. And I tried it. And I was like, what the fuck? Yeah, nothing like I thought it was going to be. And everybody's a Matt Smith head right now because of House of Dragon. If you like Matt Smith and you're suddenly like, ooh, Damon Targaryen, go watch the last night in Soho. Because he's in it and he's great in it. He's really going to. You'll hate him, but he's good. You're supposed to hate Matt Smith. I don't know if he ever should play a character that you like.

No, it's the way of the world, okay. But back to the theater where the girls were on. So just like she was at Madame Dinarz place, at Madame Sonia's, Marguerite was a grand vedette or big star. Sparkling Diamond. Precisely. Exactly. She was one of the most expensive girls to be with. And she had work skills that included being a dominatrix.

She would do lesbian activity, which was like very unheard of at the time. And sodomy, which was just literally not. not like spoken about at all. Wow. But she offered that service. Now, again, all things that were very hush, hush in Parisian high society and kept behind closed doors that were very quietly closed and locked with a few dead bolts. Yeah, and put bolts and bolts of fabric on top of it so you can't hear anything. Don't talk about lesbians. We don't talk about butt stuff back then. Okay? No way. L-O-L. L-O-L. Now, while she was working at Madame Sonia's, Marguerite made the acquaintance of a very important man. Prince Edward the 8th.

Oh, just him. An actual prince. Okay, just that guy. Yes. Yeah. It seems that one of her clients actually knew Prince Edward and wanted the two of them to meet. Like, he wanted to set Prince Edward up with somebody. Wow.

Because this was during a time where Prince Edward obviously wasn't married yet and he didn't have a ton of experiences. And actually, like his people wanted him to have some sexual experiences before he settled down. So they like made it happen. Oh, right. They would like set him up. Yeah. You know, like some people will like, you know, they'll buy you some stuff for your new apartment. Yeah. But like, this is good too. Yeah. Whatever works in your friendship. Yeah. So it was late April of 1917. The prince was 23 and Marguery was a bit older. She was 27. Oh. The two were set up for lunch. A coog. And Marguerite was usually not one to fall head over heels. But she was immediately taken with the prince. I mean, he's a prince. Because he's a prince, exactly. He was a little shy, but he was handsome and very sweet.

He loved Paris and all the beauty it had to offer, just like Marguerite did. They loved the same things about it. They spent hours together at this lunch. Lunch turned into dinner. And then when that was finally over, the prince asked her when they could see each other again after he walked her home. Adorable. He only had three days away from his duties, and he wanted to spend all of them with her.

So we can assume that that was the case, and they spent the next three days together. starting their love affair. But after those three days, Prince Edward had to get back to work because there was a war that was starting. Yeah, and he's like a whole ass prince. Yes, he's like actually got to get focused on that. But even when he returned to work, he could not get rid of Marguerite out of his head. Like, he could not stop thinking about her. And he referenced their time together as those three days in Bliss in Paris. Oh, man. He really liked her. Damn. But it was hard for him to get back to Paris regularly. So he and Marguerite spent most of the year

writing letters back and forth. That's beautiful. He would send his letters along with a gift or a photo of himself, probably. And Marguerite would do the same. She'd send him chocolate or other small tokens of affection. But one night, they finally did get the opportunity to see each other again.

Edward was traveling with his parents in Paris, and he was able to sneak away to where Marguerite was staying at the Hotel Normandy in DeVille. Now, DeVille was pretty popular for soldiers that were on leave because it wasn't as closed down as Paris was at the time because of the war. Like, they kind of were just acting like the war wasn't really happening. Yeah. But since it was popular for all kinds of soldiers, British and American, it was really risky for them to carry out their affair in the restaurants and clubs because they could have easily been spotted.

And people would have been like, that's Prince Edward and that's a lady of the night. Yeah. And then they would have clutch their pearls and told on everybody. Yeah. And that would have been a big fucking scandal for the royal family. So silly. So those meetings went on for a little bit. But by November of 1917,

Edward was getting busier and busier with his duties because of the war, and it wouldn't be long before he actually got deployed to Italy. So he started drinking heavily, probably due to a mixture of sadness from not seeing marguerite and having to deal with the war. And he said he didn't really like being in Italy because he wasn't attracted to Italian women. Yeah, I mean, you should definitely banish an entire place.

entire country because you're not attracted. What is wrong with you, sir? I think he was kind of a giant asshole. Okay, wow. That turned so quickly. It did. He wrote about how he didn't want to have relations with any of the women he'd seen, sort of explicitly.

He was a douche, and they probably didn't think he was hot either. Wow. So, fuck off. Oh, what a big bummer. Yeah, I know. Geez, I was rooting for you. We were all rooting for you. We were all rooting for you.

How dare you? He went down in history as like the worst. Yeah, so there's that. It's fine. But he did finally actually actually. meet another woman and he started spending more time with her. Her name was Winifred. Winifred Freddie Ward. No.

And she would become his next mistress. Oh. Because his feelings for her started becoming stronger than his feelings for Marguerite. And he was like, okay, I'm going to try to break things off with Marguerite amicably. Clearly, he didn't know who the fuck he was dealing with. Because Marguerite reminded Prince Edward about all the letters that had transpired over the past year. And a lot of these letters had information about the war and different things that Marguerite should not know about. Things that could ruin Edward and the royal family if they were to see the light

of day. Oh, Eddie. And she had kept every single letter. Yeah, she did. So he could like end things with her if he wanted to, but it was going to cost him a pretty penny. Eek. So she was like, yeah, just know that, buddy. Just letting you know. But we're going to put that on the back burner because compensation would come later down the line, don't you worry. But first, Marguerite needed a new man to pay her way. So she actually had an operation recently to remove her ovaries because she did not want children. And while she was recovering, she met another patient. He was Charles Laurent, an Air Force officer who'd been fighting with the white Russian forces during the war. Now, he came from a very wealthy family. He had money of his own, and he was actually single and very ready to make.

Oh. So Marguerite realized that if she were able to marry him, she actually might be able to get her daughter back, get her daughter a prominent last name, and finally be secure to live a very comfortable and well-off life. Wow. So the thing was Charles really liked her, but meeting Charles was not love at first sight for Marguerite. It was more like opportunity at first sight. Not good. Simply shelving one man for another. But after spending more and more time with him, she actually really did start to fall in love with him. Oh, good for Charles. And it probably helped that he moved her from one apartment to an even better one, which he paid

the rent for, and also gave her a monthly allowance of 36,000 francs, which is roughly $500 US dollars back then, but translates into about $15,000 a month today. Oh, okay. This motherfucker was giving her an allowance of what would be $15,000 a month. An allowance. Like, oh, just go spend a little. There you go. Jesus.

