The Royal Park Hotel had opened in 1889, and over the years has been no stranger to scandal. In bedroom number 191 bright young beautiful thing and renowned drug addict Brenda Paul had been caught by police after a drug and drink binge and accusations of using stolen cheques. After Brenda had been arrested the presiding magistrate brought the courtroom to laughter by saying, 'I knew nothing about the Royal Park before this case, but I must say that in my view after hearing about all the hotel has to offer, Roast Chicken for two at sixteen shillings is very high. I am afraid I shall never supper there myself.'
However, it was still the place to stay for celebrities and foreign film stars visiting London and also a venue for glittering parties and ceremonies. By 1930 the hotel was still seen as one of the finest in the world and in that year, played host to two American actresses, Lola Rudd and Jane Fen who were both in town filming the costume drama Elizabeth & I. Both actresses trying to outdo each other took a floor each and travelled in separate lifts so they would not meet each other, a plan carefully coordinated by their trusting assistants. Lola and Jane were old rivals who in real life despised each other but had never performed together either on film or the stage. Lola was making a much heralded comeback after a prolonged illness and retirement (her illness was really a nervous breakdown after a series of box office disasters), her husband David Rudd was the film’s director. Jane on the other hand could be seen nightly in the hotels basement bar drinking champagne cocktails and regularly ranting and raving about,
'that woman.'
Elizabeth & I would later be nominated for several awards including best actress for Lola Rudd. When she found out she hadn’t been nominated, Jane Fen contacted the other nominees in the category and offered to accept the award on their behalf, should they win and be unable to attend the ceremony. One other nominee Delia Moorcroft who had excelled in the film Night Train accepted Jane’s offer gratefully. The London Film Awards were held in the ballroom at the Royal Park. When Delia was announced as the winner, Jane stood up, looked over at Lola and said, 'Excuse me dear, I have an award to collect,' and swept onto the stage, accepting the award as if she herself had won it further fueling Lola’s hatred of the star, a humiliation she wouldn't forgive for the rest of her life. Lola never stayed at Royal Park again.
In 1932 on a typical dismal drizzly January day in London a limousine parked outside Royal Park and the hotel doorman helped out a couple who were known to all having been in residence for the last year. The couple were the Dowager Empress Maria Fernandez and her lover Prince Yamane of Egypt. They were accompanied by the Prince’s private secretary, Mr Bes Hasani. Accurately Prince Yamane wasn’t really a prince but he did little to discourage the use of the title when away from Egypt. The Prince was only twenty years of age with Maria eight years his senior. To many people, including that of her late husband’s family, Maria was seen, at best, as a flirtatious gold-digger and more in love with his fortune and status than the man himself.
Maria was actually a widow; her husband Jose had been killed in an airplane accident in Northern Italy after only three months of marriage. Upon his death she inherited a mammoth fortune of money, jewels and property; therefore rumours of her gold digger status were slightly unjust and unfair.
Marie and Yamane had first met when she was holidaying in Egypt. They were both travelling on the S.S. Sudan, Maria for pleasure, Yamane for business. Travelling with her own lady’s maid, Maria enjoyed many of the cultural highlights of Egypt such as the Great Pyramids, the Sphinx, and temples at Abu Simbel and Karnak. Fellow passengers were said to have been stunned by the decadence of Maria. On one occasion she wore diamond studded heels that came from a millionaire's collection to dinner, while another pair of shoes worn had been made from the scales of twenty-six pythons. She made passing conversation with most of her fellow passengers, though appeared 'distant'.
One fellow passenger was quoted as saying years later, 'I can only remember her pearls she used to wear, I cannot recall her face.' According to friends, Maria became enchanted and fixated by his looks and youth. The young muscular and attractive Egyptian, attached to the French legation in London, was extravagant and allegedly had a sadistic bent. It was rumoured in Egypt that Yamane was homosexual, but this was not in evidence when he passionately pursued Maria. He was captivated by the elegant brunette young widow, and took her back to London where he suggested they live together. She soon
bestowed Yamane with gifts including three cars, a whole suite of clothes, boxes of jewels and several paintings. Maria was fond of buying presents for friends and thought nothing of spending thousands of pounds on a small gift.
