The Love Goddess and the Prince: Rita Hayworth and Prince Aly Khan

"Men fell in love with Gilda, but they wake up with me." - Rita Hayworth

Movie star Rita Hayworth was at a personal and professional crossroads in her life when she took off for Europe in the summer of 1948. She was feuding with Columbia studio boss Harry Cohen. After short-lived affairs with David Niven and Howard Hughes, she had realized that she was still in love with her estranged husband Orson Welles. But Orson had moved on, he'd fallen in love with a fiery Italian actress. This time there would be no reconciliation. Heartbroken, Rita wasn't interested when society hostess Elsa Maxwell begged her to attend a party at the Summer Casino in Cannes. Elsa insisted that she just had to attend, urging Rita to buy a new dress, preferably white, and to arrive fashionably late. A real life Prince would be amongst the guests.

The Prince in question was 37 year old Aly Khan, son of the Aga Khan III, the spiritual leader of the Ismaili sect of Shia Islam, and a direct descendent from the prophet Mohammed. Playboy, racecar driver, soldier, horse breeder and religious leader, the Prince had been fascinated with Hayworth ever since he had seen her film BLOOD AND SAND, where she played the tempestous Dona Sol, while serving in Egypt. Since then, he had been determined to meet her, biding his time until the right moment. He was soon to get his wish at Elsa Maxwell's party.

It wasn't an immediate slam dunk. While Rita was flattered by Aly's attentions, she wasn't in the mood for a serious romance. Still Aly persisted, sending huge bouquets of rose, so many that her suite began to look like a florist shop. He took her out to candle-lit dinners at small intimate places high in the hills, and dancing in out-of-the way nightclubs so they could have some privacy. Rita couldn't help but be flattered by his attentions both in and out of the bedroom. The prince's prowess in the boudoir was considered legendary. Rumor had it that he had learned an ancient technique that allowed him to make love to a woman not just for hours but for days before reaching a climax himself. Rita responded to the wounded little boy in Aly, who had never been able to please his difficult and demanding father. He aroused all her maternal instincts. He whisked her off to Biarritz, France, piloting his private plane Avenger. Then they traveled by car, in a shiny new Cadillac ordered from Paris, to Spain and Portugal. Rita assumed at first that Aly was toying with her, but she soon realized just how serious he was. Rita, however, was just not ready for another serious relationship. She soon fled to stay with friends for a few days to get her bearings. A fortune teller who had been hired as a lark to entertain at a private party changed Rita's mind. She predicted that Rita was about to embark on the greatest romance of her life. The man in question was someone that she knew who she had foolishly resisted.

That was all Rita needed to throw herself headlone into the relationship. Before long, Aly had offered the sanctuary of his nearby Chateau de l'Horizon to keep his new love safe from the prying eyes of the paparazzi. Despite the fortune teller's prediction, the romance was rocky from the start. Now that he had won his prize, Aly reverted from the devoted prince who lavished hours of attention on his new love, to the bon vivant playboy that he really was. Aly was gregarious by nature, loving nothing more than to be surrounded by people. He had an open door policy at all his lavish homes for his friends and assorted hangers-on. Rita immediately felt out of place amongst his jet-setting friends who spoke several languages, and all knew each other from the watering holes of Europe or from the elite boarding schools they had attended. Although she was an international sex symbol, Rita was painfully shy and had been since childhood. She much preferred to sit quietly in a corner, or small gatherings with a just a few friends. In spite of having worked with stars like Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly and Tyrone Power, Rita was easily intimidated. She felt keenly her lack of education, having been forced to drop out of school at the age of 12 to in order to tour as her father's dancing partner in the casinos and hotels of Tijuana, Mexico.

There was also the problem of Aly's wandering eye. Women were drawn to him like catnip, and he certainly felt no urge to turn their invitations down. Rita threw jealous tantrums, which only served to inflame Aly. The prince also lived a rootless, hedonistic lifestyle which was the antithesis of the home, family and security that Rita craved. They fought passionately and made-up the same way. Gossip columnists were tickled pink at the news of Rita's new romance. Who could resist the story of the American movie star and the foreign prince even if no one knew exactly what he was prince of. Conservatives were incensed at the idea of Rita cavorting openly with a married man. She was labeled a bad mother amongst other things. Racism also reared its ugly head, Aly might have been a prince but he was still the wrong color. The Aga Khan was incensed by all the publicity surrounding the affair. He gave his son an ultimatum, either get a divorce and marry Rita or end the relationship for good.