That's a pretty penny. It's a pretty penny. So she was like, oh, I'll get back to Edward. I'm going to do this for now. No, whatever. But by the winter of 1919, the two were engaged to be married. Engauged. Engadjade.

Charles knew who Marguerite was. He knew where she came from. He knew all about her background, but he didn't care. He loved her and he wanted to make a life together. I actually feel bad for him retroactively. I do too. Because he was kind of conned into this. Aw.

Even if Marguerite did grow to love him, which it seems maybe she did. But Charles may not have been on to Marguerite's plan. His family was, though. They urged him. They were like, you cannot marry her. She's a gold digger. She's after your money. Now she wants to get her kid back.

She wants to give her kid your last name. Like, this is really hairy. So they really weren't far off, but they're pleased with him, didn't sway him. And they got married in May. E, Charles. I'm worried for you. I know. I'm worried.

They honeymoon and. Venice and it became clear on the honeymoon very early on that they were two very different people after very different lives. That's a bad time to figure that out. On your honeymoon? I feel like that's like this right. You just missed the time. You should figure that out. I was thinking, I was like, people got married so quickly back then. Like they were like, hey, you're hot. Like, do you have like one interest that I have? You're hot. Let's just get married. Let's go. It just so quickly. Didn't know a thing about the other person. No, and then you find everything out after you're married and it's like, well, this sucks. Right. Like you go on your honeymoon and you're like, oh, this will be so much fun.

I love this guy. He's hot. Yeah. And then you're like, oh, he doesn't want to go anywhere with me and I want out and party. Like, fuck this. We want completely different things in life. Like, that's a pretty big thing you guys should be talking about before you get married. Right. And that's exactly what happened here because Charles, he liked the arts and the culture. He wanted to go to museums. He wanted to see the sites. He's in fucking Venice. Of course he does. Of course. Marguerite wanted to party. She wanted to enjoy the nightlife. She wanted to meet rich people. She wanted to meet famous people.

She wanted to be seen in the latest fashions. And she just wanted to do Italy the way that Marguerite wanted to do Italy. Of course. She didn't want to do it the way Charles wanted to. No compromise there. No. None. So they got through the honeymoon with a little bickering.

They survived. It didn't go too well. Yeah, they survived to their honeymoon. But when they got back to Paris, I'm sure you're going to be so shocked to hear, things got worse. They did? They didn't get better? No, they didn't.

Oh, that's nuts. Because Charles wanted Marguerite to be on his arm for all the social events he went to, and he also had some political aspirations that he would need her support for. He was actually offered a diplomatic position in Japan in 1920,

and if he were to accept it, he and Marguerite would have to move there. So obviously he's like, I'm not passing up this opportunity, but he has a feeling that Marguerite's not going to be interested. So he gave her an ultimatum. Continue to be his way. but get a little more supportive and come with him to Japan,

or give up the marriage and go back to the life that she was used to living without him. Marguerite was very thankful for the options, and she ended up choosing the latter. Oh, I had a feeling. Yep. The marriage ended on March 30th, 1920, and only came with yet another settlement for the settlement queen of the fucking century. I'm so real.

I couldn't figure out just how much she got from Charles, but it was enough to maintain the apartment that he had moved her in. You hire more servants, get more stables, excuse me, more horses for her stables. She now had 10 horses in total. Damn. She got a full-time groomer for the horses and two limousines. Sorry, I took a sip of money to coffee while you were talking. That's all right.

Holy shit. Why do you need two limousines? Even one limousine. What are you doing? Yeah, you're crazy. What are you doing? What are you doing, girl? But she was at a level now that she had never been at.

She's truly, like you said, the settlement queen of the century. Oh, and she only becomes... This is her career. It is. Yeah, she's kind of a carn artist. A car artist. She's such a car artist. She's a car artist.

She's a car artist. She's a car artist. I don't know. Also, is it kind of like smoky in here or is it just me? I mean, we got some candles. Does it look smoky to you? Maybe we should blow a couple of them out so we don't like set off the fire alarms. Yeah, it's looking a bit smoky.

A bit smoky. A bit smoky in here. I'm going to blow some out. Ash is going to vamp. Yeah, I'm going to keep reading. So Marguerite moved on pretty quickly this time, and she met a man named Juan D. Astorica, who actually shared a lot of her interests in nightlife and partying. So maybe this was going to be a good point for them.

Elena thinks it will be. And by the way, at this point, she actually was able to get her daughter back. Good for her. But motherhood and the lifestyle that Juan and Marguerite were living didn't exactly mesh. So Marguerite actually abandoned her daughter for the second time and sent her away to a British boarding school called The Grange. All right, you know what, Marguerite, get fucked. And you know what, I have to wonder if it was worth it. Because in no time, this relationship with Juan fizzled out because of Marguerite's temper.

And when things ended, she must have regretted her decision. So she collected Raymond and she left for Egypt once again. Come on, this poor kid. Right. She's been abandoned twice and picked up three different times now. Like, come on. And it's like, she has no fucking idea who you are. She spent most of her life at a farm without you.

And now you're picking her up and just sending her away and then getting her and then sending her away again. Like stability is good for children. And you're basically showing her that like she's an inconvenience and when she is an inconvenience, you'll just get rid of her. Yeah, exactly. You'll go collect her when she's not anymore. Let me tell you, if your parents treat you like an inconvenience, it might fuck you up for a little while. Yeah, I would say so. So she went, she goes to Egypt with Ramon and she actually was, she was a mistress for a rich banker.

But at the same time, she met the man from the beginning of our story, Ali Kamel Fami. So Fami, let's talk about him a little bit. He was born into a wealthy family in 1900, meaning that Marguerite was actually 10 years his senior. A little cougar action there for you. She is a cougar. Cougar. His father passed away when he was seven, and since he was the only boy in the family, he got a very large payout, and he was totally spoiled by his remaining family.

