Alfred De Marigny (1910–1998)

I didn't much like it in the beginning, for quite a few pages in fact, but when I was about to put it down and pull the bookmark, I read some other reviews and decided to soldier on. Overall it turned out to be quite good. It's clear he didn't do it. But it isn't clear to me that de Marigny needn't be taken with a pinch of salt. Was he really such a good, brave man? a man of such integrity? Well, maybe so. Probably so.

The mystery is engaging, and I see no reason to doubt his conclusions. The cast of characters is colorful. Once you get past the romantic story of the Duke of Windsor giving up his kingdom for the woman he loved, and you start to read more about him (not just in this book), you start to find a man who turned his back on service and duty to his country, a man who was a fascist, and a man who was set on lining his own pockets in order to live the life to which he had been born, but which he had rejected.

Is there a movie of de Marigny's story? There should be.

On a personal note, I noticed towards the end that de Marigny lived in the Dominican Republic when I also was living there. I was born in June, my mother already being pregnant when they arrived, and he left in September of that same year to go to the U.S. Does that mean it's a small world?… (más)

5797. A Conspiracy of Crowns The True Story of the Duke of Windsor and the Murder of Sir Harry Oakes, by Alfred de Marigny with Mickey Herskowitz (read 17 Jul 2022) This book, published in 1990, tells of the murder on 8 July 1943 of Sir Harry Oakes in Nassau, the Bahamas. That murder, and the trial of Oakes's son-in-law, Alfred de Marigny, made worldwide news and I remember well following the news stories re same with great interest. This book purports to tell of that murder and trial and of course vigorously asserts the innocence of the accused. One is amazed by some of the oddities of the trial: apparently, the judge made the only record of the testimony, the jury foreman joined in the questioning of witnesses, and the evidence implicating the accused was very weak. There was a fingerprint but how it was significant is not very clear and apparently, it was fake. But the account of the author's life is pretty sensational and one wonders how much to trust the telling. The book is often of much interest and I never failed to find it absorbing… (más)

The true story about the murder of Sir Harry Oakes and the trial of de Marigny who was framed for the murder. Although he was acquitted, the event continued to haunt him wherever he went. The original investigation was seriously flawed, mostly on the direction of the Duke of Windsor, (well-known as the king who abdicated to marry Mrs Simpson) who was governor in the Bahamas at the time. When Random House asked him to write the story to clear his name, there were two attempts on his life. The story had to wait until after the death of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. This fascinating story was a real page-turner.… (más)