Early Marriage Annulled So Second Can Be Catholic

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30367, 17 February 1964, Page 2

Early Marriage Annulled So Second Can Be Catholic

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) NEW YORK, February 15. The “Sunday News” said tonight that Princess Lee Radziwill, sister of Mrs Jacqueline Kennedy, had been granted an annulment by the Roman Catholic Church of an earlier marriage, the Associated Press reported.

The 30-year-old wife of Prince Stanislas Radziwill and mother of two children was in New York, but was unavailable for comment, the agency said. The “News” said the Vatican’s Sacred Rota, high tribunal on matters of marriage annulments, took the action more than a month ago, annuling her 1953 marriage to Michael Canfield, a former United States diplomatic aide and now a publisher.

The “News,” in a story from Vatican City, quoted Professor Ferdinando Della Rocca, of. Rome, a lay advocate in the Rota, as saying: “Yes, the plea for annulment ended favourably for Princess Radziwill, and she is now free to wed Prince Radziwill in Roman Catholic ceremony. “She has been Informed of the annulment,. which was granted more than a month ago, but it was kept quiet. “I cannot say more than that the annulment was granted by the sacred Roman Rota.” Grounds for Action . The report said the church action was taken on the grounds of claims that “Canfield, a non-Catholic, had no intention of having children when he married Lee in a Roman Catholic ceremony in Washington in 1953.” “Since having children is regarded a primary aim of marriage in the Catholic Church, Canfield’s reservation was construed by the Rota '. •. . as constituting grounds for annulment,” the “News” said. Prince Radziwill disclosed more than 18 months ago that his wife had been seeking the annulment since 1958. “He said then that he and Lee planned to have a second wedding ceremony, this time in church, as soon as the annulment was granted,” the “News” said. Third Marriage The prince, a Polish nobleman, had been married twice' before his wedding to the former Caroline Lee Bouvier. His first • marriage, to a Czech girl, was annulled by the Church and she since has remarried. His second marriage was to a shipping heiress who now is the Countess of Dudley. That marriage ended in divorce, but was never recognised by

the church because it was a civil marriage. Canfield has since remarried, A.P. reported. Prince Radziwill, almost 20 years older than his wife, is, a naturalised British subject and operates a realty business in London. The princess and her husband came to the United States in 1960 to work with the Kennedy family in the successful presidential campaign of the late John F. Kennedy, brother-in-law of

the princess. The princess has retained her American citizenship although she spends considerable itme in Europe. The Radziwills were wed in a civil ceremony on March 19, 1959, A.P. said. The two children are by that marriage. The princess divorced Canfield about a year, after their marriage, which was her first.