Damn. Then his mother passed away when he was 16 years old, which allowed him to get the rest of his dad's estate. Okay. So he amassed a lot all at once. And he also at this same time became involved in the cotton market. And it was at a good time because when he got involved with it, cotton was extremely more expensive during the war. And it ended up making his family even richer than they had been in the past. Okay. Now, allegedly, his family's income back then was never less than $40,000 per year, which today would be about $2 million. Oh, okay. Yeah. Crazy. Cool. Never less. Their income was never less than about $2 million. Damn. Now, Ali had a lot of women interested in him, mostly for his money, but also because he was a good-looking guy. But what he didn't have was a lot of friends. His secretary, Saeed Anani, said that fond of him, mostly for his money. But also because he was a good-looking guy. But what he didn't have was a lot of friends. His secretary, Saeed Anani, said that fond of him, Tommy was, quote, nervous with a weak personality. His behavior had his neurotic side, and he had difficulty making friendship with Pierce. He eventually did, though, connect with a group of Egyptian intellectuals, and had really a good time enjoying different events with them. And he was also said to give a lot of money to different causes throughout the war, which, as I said earlier, helped earn him the title of Bay. So that's

where that came from. That's where that comes from. So Fami, while making friends and donating to causes and enjoying the arts also found time to be a bit of a party guy. He liked a good, liked a good party. He, oh my God, he was described as a playboy. Oh my God. I was there. I was there. That's why I named. Why? I was the one who coined it. Oh my goodness. Yeah. Time traveler. Now, that was what the media really loved to focus on because they were like involved at this point. The newspaper people loved to write about him. Cool. And they would write about all his visits to the Parisian and Moroccan nightclubs. And they also really like to speculate on his love life and the multiple mistresses he had, as well as planting little seedlings that maybe he wasn't only

interested in women, but men too. Again, something now that we would not care about at all, but back then, it was a very salacious rumor to be spread. Of course. So Fami's family knew that the media was going to continue reporting on his life until he settled down and found a suitable wife. So they started laying it on thick trying to get him to that point. He was the only man left in the family, and they were determined to make sure that he

carried on the family name. So perhaps finding a lady to settle down with was on Fami's mind when he and Marguerite met at the Semiramis Hotel. Because just like all the men who came before him, Fami was struck with Marguerite. He was also somebody to be struck with too, and he was very much Marguerite's type, if you catch my drift. Oh. Because like I said, he was 23 years old and a millionaire. Yeah, that really ticks all the boxes. It does.

He was said to own 11 cars, multiple boats that he kept on the. Nile and a casual palace. Very casual. Just a palace. I just looked him up. He's a very handsome guy. Yes, he absolutely was. And he actually at one point to like Wu Marguerite decorated one of those boats for her.

He laid out flowers all over the, all over the boat. He got an illuminated monogram of her initials to put on the boat and invited her to spend an afternoon with him. Damn. She declined the offer. Wow. She said, no, thank you. No, thank you.

Thank you. So she was still with that rich banker, and apparently she was playing the long game. Okay. But things didn't work out with that banker, and she ended up returning to Paris without Fami, and she never took his offer up to take her out again. Wow. But according to our good pal, Andrew Rose, in his book, The Woman Before Wallace, Prince Edward, the Paris and Cortesan, and the perfect murder.

That one. Mortar. Moida. Marguerite, quote, made a mental note of this interested party for future reference. Oh. So she's like, I'm not going to go out with him quite yet. I'm going to play a game here, and I'm going to go back to Paris. But it was Fami who made sure that he ran into Marguerite again when he took his next trip to Paris,

except she was actually seeing somebody else and keeping Fommy on the back burner while he was there. It's weird because with as much as I've learned about her, you would think that she would drop everything for a prince. Like, you would think. It's so weird that she was like, yeah, I'm just going to keep dating this other guy. I'm like, he has a palace. Yeah. And his family's income doesn't ever drop below two million. But maybe she was burned by the first prince, so she's like, mm.

That's true. I don't know. Okay, that's a good point. Maybe she's like princes. They're not where it's at. Maybe. And also I think, but then again, though, she was burned by the first prince, but it ended up working out for her financially because she could blackmail him.

That's true. So she could have blackmail him. But maybe it actually hurt her feelings. Maybe. And she was like, I don't want to go through it again. That's, I could see that. Perhaps. Perhaps if she had feelings.

If she had feelings, I don't know. I was going to say if she had them, I don't know. I don't really know. To me, it's not feeling like she does. Like, my feelings are feeling that she doesn't have feelings. But that's just me. Well, I also do wonder if it was because he was 10 years younger. Yeah, that's true.

And she's looking for like, in her mind, like a rich, powerful man. Yeah. She's not thinking that that's somebody 10 years younger than her. That is true. But he was rich and powerful. There you go. Who freaking knows. But anyway, several months after their failed meeting in Paris because he tried to meet her and she was like, nah.

No. One of Marguerite's friends gave her a ring a ding ding ding ding. on the phone. And she was like, girlfriend, I got tea and it's hot. Let me spill it. She didn't say that. The tea. You don't know? Yes, I do. I know it. I know it. But the tea was that this friend had actually heard from Fami themselves. And Fami told them he couldn't get marguerite out of his head. No matter how hard he tried, he could. What is she? What does she have? I don't know. My goodness. I have no idea. But he had to meet her again. And it was actually the entire reason that he came to Paris in the first place. Wow. The only reason he came to Paris

was to see if he could meet her. So this friend was calling to see if she could get Marguerite to have dinner with him. She's like, he really wants to have dinner with you and like, why the fuck wouldn't you? Yeah, why not? Now, by this time, Marguerite had ditched the last guy that she was with. So she agreed to meet Fami at the hotel Majestic. It's like a very famous hotel. Yeah. So they had a lovely lunch together and within days, Marguerite was meeting all of Fami's closest his friends, his associates, and actually even moving into his suite at the Majestic. Oh, okay. And then before long, they actually traveled to one of Marguerite's old Hans, DeVille,

and took up a suite at the Hotel Normandy, which was where she was staying when she was rendezvousing with Prince Edward. Wow. Another prince. Taking two princes to the Hotel Normandy. So by that fall, which was in 1922, Fami and Marguerite were traveling through Europe and enjoying the good life. They were dining in all the best places, giving each other lavish gifts, going on different trips, so on and so forth.

I thought you were going to say giving each other lap dances. And I was like, they probably did. Good it, guys. I'm sure they gave each other a lap dancer or two. Go off, you two. Now, Fami was completely smitten with Marguerite, but his friends were starting to wonder about her intentions. It seems like the people around these men always have her number, but these men do not. These men do not, because they're so smitten.

They're so smitten. And infatuated. Of course. Their friends don't have the blinders on and they're like, she's trying to rob your drive of every last penny you have. Yikes. But they had a right to wonder, as we know. I wowed myself there.

What the fuck was that? What was that? What was it? Scared. It was a bag that fell. I don't know why. Was it my oatmeal? It just went.

Boop, boob. But it scared me. I went, ah. I heard you. That's scary. I thought that was a person. Maybe it was. And Keith Morrison is over in the corner, so it scared me a little bit because I was like,

Ah. Oh, yeah, because we moved him. Man. This is a man. Well, there's men in this story. And they're all concerned about their friend. I know. For real.

