EGYPTIAN TRAGEDY

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11652, 17 October 1923, Page 11

EGYPTIAN TRAGEDY

SHOP GIRL TO PRINCESS AMAZING LIFE STORY OF SHOT BEAUTY. THRICE WED AND TWICE DIVORCED. Like & page out of a sensational rove! reads the life story of “Princess ’ Al bas Halim, who was recently fatally shot in her home at Alexandria. Esrypt, hhile, it is said, she was cleaning a revolver which accidentally wont off. The “Princess,” who was the wife of Nadtl Abbas Halim, a member of the Egyptian royal family, whose title Nadil means ‘•.Lord,’’ was n chorus girl in th? Alhambra revue “Gerrard 50ftt” when she met her first husband. Captain Arthnr Evelvn Paul Ellis la grandson of the 6th Baron Howard de Walden). who inherited a fortune of £IOO,OOO when he come of age. Tile couple were married at the Roman Catholic Church of St. Charles Borrumeo, Epper Ogle Street, Mnrylebr no. London, on September loth, 11110. The “Princess” was a charming hostess when the coiinle stayed at “Roscnau.' 1 Hatchet, Berkshire, a house given to Captain Ellis by his mother, now Mrs Kerr Trefusis. On April 30ih, 1920, the “Princess" was granted a decree nisi on the ground of cruelty and misconduct, and a remarkable story was then told. Sir Douglas Hogg. K.C. (the present Attorney-General), appearing for the petitioner, said that when she was giving a darce at “Rosenau” for a hrspital and there were 200 people present, the wife complained that the husband twice stopped the band and that she felt that she had been insulted in the presence of her guests. DIVORCED FROM PRINCE. Soon after the divorce Mrs Ellis married Prince Mohammed Djemaleddin Mahmoud, brother of the ex-Klie-dive of Egypt, at the register office. Strand. W.C. She had mot him at a danre in 1919. Another divorce followed, and she married Nadil Abbas Halim —three marriages, and she was only 26. An intimate friend of the “Princess” says she began her career at a Regent street hat shop. Her beauty attracted a man well known in the theatrical profession, and later she entered the chorus of “Gerrard SOftt.” She altered her own name of Harrington to that of Hamilton for stage purposes, and was soon the enw of her colleagues hv driving to the theatre in a. fine car and becoming a familiar figuro at dance clubs. Her dress hill was enormous. After her marriage to Captain Ellis, she entertained lavishly at an expensive flat, maintained by her husband at Hans-crescent, S.W., amt her parties attracted a laTgo • number of fashionable people. “JACKY.” A colleague in the choroe who appeared at the Alhambra with “Jacky,” as the “Princess” was then known to intimates, says she was popular at ‘he theatre, for. though she excited a great deal of jealousy, “one could not help liking her.” She was high-spirited and pretty. She made money her god. She used to dress in roost expensive furs and gowns, and made a great show of jewellery. She often said, although she received many offers of marriage, she could not dream of settling down to “love in a cottage.” “Her friends on the stage,” added this friend, “are upset at her tragic death. Two divorces and a tragedy at 26. is seeing life with a vengeance.” The bat shop where the prince* worked was Maison Lewis—a post she obtained before the war. Impressed by her striking heauty, the manager engaged her and she anti led the show room as an apprentice. She was known as Jessie to her colic agues. Soon after leaving Mnison Lewis she appeared in the chorus of the pantemime “Aladdin” at the King’s Theatre. Hammersmith. Her only stage asset was her beauty, and her activities were confined to doming tights, walking across the stage with a Chinese lantern, and joining in the chorus sengs. ON THE FILMS. Afte- her marriage to Cantain Ellis she used to visit Matron Lewis and purchase expensive hats in the show rcom in which she had worked as an apprentice. Eho arrived in a motor car and was accompanied by a large pet bulldog She often chatted to the girls employed there abbot old times. After her first divorce she did Sim work under the name of Mary Morgan. and she appeared under this name at the Gaiety Theatre in “Faust on 'toast”—her "last theatrical engagement.

A curious coincidence in this strange story is that her sister, Beatrice Harrington 26, then o! &eafOrd Court. Great Portland street, the daughter of James Harcourt Harrington, married a prince.

The ceremony took place in July, 1914, the bridegroom being Prince Louis of Bourbon, cousin of King Alfonso. His full title is Don Louis Alfonso de Bourbon de Bernaldo de Quires, Prince Luis of Bourbon and Duke of Ansola