Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Murder of the Duchesse de Choiseul-Praslin

From Geri Walton:
Authorities interrogated those present and searched the house for clues. They soon determined that “no robbery had been committed, or even attempted. The garden was examined with the most minute care…and found in such a state that it was evident that no one had penetrated into it either to enter or leave the hotel; and nowhere could any traces of breaking it or of breaking out be found.” Because of that and a variety of other reasons, authorities quickly focused on a single suspect: the Duchess’s own husband, the Duke Choiseul-Praslin.

First, the police learned that the Duchess was madly in love with her husband and that she had recorded as much in her writings. They also discovered the couple had a rather volatile relationship and that numerous violent confrontations between the two had been witnessed by the household staff. Moreover, a recent confrontation had occurred. It involved the children’s governess, a woman named Henriette Deluzy-Desportes (or Henriette de Lucy, Luzy, or Luzzi, although one paper reported her real name was Laure Desportes and another Luzy Desportes).

The Duchess believed her husband was having an affair with Henriette, and the Duchess also believed the two were planning to elope. Moreover, the Duchess thought her husband had hired Henriette to estrange her from her children. Because of this, the Duchess repeatedly threatened to leave her husband, which would have ruined him socially, and the Duchess became upset enough about Henriette she fired her a few weeks earlier, although Henriette had just recently left. (Read more.)
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1 comment:

Nancy Reyes said...

Ebook at Project Gutenburg Australia.
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks14/1403231h.html