Royal break-up arranged

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34107, 20 March 1976, Page 1

Royal break-up arranged

(S' Z P A Reuter—Copyright) j LONDON, March 19. J A legal separation for;' Princess Margaret and (, her husband. Lord 1i Snowdon, is believed to < have been worked out, and an announcement is ' expected today. It was announced that aP statement about the marriage! would be issued from Kensington Palace at 2.30 p.m. , (London time), according to., the Press Association Court' correspondent. The breakdown of the 16-1 year-old marriage of the Queen's younger sister has I been widely reported in Brit-; ain in the last few days, but I sources close to the Royal household said last night that a divorce had been ruled out. The Queen has, according to the sources, discussed the marriage with other members of the Royal Family, and had consultations with lawyers and Church of England leaders.

A legal separation would I not allow either the Princess, now 45, o’ the Earl of I Snowdon, aged 46, to remarry, but it would permit a settlement outside the courts. The couple’s two children, Lord Linley, aged 14, and Lady Sarah, aged 12, are sixth and seventh in line of succession to the Throne immediately after their mother. : Court observers said last I night that a legal separation ■has many of the practical I effects of divorce, and after two years either could get a ■ divorce easily with the consent of the other. Buckingham Palace has made no official comment so far. although a spokesman Confirmed that the marraige had beer discussed with lawyers. Princess Margaret’s position as fifth in succession to the Throne — after the Queen’s children — would not be altered by a separation.