Because anyway, soon Fami would be traveling to Milan on business, and he actually wanted Marguerite to come with him. She refused. She was like, I'm not coming to Milan with you. I'm going to hang out here and do my thing. It's a no for me. It's a no for me, dog. But later that year, she said, I'll meet up with you and

Cairo later on. So off he went without her. What a life. No, it was meet up with you and Cairo. I'll just hang out with you later. It was almost October when Fami returned to Egypt, but he barely had heard anything from Marguerite. Damn. He was sending her in influx of love letters that were romantic, but to Marguerite came off a bit insecure and desperate. Aw. But I think he wrote sweet things. He would write things like, my thoughts are for you who by your bewitching charm, your exquisite delicacy, the beauty of your heart. have brought out all that is good and generous in human nature. Wow. That's not insecure at all. That's just really nice. It's just sweet. And later he sent

one that said, come quickly and see the beautiful son of Egypt. I'll be saved from my death in my bed. My only consolation is you. My recovery, I owe largely to your sweet and beneficent vision. Wow. So like low key, he was saying that he was sick and that she needed to come rescue him from his woes. And he actually included tickets, like tickets for her to get on a ship from Paris to Cairo along with that letter. And she was like, no. Wow. She was like, you might be sick, but like, I'm busy. Whoa.

Yeah. So she stayed in Paris and she kept hanging out with other dudes until she was ready to go back with Fami. And she actually did finally return to Egypt in November 1922 with her sister Yvonne. And they were greeted by Fami, who was in perfectly fine health. Of course he was. He had lied a little bit. He was just trying to get your ass over there. He certainly was.

So when she got to the palace, I bet she wished that she hadn't dragged her feet for so long. Because this fucking palace... It's a palace. First of all, it's a palace. And it's stunning. It was everything she ever dreamed of. There were marble columns, beautiful tapestry, ornate rugs all over the place, antique French furniture from like the 16th century.

Fami had even decorated Margaret's room with all kind of expensive to-esies. of affection, like monogram de Kuchramants, and a dressing table. Ooh. A vintage dressing table. Ooh, vintage even then. Once they got there, they spent their day's horseback riding, taking in the beautiful landscapes of Cairo, and just doting on one another. It was beautiful.

Giving each other lap dances. Yes, exactly. It was beautiful. It was. This was pretty much everything that Marguerite had ever dreamed of and everything that she was trying to attain throughout her entire life. She had money. She had power. People wanted to be her and especially wanted to be her when Fami asked her, marry me.

Fami. Just after a couple of weeks. Poor Fami. I know. So Fami's family were completely against this idea. Shocking. They said you've known this woman for four seconds. We don't really like what she's about. and she's also 10 years older than you, and we know about her past, and we're not interested.

This seems to be the thing. Yeah, his friends were worried, his associates, his family. It's just, you know, it just wasn't for them. It's just not for them. But guess what? Fami didn't care. He did not care at all. He doesn't give a shit. First of all, he was young, and second of all, he was infatuated.

So he ignored everybody's warning and made plans for a civil ceremony in December of that year and a religious ceremony in early 1923. Cute. People were not happy. People even on like the outside. Because remember, this guy was pretty well known and respected in Egypt. And unfortunately, a woman like Marguerite just wasn't.

Of course. She also wasn't Muslim, so it was kind of like looked upon. Yeah, there was layers of things here. Yeah, this was not something that was agreed on back then. The Dundee Corrier reported on the relationship in 1923. Quote, their natures appeared to have been unfitted to one to the other. He, a quiet retiring man, and she was fond of a gayer life. Aren't we all?

I'm fond of a gayer life. And I love when people try to, like, have an opinion about a relationship that they are not in. Yeah, I know. That's my favorite thing. It's like, they seem not suited for each other. It's like, well, fuck off because it's not your relationship. You literally don't know them. No, not at all.

Like, that's a strange thing to do to sit there and be like, yeah, I don't think you're good for each other. It's like you literally don't fucking know them. No. Like honestly, reading that sentence, a quiet retiring man and she was fond of a gayer life, that's me and Drew. I was just going to say, and honestly, that is like what you need. Yeah. In my opinion, if we're going to throw opinions out here for things that we shouldn't be.

My opinion is that it's a good thing to have a little ebb and flow in a relationship. You don't want to be the same exact person. Yeah, because I think Drew, like, for example, chills me out when I need to be chilled out. and I can kind of bring him up to the clouds when he's a little too grounded, you know? Exactly. That's like John and I, John can like bring emotions out when I don't want to. And with him, I can like tone his anxiety down. When he needs it.

And like he likes, he would live in a like minimalist lifestyle. Oh, 100. And I love things. Like I like to, I have love collections of things. I like to be surrounded by my things. You're a maximalist. I'm a maximalist. And we kind of like bring each other.

Like he tamperes it down just enough that like where it needs to be or also I would probably just be living in like a museum. Museum of things. Among your relics. Yeah. And I kind of like make him see like the fun and clutter sometimes. That's the thing I think when you're and even if you're alike, it's just like you're, I think your opposites compliment each other.

Yeah. Whatever your little ebb and flows are, I think they're necessary. Even in friendships like you and I. Yeah. And like sisterhoods or whatever you want to call it. You and I are completely different. people. Exactly. But we still get along like we're thick as thieves. Me and Deb. Totally different people. That's why our friendship has lasted so long. You and Lynn's, pretty different

people. We're totally like, yeah, you just find what works. I always hate when people will point to that like, oh, it's not going to work because they're so different. And it's like, that's not always the kiss of death, man. And it's also not your fucking business. Yeah, for real. That's what the whole world has needed for a long time. Mind your fucking business. Live and let live. But back to the story. and Marguerite was like somewhat accepted and protected was because she was connected to Fami and because he loved her. Otherwise, this would have been a very different story. But the other thing was,

things were like not going so well behind closed doors. Because just a few days before the civil ceremony was set to take place, Marguerite and Fami got into a very explosive argument. That's not good. No one's really quite sure how this argument started, but it got so bad that Marguerite booked a return passage to parents, And it's been speculated that the fight started due to Marguerite's quote-unquote addiction to flirting. Oh.

Which, you know. That's what we're calling it. That's what we're calling it. Maybe that was the reason. And maybe that was the reason that some contracts and extra steps popped up right before their wedding. Yeah. He was like, I'm going to get a pre-nup.

Yeah. Or, you know, maybe that was the reason. Or maybe it was Fami's close circle, making sure that Marguerite was in this for the right reasons and, you know, testing her a little bit. Maybe a little mix of both. But either way, Marguerite was to prove that she was truly divorced from Charles, and then there was a contract written up, like I said, almost kind of like a pre-up, in which Fahmi agreed to pay $2,000 of her dowry upon signing,

and that the remainder would be paid if he were to die or they were to get a divorce. Okay. The final provision was near the end. It stated that Marguerite must also convert to Islam. It's believed that this clause was put into their agreement because of a clause in another very important piece of paper, Fami's mother's will. Oh. She wrote in her will that he would actually lose his inheritance if he married a woman that was not Muslim. Oh, wow.

