Rose Porteous

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Porteous' mansion Prix d'Amour during its demolition in March 2006.

Rose Porteous (née Lacson, born October 26, 1948) is a Filipino-born Australian socialite. Daughter of Nicolas Lacson and Amparo Lacson, and granddaughter of general Aniceto Lacson. She rose to prominence in the 1980s as the central figure in a series of lawsuits launched by her former stepdaughter, Gina Rinehart, the daughter of Porteous's late husband, Australian iron ore pioneer, Lang Hancock.

Porteous worked as a maid for Hancock, who was her third husband.

Not long after Hancock's death, his widow married her current husband, William Porteous, arguably Perth's best real estate agent in the luxury market. Gina Rinehart's lawsuits accused Rose Porteous of marrying Hancock only for his fortune and alleged that her stepmother's actions had contributed to her father's death.

Rose Porteous' brushes with the law include matters relating to insurance fraud and prescription fraud. In October 2005 it was reported that Porteous was being sued for $14m by Melbourne-based law firm Slater & Gordon for legal fees they claimed she owed for representing her in Rinehart's lawsuits and eventually came to a settlement of $12.5m.^[1]

After a brief stint in the tabloid media, Rose Porteous retreated to a more quiet life in Perth and is regarded as a recluse by the locals, although she still occasionally appears on lifestyle programs for television.

In late March of 2006 her Perth mansion "Prix d'Amour" was demolished, after being taken off the market. The mansion Rose and Lang Hancock created was a spectacular architectural masterpiece featuring French doors and windows, parquetry and marble floors and wrought iron. The estate, set on 8100 square meters features the main house (Prix d'Amour) two guest houses, a tennis court and two swimming pools. It has recently been subdivided into ten 800 square meter lots which were put on the market at $4.1 million and all feature panoramic Swan River and Perth City Views.

The socialite has been reported as seriously ill and has suffered a recent stroke. She is recovering in the exclusive Perth suburb of Peppermint Grove. Recently she was dismissed on charges of prescription fraud because the active ingredient in the medication - midazolam - in the painkilling sedative hypnovel was not a prohibited drug. She was prescribed the medication after a fall in the late Prix d'Amour.