Royal pregnancy unwelcome

Press, 10 October 1989, Page 1

Royal pregnancy unwelcome

NZPA-AAP London The Queen’s cousin, Princess Alexandra, told her pregnant daugher to have an abortion rather than shame the Royal Family by having an illegitimate birth, Britain’s “Today” newspaper reported yesterday. . ! . Marina Ogilvy, aged 23, the daughter of Princess Alexandra and Sir Angus Ogilvy and twenty-fourth in line to the throne, told the newspaper that her mother had been a “total hypocrite.” “When it counted, she wasn’t there for me,” she said. When Ms Ogilvy told her parents she was expecting the baby of her 26-year-old boy-

friend, Paul Mowatt, they said she would I , either have to have an abortion or get, i married within the week, the paper said. “Dad said there hadn’t been an illegiti- , mate birth in the Royal Family in 159 years,” she said. “When I said to him ‘Look, I am your daughter. What comes first, Queen and country or your daughter?*, he said: “Queen and country’.” Ms Ogilvy said that she and Mr Mowatt planned to marry but not until after the baby was born. In response, her parents cut off her £289 ($742) allowance and prevented her having trust fund money. “My parents have been horrible to us. It

has been a great shock,” Ms Ogilvy said. She accused her parents of trying to trick her into having an abortion by arranging one under the guise of a routine medical examination. “If they were trying to trick me into an abortion, who knows what they will do?” she said; ' “This is the dark side of the Royal Family we are experiencing. The other side of the postcard is for tourists.” Ms Ogilvy said she had written to the Queen, addressing the letter “Dear Cousin Tilihet”. — the family wording to'make sure it gets to the Queen personally — asking for her to intervene to help her keep the child.