Friday, October 14, 2011

Hotel manager sues Princess for debt


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October 14, 1921

Catherine Dunvin, 52, who resides at the Hotel Embassy at 70th Street and Broadway, was hailed in $2,500 bail today on a "charge of defrauding the hotel of a bill," reports the New York Times.

The hotel manager, Robert S. Maffitt, filed a complaint against his former guest, declaring "that from April last to October 7, when she left, Mrs. Dunvan did not pay a bill of $1,239.87. She stated that she did not "receive expected funds from her bankers in London."

Mrs. Dunvan "claims the title Princess Catherine Radziwill of Russia" and styles herself as a journalist.

A court date was set for October 21.

7 comments:

Rex said...

Marlene,
Is this the Princess Radziwill who wrote anonymous critical books about European and Russian royals, and harrassed Rhodes in South Africa? Did she not spend time in jail for defrauded him?

Marlene Eilers Koenig said...

Yes .. she was not anonymous. she used her own name.

Rex said...

From what I have read she didn't use her own name in Russia for fear of repercussions.

Rex said...

Marlene, I read that after her marriage she settled in Berlin in the Radziwill palace and under a pseudonym had written a series of articles in which she caricatured the German royal family and other nobles, for which she was banished from court.

I read too, that she was deported from Russia in 1913 as the result of the publication of her work "Behind the Veil of the Russian Court" written under the pseudonym of Count Paul Vassili.

Marlene Eilers Koenig said...

Yes, during her time in Russia, she used Vassili (I have her book on Alexandra), but most of her books were written under her own name.

Rex said...

Marlene,
How close to the truth, as we know it now, was "Behind the Veil of the Russian Court"? Was she in the know or simply guessing? Would you recommend buying this book?

Marlene Eilers Koenig said...

I think she had an axe to grind.