Yamane returned the favour with a gesture of diamonds, an enchanting large ruby necklace and a suite of rooms at the Royal Park Hotel where they could continue their passionate, sexual and (as often witnessed) violent relationship. Without weeks of their initial meeting, the Prince proposed marriage, and Maria accepted, but with conditions. A contract was drawn up that permitted her to wear western-style clothing and to divorce the prince at any time. In return, she would convert to the Muslim faith, thereby ensuring Yamane’s inheritance. It was later discovered that Yamane ordered the divorcee clause removed without Maria’s knowledge, allowing him to take three wives if he so desired and to be the sole beneficiary of her estate should she die before him.
In the autumn of 1931, Maria and Yamane had an unofficial civil ceremony followed by a Muslim celebration where Maria modestly veiled, proclaimed in Arabic 'There is one God and Mohammed is his Prophet.'
The only guest at both celebrations was Agatha Dewsbury. She was sworn to secrecy that such a ceremony took place.
Maria sound found Yamane to be an abusive husband. He frequently beat her, fired her trusting lady’s maid and assigned a houseboy to follow her throughout her day, even when she undressed. There were
reports that regular screams and fights were heard from their suite of rooms at the Royal Park Hotel but the management did nothing, no doubt persuaded by sums of cash given to them by Yamane’s secretary. Maria had been seen with a black eye and various cuts to her arms and there were mutterings that Prince Yamane regularly hit and beat her to satisfy his own sexual pleasures.
A week before Christmas 1931, Maria had summoned the hotels doctor as she was suffering badly from external haemorrhoids. She alleged to Dr Green, while he was treating her, that her husband had 'torn her by unnatural intercourse' and he was 'always pestering her' for this kind of sex. Already thinking about possible future divorce proceedings she repeatedly asked the doctor for a certificate as to her physical condition to negative the suggestion of her husband that she had made up a story. The doctor, although respectful, ignored her request. In attempting to get help, Maria wrote endless letters to various friends stating she was, 'fearful for her life, come and help me,' but these letters were never posted, they were collected by Yamane’s secretary and kept. The following day they quarrelled bitterly about an operation Maria was scheduled to undergo. Yamane wanted it performed in London, but Maria insisted on travelling to Paris to have it done. While they ate supper in the hotel dining room, a band leader strolled by the table to take requests.
'I don’t want music,' Maria told the band leader, 'my husband has threatened to kill me tonight!'
The band leader thought the elegant-attired woman was making an
amusing remark and suavely replied, 'I hope you will still be here tomorrow, Madame.'
Later that same night, a luggage porter passing their door a short time later saw Yamane burst from the room in agitation, his face scratched. 'Look at my face!' he shouted to the porter,' look at what she has done!' But the porter only reminded him to keep quiet. A few days later the couple went to Majestic Theatre off Piccadilly to see, with hindsight the darkly ironic The Merry Widow. It was here they met Agatha who was on her own having been let down by a date. The threesome returned to the Royal Park after the theatre for a late supper, however the meal was disrupted by a huge argument between Maria and Yamane which by now had become almost a daily occurrence.
That evening, Yamane had appeared with more scratches on his hands and Maria had been seen with dark bruises on her face ill-disguised with powder and make-up. The row this time degenerated to such an extent that Maria picked up a wine bottle and shouted in French, 'You shut up or I’ll smash this over your head and I will kill you.'
According to Agatha, Yamane replied 'If you try to hit me I will hit you back and I will kill you.'
They eventually calmed down, not without the help of Agatha who having received a small sum of money from Yamane to leave the couple to their arguments, disappeared to the ballroom to listen to the Royal Havana Band. 'I shouldn’t have left her,' Agatha later regretted.