She used a different word, but I'm going to put it that way. Okay. So Marguerite agreed to converting to Islam, but she didn't really have to adhere to any of the rules that actual, like, women have to adhere to when they are Muslim. Yeah. She didn't have to adhere to the dress code. She didn't have to give up her French nationality. She actually didn't even have to practice the religion. And when she met with a Christian priest during her conversion, which is one of the steps you have to go through, he was meant to try to convince her to, quote, stay within the folds of the mother church.

And she told him that she wasn't going to betray the faith of her childhood and that this was all about money. Wow. She said like she had to take Fami's interests into account. Okay. I'm like, you're not like attending a football game with him or like watching a movie you might not normally watch. Yes, pretty big step. This is a whole ass way of life. Yeah.

Like you should probably take that a little more seriously. I would say so. She didn't. No. And once they were officially married, they definitely, I think there seemed to be like a big change in Fami from what is reported. Because instead of being infatuated with Marguerite, he seemed to be kind of trying to mold her into his version of the perfect. woman. Ooh, that's never good.

No, it's not. He wrote a letter to her sister early on in the marriage, and at this point, her sister had gone back to Paris. And in this letter, he was explaining that he was training Marguerite because women were not to have bad habits. Oh, no. But it clearly wasn't working, though, because they were fighting worse than ever before. Just days after that letter was sent, they got into one of their worst fights yet, and

each of them told the other that they were going to kill the other one. Wow. Just newlywed things. I was like, what's happening here? Wetted bliss. There's like a couple steps to getting married, like in their process. So they did like a different ceremony, but then they had to take the Islamic right of marriage. So leading up to that, they were really going at each other. Fighting like cats and dogs. And it's like, you're going up to this like beautiful ceremony that you're going to have with each other. And this is the way you want to remember it. Yeah. Like what? So in January of 1923, Fami and Marguerite did take the Islamic right of marriage. It was a separate ceremony where they would sign different documents and become legal and official in the eyes of Islam and the Egyptian government.

Okay. But right after that ceremony, things got even worse. Wow. Yeah. I mean, yeah, the sons of murder. So I see it going pretty steadily downhill. It's like they just like keep climbing up the steps of yuck. Yeah.

quicker and quicker as they go. On their honeymoon, Fami actually tried to lock Marguerite in her cabin so that she wouldn't flirt with anyone. What? On their honeymoon. So she wouldn't flirt with anyone? Yeah, that's what they said. But obviously, Marguerite was not the kind of woman to be locked away. So this started a knockdown, drag out fight.

And this was the first one reported between the two of them that did become physical. Oh, man. This is such a depressing relationship. It is. And it's sad because it's like it starts kind of nice. Well, like he's like infatuated with her and she's just kind of like playing hard to get. Yeah, like his side of it starts nice. Her is kind of sucks.

Yeah. And then it's like you finally decide to marry one another. And it just gets worse. I think Fami wanted to marry Marguerite because he thought she was beautiful and I think he liked her personality. And then I kind of think she just married him for the money. and I think maybe he started to see that and started resenting that a little bit. And then she, I think he thought things would change a little bit when they got married. But I don't think she was the kind of woman to be changed.

I don't think so. Basically, they just were not meant for each other. No, definitely not. Yeah. So like I said, and I just want to let everybody know that like a little bit of a trigger warning for domestic violence because this becomes physical. They're in Egypt, though, honeymooning and Luxor, or Luxor, excuse me. So Marguerite knew that she needed to be careful and went back to the cabin. So to calm down, she wrote her friend a letter and she told her, quote,

I have on my arms the marks of my husband's gentleness. I ask you to send here one or two persons who will have this condition established so as to make use of it. Oh. So clearly she was documenting things like this so that when the time came to request a divorce, she'd be locked and loaded with reasons as to why she wanted one. Of course. And I can't blame her for that. If he got physical with her, then you should document that.

Oh, absolutely. I would document the hell out of that. Same. So when they returned home, Fami, according to Marguerite's writings, started going out at all hours of the night with other sex workers. She said both men and women, and he was smoking a ton of hash and just like not being a husband. Partying.

Not acting like a married man. And she was becoming irritated, even though she never really acted like a married woman either. Do as I say, not as I do. I guess. So as the days went on, the both of them were really resenting each other more and more. Fami was really wishing that it was as simple and blissful as it had been in the beginning. And I think Marguerite was just wishing that she had stayed in Paris. She was bored. She was confined. And those were two things that she absolutely loathed. Oh, no. So in early May of 1923, she decided that she wanted to go out for a night by herself. But she did, again, need to be escorted by a male because she was in Egypt. So when Fami's valet took her to the theater, where she decided that she wanted to go out for a night by herself. But she did, again, need to be escorted by herself. So when she did, enjoyed a nice show. But when the show was over, she didn't want the valet to drive her home. Instead, she had one of Fami's friends drive her home. And of course, he assumes something happens.

Oh, no. So when she gets home, he's pissed. But this is where things take a dark turn. They started an argument, and as things escalated even further and further, Fami allegedly punched Marguerite in the face. Oh, my God. Yes. She claimed that her jaw was dislocated, but then later said that she had exaggerated her injuries a little bit. My God. Yeah. Which it's like you don't have to exaggerate anything about that situation. If he punched you in the face, then that is fucked up enough on its own.

Yeah, exactly. You don't need to make that any worse. No. So Marguerite wanted to go home to Paris, but she could not go alone and was not going to be going alone. So later in May, the 18th, to be exact, the two of them got on a ship headed for Europe. Their voyage was absolutely terrible. They were arguing all the time, getting into tons of fights with each other, to the point where the ship's captain was actually called down multiple times to calm their quarrels. Oh, damn.

Y'all, I'm driving a vessel from Egypt to Europe. Can you like give me a minute, please? I'm driving a whole ass vessel. I am a ship. I am a ship captain. I don't have time for this. Let me do this. Let me maneuver this.

Right. This is a vessel. They did maneuver. the vessel and they did get to Paris, but it took some time because he had to keep stepping away. He had to take care of the kiddos. I'm saying. They're fighting again. Cats and dogs out here.

So when they finally got to Paris, Marguerite went right back to her old way. She was like, peace the fuck out. She's in her house now. Yes, exactly. And she's like, let's go. And she is a little bit more free. She's got a little more at her fingertips here. So when she's away from Fami, she's taking clients.

