CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Marguerite Alibert

French socialite (1890–1971)

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 10, 2026
Entity authorityQ30005991 ↗
Source-derived summary

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

Life

Marguerite Marie Alibert was born on 9 December 1890 in Paris to Firmin Alibert, a coachman, and Marie Aurand, a housekeeper. At age 16, she gave birth to a daughter, Raymonde. In the following eight to ten years, Alibert led a nomadic life until she met Madame Denant, who ran a maison de rendezvous, a brothel catering to a high society clientele. Under the tutelage of Denant, Alibert became a high-class sex worker. Alibert had a number of notable clients, particularly Edward, Prince of Wales.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Marguerite Alibert” is french socialite (1890–1971). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Marguerite, Alibert and French, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1890, 1971, 1917, 1918—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1890-12-09. For this dossier, Marguerite, Alibert and French is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “french socialite (1890–1971)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q30005991. VIAF identifies the subject as 232917626. The Library of Congress control number is n2012070488. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1890, 1971, 1917 and 1918.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Marguerite Alibert”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Marguerite Alibert primary sources, Marguerite Alibert archive and Marguerite research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Marguerite Alibert”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Marguerite Alibert” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.