Decision in title dispute

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34130, 17 April 1976, Page 21

Decision in title dispute

(K.Z.PA.-Rcuter —Copyright) LONDON.

Nine British peers have recommended that n middle-ased man, whose mother was technically a virgin while he was in her womb, should be confirmed as a true-born aristocrat and keep a disputed title.

The recommendation was made by the privileges committee of the House of Lords after deliberating for six weeks over a dispute that had its origins in a sensational divorce case of 1920 s high society.

The full House of Lords will now make the final decision and notify Queen Elizabeth of their findings. The man medically declared bom of a virgin, but whose legitimacy was challenged, is the 54-year-old theatre impressario, Geoffrey Russell. The rival for his title was a man he had never met before the committee hearing. his half-brother, John Russell, an accountant aged 25. Mr Geoffrey Russell, whom the committee noted was having his status questioned after being married and founding a family on the assumption of his legitimacy, told newsmen, “I am delighted by the recommendation. I am greatly relieved.” The committee chairman. Lord Wilberforce, said there had been distressing revelations and divisions over many years, and “if ever there was a case for closing the chapter in a family’s history, the case for closing this in 1976 >. . must be one.” Christabel herself, the only person who held the ultimate key to the mystery, died in Ireland, aged 80, only a few weeks before the committee’s hearing began.