Studio boss Harry Cohn was furious that Rita was still off gallivanting in Europe instead of back where she belonged, making movies for Columbia Pictures. The gossip about her relationship with Aly could ruin all the time and money that Cohn had invested in his auburn-haired asset. The furor against her relationship just served to make Rita more determined to continue seeing Aly. He followed Rita to Los Angeles. Although he moved into a house close by, he spent most of his nights at Rita's. He now endeared himself to Rita by the way he treated her little daughter Rebecca Welles who had been virtually ignored by her father since her birth. He supported Rita when she refused to film Lona Hansen without a script. Rita began to feel that perhaps Aly would be the protector that she had been looking for after all.

They were married on May 27, 1949 at the town hall of Cannes, France. Aly's father The Aga Khan and Aly’s stepmother, the Begum, were amongst the witnesses. Afterwards a lavish reception was held at Chateau de l’Horizon. The bride wore a long-sleeved ice blue dress by Jacques Fath, with a floppy blue hat.. The marriage was doomed from the beginning. Although she had agreed to the wedding, Rita still hoped that Orson Welles would swoop down and rescue her. At the wedding, "500 guests from the United States and Europe feasted on 50 pounds of caviar, 600 bottles of Champagne and other gourmet delights around a swimming pool scented with 200 gallons of eau de Cologne." The reception went on for 6 hours, exhausting the bride who was two months pregnant. The next day, the couple were married by a pair of Muslim priests from the Paris mosque in a religious ceremony. The Catholic Church howled at Rita's decision not only to marry a Muslim but also to bring up her children in the faith.

 

After the wedding, Aly hired an etiquette teacher, a Georgian prince named Gregory Eristoff to initiate her in the mysteries of being a princess, all the protocal she would need to meet the dignitaries and other royalty in her new role. In the beginning, Rita forced herself to please Aly, to make him proud of her. The lessons must have brought back painful memories though of the dance lessons with her father, that often ended in physical and emotional abuse. But the traveling was a constant strain as the couple moved from one race meeting to another. In December, Rita gave birth to her second daughter, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan in Switzerland. Aly was delighted to have a daughter, to join his two sons by his first wife. For three months, after Aly broke his leg skiing, the couple lived the kind of life that Rita longed for, but soon Aly was restless again. Rita began spending more and more time in her room, drinking and dancing to the Spanish records that she loved instead of entertaining Aly's guests. Aly encouraged her to go back to making films, not just to give her something to do, but because they needed the cash. The Aga Khan kept his son on a tight financial leash, so Aly began spending her money. This was not the life that Rita wanted or envisioned.

It was a trip to Africa to visit the various Ismaili communties there that was the final straw in the marriage. Aly had promised Rita that they would go on a romantic safari but after he ignored her all night at a New Year's Eve party in Nairobi, Rita said au revoir. The marriage had lasted less than two years. Rita filed for divorce in 1951 on the grounds of "extreme cruelty, entirely mental in nature." but dropped the suit in 1952 after Aly pleaded for a reconciliation. Eventually, however, the couple were divorced in April 1953, due his infidelities. During the custody fight over their daughter Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, Prince Khan said he wanted her raised as a Muslim; whereas Hayworth (who had been raised a Roman Catholic) wanted the child to be a Christian. The settlement was increased to $1.5 million in 1954, which included trust-fund payments of $100,000 a year for 14 years for Princess Yasmin, plus $8,000 a year maintenance.

Aly Khan died in a car accident in 1960. After two more marriages that ended in divorce, Rita was finally diagnosed with Alzheimer's. She spent the last years of her life being taken care of by her daughter Princess Yasmin, who created a foundation to find a cure for the disease.

　

From Commoner to Royalty: The Story of Anne Hyde

When Catherine Elizabeth Middleton walked down the aisle at Westminster Abbey and married Prince William, she became first non-aristocratic commoner to marry an heir to the British throne since Anne Hyde married James, Duke of York (the future James II). While Lady Diana Spencer and the Queen Mother were commoners, they were both aristocrats. Diana was the daughter of Earl Spencer while the Queen Mother was the daughter of the Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. What’s that you say, what about Camilla? Well, she is descended from George Keppel, brother of the Earl of Albemarle, so she doesn’t count either.

Our story begins in 1638, when Anne was born at Cranbourne Manor in Windsor Park, owned by her grandfather Sir Thomas Aylesbury, then Master of Request. Her father Edward Hyde was Charles II’s principal advisor while he was in exile so Anne didn’t see much of her father while growing up. At the age of 15, she was appointed a maid of honor to Mary, Princess Royal who was the widow of the Prince of Orange much to the annoyance of the Queen Mother Henrietta Maria, who despised Hyde and his influence over her eldest son. Anne was a big hit at court; she was a particular favorite of the Princess Royal’s aunt, Elizabeth, the Queen of Bohemia for her gaiety.

