Year: 1866

The Royal Scandal Case-The Princess


Olive" thrown out Of Court-End of the


Case of Mrs. Ryves.


We have already announced the decis
ion in the case of Mrs Ryves, whose
claim to the title of the Princess Olive
has been rejected by the London Court
of Divorces and Matrimonial Causes. In
the summing up for the crown the At
torney General rdiculed the whole sto' y
of the petitioner, and expressed his be.
lief that both the Polish Princess and
her daughter were as purely creations, Of
the Imagination as the Ferdinand
and Miranda Of Shakespeare The
whole story, he added, was a drama, in
which every act was more surprising and
incredible than the last The theory was
that Mrs. Series was really the daughter
of Mr.. Robert Wimot In proof of that
hypothesis be would produce the affidavit
of her father, on which her marriage
license was granted, and also the will of
DR.. Wilmot, in which he spoke of her
simply as his niece, Olive Series. She
was an eccentric and ambitious person,
and her eccentricity and ambition took
the form of making loans to members OF
the royal family.


The Judge (Keating) in his charge to
the jury, commenced in terms not dis
similar to those employed by the Attor-
ney General upon the constantly varying
claims of Mrs. Series, till they culmina-
ted in q demand to be recognized OF
legitimate royal descent In the first
instant that demand had been accompa-
MED by an attempt to intimidate George
". by showing that he was not the law
full possessor of the throne; and this
fact proved that the Hannah Lightfoot
document could not be separated from
the rest But could any one for a mo-
ment believe that two such eminent
statesmen as Pitt and Dunning ever set
their hands to the extraordinary paper
signed " Hannah Regina p The thing
spoke for itself Or, again: Was it
likely that the Duke of Kent would have
put his name to document appointing
Olive Series, court painter, guardian
Of his daughter, who twas known would
be Queen Of England Z As to the diff
ferent set Of documents to which refer
ence has been made by the Attorney
General, no human ingenuity could de-
wise satisfactory explanation. 1t was
quite possible that the Duke Of Kent
might have believed that there was
an illegitimate connection between
Olive Series and his family and a
generous man, thinking that the
same blood flowed in her veins
and in his own, might have acted toward
her with kindness and compassion. A
mere claim of illegitimate relationship
would probably not be very rigidly seru-
tinized; and documents might as easily
have been prepared for the inspection of
the Duke of Kent and the Duke Of Clar-
ence as of any one else But could any
one believe that if the papers relating to
Hannah Lightfoot had been shown those
royal princes, they would have admitted
their genuineness2 On the whole, it
seemed to him (the learned Judge) that
the main features of the prisoners case
marked with the most shocking improb-
ability. ...... ..-


The Jury at once found for the Attor-
ney General on the issues which he had
raised, and the Court having ION his ap-
plication) directed the documents to be
impounded, formally dismissed the pc
tition. f't-i p


The London Times, in a long review
of this case, declares that Mrs. Ryves
claim was one Of the most extraordi-
nary instances of combined hallucina-
ton and deception which has ever been
imposed upon the world.


1t is intimated that Mrs. Ryves will
carry up the case on appeal to higher
Court