She's staying away for extended periods of time with. said clients. She's spending money left and white, left and right. Left and white. Left and white. She, in my opinion, rightfully so at this point, was talking about getting divorced. She told all of her friends that she simply would not go on in Egypt with Fami and she needed out of that situation. But what she didn't realize, but soon would, was that the contract she had signed during the Islamic ceremony didn't really have an out for her. Oh, yeah. That's scary. The only way out of the marriage would be if Fami initiated the divorce, which he likely wouldn't because it would have been a massive scandal.

Yeah. Or if he died. Oh. Mm-hmm. And even then, she would have to fight his family for whatever she wanted. So spring turned into summer and their relationship continued to be rocky. Marguerite actually hired a private investigator to follow Fami and specifically report back about his sexual engagements and habits while he wasn't with her.

Wow. She was very much trying to prove that he was having relations with other men. I was going to say that was what that was. That was exactly what that was. Because, again, it would have been so crazy back then. So she knew, and again, she knew that if a divorce was initiated on his end, her past would be brought up. So she wanted to be able to fire back or blackmail him into some kind of settlement. Yeah.

So now, ladies and gentlemen, it is time to head back to where we started. Let's go. The Savoy Hotel. The couple arrived on June 1st, 1923, and they had quite the entourage. Fami's secretary, Saeed Anani, was in tow, as well as Marguerite's maid, and their valet. Now, even though the two of them essentially fucking hated each other at this point, they were trying to play the part of a happy couple because, remember, the media is watching these two. Oh, of course.

So the first night they were there, they ate at the hotel's restaurant, and then they went dancing in the ballroom. That night, Marguerite went to bed with a 32, 3.2. semi-automatic pistol. It was loaded with six bullets. Now, this might seem like Marguerite had planned to kill Fami all along, excuse me. Yes. And that could definitely be the case. But I do have to play devil's advocate here and tell you that she was actually well known to travel with a gun whenever she traveled because she had a big fear of being robbed for her jewelry. Okay. But at the same time, we know what happens here. That's, it's like with the, maybe it was a little bit of both. With the magic of foresight right now, we get to be like, ooh.

Exactly. Now, Fami also actually traveled with a weapon, which he had with him. He had a 25 automatic, which was decorated with gold leaf chasing. Oh. And pearls, I believe. I thought that made it work better. It was just fancier, you know? Yeah, exactly.

It had a little pizzazz. A little elegance. Alganza. On your gun. So on your gun. On your gun. So on July 3rd, I bet Marguerite was happy that she had her gun alongside her. because she actually got a pretty strange letter from Paris.

The letter, which had racist undertones, said, please permit a friend who has traveled widely among Asians. They used a different word. And who knows the craftiness of their acts to give you some advice? Don't agree to return to Egypt for any object or even Japan. Rather, abandon fortune than risk your life. Money can always be recovered by a good lawyer, but think of your life. A journey means a possible accident.

a poison in the flower, a subtle weapon that is neither seen nor heard. Remain in Paris with those who love you and those who will protect you. That's horrifying. Yeah. So as she finished reading, she showed the note to Fami, but he told her that he was sure a hoax. And actually, he wondered if she had written it herself. Oh, damn. Which like, low-key, same.

I was going to say, I mean, not a bad call on his part, I would say. It is widely believed that that letter was written by her or by someone she, new to kind of... Because it's literally saying, like, do not go back to Egypt. And she's been telling everybody I am not going back to Egypt. Exactly. Hello. And it's saying, like, oh, there's threats to your life.

Yeah, like, it's making it like you shouldn't go back because your life depends on it. Exactly. I think it was pretty premeditated, if you ask me. So six days after receiving that letter, this gets like a little bit sexual just so everybody knows. Oh, it's going to get spicy. It's going to get yucky. Uh-oh. Marguerite called the hotel's doctor because she started experiencing some pain from hemorrhoids.

Okay. I mean, you've had a kid. Am I right? Am I right? Everybody. You know, she actually called earlier in the week for the same reason. And she told the doctor this time that, quote, her husband had torn her by unnatural intercourse. Ooh.

Meaning. Ouch. Yeah. Yeah. I think we all. Yeah. I was trying to think of like a good way to say that. And I was like, there really isn't one.

So, you know what? I think we've all connected the dots. Thank you so much. Yeah, no problem. And she said that he was, quote, always pestering her for that kind of intercourse. Ouch. Again, she's trying to prove something here. Of course.

So she then asked this doctor to document the state that she was in and provide a certificate of her health so that she could show it to her husband if he made it seem like she was lying about the pain she was in. Wow. Or also to have on deck to make him look like a bad person after she murdered. murdered him, which she was planning to do all along in my personal opinion. Exactly. Exactly. And also, I guess one could assume that she was after such receipt for divorce purposes. Of course. Now, the first week of their stay at the Savoy was only getting more and more contentious.

It was unusually hot in London that week. The temperatures, excuse me, were in the high 80s and low 90s. Gross. So the weather was only adding tension between the two of them. Marguerite's super uncomfortable. Fommi's wicked hot. They're both just... So on their last morning spent together, they decided to go out for a drive in the hopes that the breeze would offer some alleviation for the discomfort. Yeah. Is this giving you Gatsby vibes? It is. At this point?

Yeah. Like when it's too hot, so they have to go to the apartment. Yep. So they go back to the hotel for lunch. But it was clear that the breeze really hadn't done much for either of them. They were bickering when the orchestra leader came over and asked them if they wanted to request a song for the band to play. Oh, yeah. We're doing great over here.

Marguerite's answer was, thank you very much. My husband's going to kill me in 24 hours, so I'm not very anxious for music. Oh. Oh. How do you respond to that? I don't, I did not see that coming. Thank you very much. My husband is going to kill me in 24 hours, and I'm not very anxious for music. I'd be like, thank you for your honesty. I'd be like so... Do you want me to call the police or no? We're going to take a break and we'll come back to you. I'm a little scared. Yeah, here's the top 40. I'd like him to leave. Yeah, I would call that awkward. Yeah. So later that night, around 8 p.m., the couple in their entourage, actually were headed to the theater for a show. Marguerite was wearing a white dress that Coco Chanel had personally designed for her.

Damn. And Fami was wearing a tailcoat and a waistcoat. So, like, they had to be, they were dressed to the knives. Can't say. Yes. Early enough, the show that they were heading in to see was the Merry Widow. Oh. Yeah, not shocking at all at this point. But, um, Pretty much as soon as they got to the theater, they started. Fighting. Yes. I almost said kissing. No. And cuddling.

No. But I went with fighting and I'm glad I did. Silly you. Silly me. Yeah, they were fighting almost immediately. They fought throughout pretty much the entire show. Cool. So they get back to the hotel a little bit before 11 p.m.