In 1656, Anne accompanied the Princess Royal on her visit to Paris to visit the Queen Mother. It was there that she met the Duke of York. Although their acquaintance was brief, she must have made quite the impression on him, because when they met 3 years later not only did James seduce Anne but he also allegedly entered into a secret engagement with her. Although Anna was plump and considered plain by some, she was also witty, gay and well-educated, qualities that James himself decidedly lacked. James himself later wrote of his future wife that ‘besides her person, she possessed all the qualities proper to inflame a heart less susceptible than his, with the fire of love.’ In 1659, marrying Anne probably didn’t seem like such a big deal, the Restoration seemed like a pipe dream not a reality. Apparently, it was also the only way that James could get Anne into bed.

When Charles II was restored to the throne in May 1660, Anne returned to England with her family. Of course the inevitable happened, she soon became pregnant. At first James stood loyally by her, telling the King that he had promised to marry her, and he planned on keeping his word. If Charles didn’t give his permission; James would leave England, and live abroad. Charles wasn’t too keen on the match; it would mean that Hyde would now be a member of his family not just one of his ministers. It also killed any chance of James helping to shore up the monarchy by marrying a foreign princess who might bring prestige not to mention money to the union. James was also the heir presumptive to the throne until Charles himself married and sired a legitimate son. On the other hand, Charles genuinely liked Anne, and thought she might be the making of his brother. He reasoned that he was thirty, plenty of time for him to get married. After much debate, Charles gave his consent.

There was no engagement announcement, no speculation about what the bride might wear as she waddled up the aisle. Instead, the shot-gun wedding took place in secret on September 3, 1660 at Worcester House, on the Strand, sometime between 11 at night and 2 in the morning. The ceremony was performed by the Duke’s chaplain and only witnessed by two people, including Anne’s maid. When Anne’s father found out, instead of rushing to offer congratulation, he was more worried that enemies might think that he had encouraged the match to further his own ambitions. He actually told the King that Anne should be thrown in the Tower of London to await execution. Hyde wasn't the only person the newlyweds had to worry about, Jame's mother and sisters were not too happy either when they heard the happy news. Both women raced across the channel hell bent on preventing ‘so great a stain and dishonor on the Crown.’ Princess Mary declared that she would not accept as her sister-in-law someone who had once ‘stood as a servant behind her chair.’ Faced with the wrath of his female relatives, James began to have buyer’s remorse. It didn’t help that the heavily pregnant Anne wasn’t quite as attractive once compared to the other beauties at court.

 

At this point, his friends helped out by claiming that all five of them could be the father of Anne’s child. Harry Killigrew said that, ‘he had found the critical minute in a certain closet built over water for a purpose very different from that of giving ease to the pains of love.’ Um, TMI! Another alleged lover Sir Charles Berkeley offered to marry Anne to save the Prince from a wife who was “so wholly unworthy of him.” Although the marriage wouldn’t be announced officially until the end of December in 1660, word soon went around the court, setting tongues awag at the juicy news. The idea of a royal prince marrying a commoner was absurd, especially one as dumpy as Anne. Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary a remark made by the Earl of Sandwich when he heard the news, “that he doth get a wench with child and marries her afterward, it is as if a man should shit in his hat and then wear it.”

In October 1660, Anne gave birth to son, who later died in infancy, insisting even during labor that not only was the Duke of York the father of her child but he was also her lawful husband. Finally Charles decided to step in. He informed his brother that ‘He must drink as he had brewed and live with her whom he had made his wife.’ Subsequently Berkeley and the others withdrew their claims. Three days after the official announcement, the Princess Royal died of smallpox lamenting the horrible things she had said about her former maid of honor. Only the Queen Mother was a hold-out but finally even she grudgingly agreed to receive Anne, claiming that she ‘always liked her from the beginning.’ Hypocrite much?

 

Although the marriage could be said to have been a love match, the relationship soon withered as The Duke of York chased after everything in a skirt. Unhappy, Anne consoled herself with food, growing incredibly obese. However she did manage the Duke’s money for him, and advised him on patronages in the arts and in political affairs. In fact it was Pepys' opinion that "the Duke, in all things but his amours, was led by the nose by his wife.” Anne naturally resented James' numerous affairs, but received little sympathy at Court. Whether out of insecurity or because she’d had to fight so hard for her position, Anne became more royal than the royal family which made her unpopular. In 1670, Anne secretly converted to Catholicism. Of her eight children, Mary and Anne alone survived her. She died in 1671, a few weeks after giving birth to her final child. Of course, when the Duke of York remarried, Charles II made sure this time that his brother married someone more appropriate.

But in the end, it would be Anne’s daughters, first Mary and then Anne who sat on the throne of England.

 
Sources:

John Miller: James II (Yale English Monarchs), Yale University Press, New Haven 1978
Jock Haswell: James II, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1972
Anne Somerset: Ladies in Waiting, From the Tudors to the Present Day, Phoenix 1984