Is Princess Marie Bonaparte for sale?

December 8, 1906

Is Princess Marie Bonaparte, one of wealthiest and prettiest princesses, "for sale to the highest bidder." If not, she has been "subjected to an extraordinary humiliation by the arrest in London of a marriage broker," according to the Chicago Daily Tribune. The arrested broker claims to have arranged marriages between impoverished European nobility and very rich American and English girls. Some of these marriages did take place as correspondence and receipts for the transactions were found in the broker's office.
The "most outstanding discovery" was a bundle of letters purportedly written by Princess Marie Bonaparte, "soliciting the services of this particular marriage broker in securing for her a marriage a marriage with one of the principal royal houses of Europe."

The news report says the the letters have been proved to be forgeries, and friends of the princess say that the broker fabricated the letters to use as decoys to bring other royals as clients. But as the broker had never made use of the letters, some believe that the princess did indeed write the letters.
The princess' wealth is derived from the Monte Carlo Casinos. She is 26-years-old and "never has had a sweetheart."
She lives in Paris where she "presides with much grace and youthful charm over her father's magnificent residence in the Avenue de Jena."