And they have dinner. They have a late dinner at the restaurant. So they continue their argument that they'd been having all night. And they got... Oh, God. What can you argue for that long about? How do you argue in London? It also just...

like at some point you have to say all that you can say and just be like well we to disagree I guess like I don't whenever Drew and I get into like any kind of argument and they're never like this but whenever we get into any kind of argument I'm like what can I say to just like make this be over? Yeah we just

end up like doing something stupid to make the other one laugh. That's what we do but it's just like how I understand like big arguments can happen but like of course these are like days and day just all day all day all night all through dinner all through a show it's like I don't get it a show you can't shut the fuck up and just watch a show? Like, like, you're arguing to the point

where a ship captain is having to leave his duties to fucking make sure you're not going to throw each other overboard. He was wobbling around his vessel because of you guys. For real. That's wild. I also just hate fighting. Like, again, whenever me and Drew get into anything, by the end of it, we're like, I hate that we wasted, like, the time that we have together doing that. It's just a waste of fucking time. Oh, it's just, I'm so, this whole thing is just giving me so much anxiety. When I was reading it and putting this together, I was also getting a lot of anxiety. So much fighting.

Yes, a lot of quarreling. So they got so loud with each other that pretty much everybody in the restaurant was staring at them. And also, at this point, they were arguing over where Marguerite should have surgery to remove her hemorrhoids. So people were like really paying attention because they were like, wow, they're really arguing about this. How? Hemorrhoids, huh? In this beautiful establishment, we're talking about hemorrhoid surgery. Because the thing was Marguerite wanted to have the surgery performed in Paris. But Fami wanted her to have it in London because he was on business there.

So at one point, things actually got so heated between them that Marguerite stood up, grabbed a wine bottle off the table, and yelled to her husband, you shut up or I'll smash this over your head. Oh, my God. And Fami replied, if you do, I'll do the same to you. Wow. This is a mutual love. I'm like, you guys got to get away from each other.

So they were both ushered out of the room by Fami's assistant, Saeed. He brought them to the ballroom hoping that either dancing would distract them or that the music would drown out their screaming. Maybe both. Yeah. But Fami asked Marguerite to dance and she said no and asked Saeed to dance and went and danced with Saeed instead, clearly trying to piss him off. Oh, yeah. So around 1 a.m., Marguerite was ready to go up to bed. and Said escorted her up to the suite.

After she was all set in the room, Saeed went back down to Fami and probably was like, Ro, do you like really want to do this for the rest of your life? Yeah, like this can't. Might be pretty bad, but this is worse. Way worse. Like, I think we should just take the scandal and call it an L. Of course.

Call an L and L. Now, they had a brief discussion about his and Marguerite's relationship, and then Saeed headed up to bed for the night. In the half hour that Fami and Syed spent talking, Marguerite was penning yet another letter to her doctor. She wanted him to know that Fami was not going to take responsibility for her condition. And for that reason, she was going to go to her family in Paris and have the operation done there. So I think she was kind of trying to make it look like, oh, I was just planning to go to Paris because I have to have the surgery.

Of course. So when Fami returned to the room, that's when the argument between the two continued. And as we know, it ended with Fami laying close to dead on the whole time. room floor. So eventually, now at this point, we know he's been shot. Yeah. So eventually Saeed caught wind of what was going on. And when he did, he and the manager actually made arrangements to have Fami quietly transported out of the hotel into the hospital so as not to create a spectacle. Marguerite was actually still in the room, dazed and looking around for her pistol. She told the manager that the argument started because they were talking about the divorce.

Now, soon the police arrived and they started questioning her. And as they asked, questions, Marguerite handed the letter that she had written over to the doctor, who was also in the room at this point. And at the hospital, Ali Fami Bay was pronounced dead at 3.25 a.m. Oh, that's so sad. At 23 years old. Whoa. 23. Damn. So there was sort of an investigation into the crime, but not really, because they knew who did it. But no photos were taken of the room before the staff were allowed to clean up. Wow. And no evidence was really collected except for the bullet casings on the gun. But at that point, by the time those two things were collected, the gun had been handled by multiple staff members.

Yeah. But they marguerite admitted to it right when the police got there. And she said that she had actually fired first at the window to scare him. And then she believed that the gun was empty and fired three more times and was really shocked when she shot. Three bullets came out. Yeah, it was the craziest thing. Wild. So at 7 a.m. she made her formal statement to the police. She told them. So at first she's like really apologetic, but then she's not. Oh. She says, I did it. I've told the truth. It doesn't matter. He assaulted me in front of many people since the time we've been married. He's told me many times kill me. And many people have heard him say so. She's like, I have witnesses that heard him say kill me. So I did. I obliged. Like I'm very apologetic right now. Now before long, all of the newspaper.

were reporting on the quote-unquote prince's death. And they were writing first, kind of sympathetically, and in Marguerite's favor, commenting on her beauty, poison, elegance. Wow. But the next day, they were hyping things up way more and adding all kinds of their own embellishments and being like, fuck her. Yeah. So there was a coroner's inquest, and the main question on everybody's minds was not who, but why. Yeah. And Saeed was one of the first to testify. And he gave the best insight into Marguerite and Fami's life. telling the jury, they used to insult each other openly and smack each other's faces. It was an impossible life. Yet they loved each other. And he was unhappy when she was out of his

sight. But it's like that doesn't necessarily mean love. That's toxic. That means control. Like he was just explaining toxicity. Yeah, she's not near, like he wants to be in control of her. Exactly. And vice versa. Exactly. And it's also just the classic like when things are good, they're good. Yeah. And when they're bad, they're oh so bad. And it's like, no, they shouldn't. be that bad. No, it should never be that bad. It should never be so bad that you were smacking each other's faces. No, absolutely not. That is abuse. Exactly. So at the end of the inquest, the coroner ruled that the cause of death was willful murder. And with that, Marguerite was set to stand trial for the murder of her husband. Damn. Now, the newspapers went wild. And it was pretty evident that there wasn't going to be

an unbiased juror in Europe, but they had to have the trial regardless. Yeah. I think they were a lot less concerned about fair trials back then. And also, she killed him. Yeah. So Marguerite's trial started on September 11th, 1923. The prosecution started their arguments by going through the details on the night of the shooting. They noted that before Marguerite and Fami had headed over to the banquet hall to dance, Marguerite had looked at Fami and told him that she, quote, had finished with him and didn't want him. Whoa. So they're like, clearly she was doing this on purpose. And once they had wrapped up with their openings, Saeed was called to testify. It made sense because he had been with them all throughout the whole trip and especially a lot that night. And he was going to be able to paint a picture of all the

events that led up to that night. So the defense lawyer, Sir Edward Marshall Hall, asked Said, was the deceased a bully, a man in the habit of beating women? And Saeed replied that he had actually never seen Fahmi beat a woman, not once. And clearly, Sir Edward Hall was not satisfied with that answer. And he tried to paint the murdered man even more negatively and asked, how many wives had he when he died? Was he not entitled by law to have four wives? And Saeed confirmed that, yes, technically Fami could have that many wives. But at the time of his death, he only had the one, the one that killed him. Clearly what they were trying to do was like, this man. And I do think he did want to be in control of Marguerite. Yeah. But I think they were also kind of using his religion to paint him in a

More negative light. In a very poor light. Exactly. And they wanted to make it seem like Marguerite was very abused and suffering and this man was a beast and he could do whatever he want when he wanted. And this is a frustrating one because it's like, you know, there is abuse happening here. And it's like, but that is not like the cause of all of that. You know, like there's, it's such a complex situation.

Exactly. You can't just paint him as a beast and her as an angel. It's like there are. You have to paint them both for what they are. several layers here to all the, and neither one of them are angels. No. By no means. Not at all.

So the second day of the trial, Marguerite took the stand, and she explained her versions of the events. And she also added, again, that the argument started over the topic of divorce. She told the jury that Fami had sworn on the Bible of Karen that he was going to kill her someday. Wow. Something I doubt that he did, because I don't know why you would swear on the Bible that you're going to kill someone, but who am I?

Yeah. You never know. I have no idea. So when asked why he would want to kill her, she told them that it was because she refused to hand over the jewelry that she had collected before they married. Which I was like, I don't think that's why. And when asked to describe her understanding of the gun she shot her husband with, she told the jury, I do not know anything about automatics. I felt when one ball had gone, the pistol was perfectly harmless.

I never wanted to kill my husband. I only wanted to prevent him from killing me. Hmm. Usually when you shoot at somebody, it could kill them. And yeah, no. You shot one bullet, a bullet came out. Yeah. You don't then aim it at someone and be like, I bet it's empty and then just keep shooting. Right. And you shoot three more times and you're like, wow, this isn't empty yet. Like what? And you say that you don't understand automatics, but then you travel with one and you intend to use it if you ever get robbed. And if you don't understand it, you definitely shouldn't point it at someone. Absolutely not. Especially your husband.

If you don't understand it, you shouldn't sleep with it underneath your pillow. So the hotel doctor that she had been seeing, Dr. E.F. Gordon, was then called to testify. And he told the court that he had found bruising on her arms and legs, as well as scratches, which indicated a physical altercation. And then her sister Yvonne confirmed what the doctor had said, and then elaborated by showing the court the letter that she got from Fahmi saying that he was trying to train Marguerite. Now, during their closing arguments, the prosecution kept it simple. Marguerite was tired of family life. She wanted out of Egypt and she was desperate for a divorce. But when she realized that she couldn't get a divorce in her own way, she killed her husband.

And they also presented a set of letters where Fami had gushed over Marguerite and all the things he loved about her. And they argued that he was not the man that the defense was making him out to be. And then it was time for the defense to talk. They argued that Marguerite had been tricked by Fami. Edward Marshall Hall exclaimed that as soon as she entered the marriage, quote, every indignity was put upon her. He said that she, excuse me, he said that she just stood by and watched as Fami took on several mistresses, excuse me, including her own sister. Oh, yeah.

What a bitch. I don't know if that was the truth or not. Oh, I was going to say, if that's true, like, fuck her. Yeah. He told the jury that Fami was a, quote, great hulking muscular fellow. And that was his way. and that his way of intercourse was a constant threat to Marguerite and her safety. And he said that they should believe nothing they heard from Saeed because he was his master's

stooge, quote unquote, and was an equally cunning man. Ooh. Which was really rude to Saeed. And also, Fami was not a great hulking muscular fellow. Yeah, he doesn't look like it. He's kind of lanky, pretty thin and like not. A hulking muscular fellow. Not a huge dude by any stretch of the imagination.

It was a bit much. So on September 5th, the jury deliberated for a little more than an hour. And when they came back, they announced that Marguerite was not guilty. I knew that was coming. I knew it was coming. Not guilty. So the courtroom literally erupted into cheers. Like they were happy.

But the judge wasn't finished. He had the room settled down and then asked the jury if Marguerite was guilty of manslaughter. again not guilty wow and with that she was discharged what so whether or not she planned to kill fami for his wealth it didn't work out for her fami didn't have a will in place before his death and marguerite was going to have to fight his family if she wanted anything she probably would have been up for it if it weren't a fight that would have to go down in an egyptian court that certainly wouldn't be fond of her now. And she actually did sue in civil court, but Fami's family had documents that detailed her behavior before, during, and after their marriage. So the Egyptian courts refused to recognize

the British court's verdict, and ultimately they wouldn't even entertain Marguerite's claim to the estate because in their book, she was a murderer, and she was guilty. So over the following year, she would actually try a few more times to gain access to his estate and anything in the mansion, but every attempt failed. Wow. She went on actually to live a very long life, and she died in Paris on January 2, 1971. Wow. At 80 years old. Damn.

She murdered a quote-unquote prince of Egypt and then just lived out the rest of her life in Paris. Holy shit. How fucking crazy is that story? I can't believe that. I can't believe it ended with her just getting off. She got away with all of it. And she got really everything she ever dreamed of, even though she didn't get Fommies. money. She had gotten money from several other guys. She had plenty of money. Wow. Absolutely wild.

That is truly outrageous. Yeah. So nuts. Damn. And there's a lot of good books on this case. I'm going to link a couple that I used in the show notes, obviously. But that one by Andrew Rose was a great read. And it has a lot more information on her affair with the prince. But obviously, like, I didn't want to take all of it and put it in here. So I would check that out if you were interested in this story and any of the other. other books that I link. Oh, that's amazing. Crazy. What a tale. I know. Marguerite, Ali Baer, the murderer of the prince of Egypt.

Holy Folly. Damn. I know. It's a really sad story. That's the thing. It's just really sad. Because if nobody wins, really. I mean, she, if anybody does, she did because she got to live out the rest of her life

and have access to everything. But it's like, did you really win? How dark is that? I know. You just shot this guy. This 23-year-old guy. in a hotel room. And then your marriage was so fraught and terrible and abusive.

And it's like, oh, God. Like, all of that is dark. Just so sad overall. Very sad. Damn. That's it. Do you think? Well, thank you for that.

You think that she went into that trip planning it. It sure seems like there was something there. I think she went into the trip. Yeah, it seems like she had been putting together the little pieces of it for a while. Like, I don't think this was like a snapped situation. No. I think it's she probably. knew she wanted to do that. I think so, too. Yeah. That's what it seems like, at least.

You're going to have to let us know what you guys think. And with that, we hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep it weird. But not to read about any of this. No. No. Literally not of it. Never. I would be so disappointed. Bye.