ANNULLED MARRIAGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19490, 20 November 1926, Page 13

ANNULLED MARRIAGE.

DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH. f. EXPLANATION BY PRELATE. ■ '4 - Australian and N.Z. Cabla Association. (Kecd. 7.5 D.m.) KOME. Nov. 19. The Prelate of the Sacred Eota has issued a statement to the British United Press Association concerning the annulment of the marriage of the Duke of Marlborough. This says the judgment was based on incontestable evidence without .reference to the social position of the interested parties or the judgment of outsiders. Insinuation were often made in these matters that the Roman Catholic Church, on the pretext of annulling marriages, really granted divprces by a roundabout way. There was no need to say that tho Church absolutely never granted a release from marital ties. The decrees of the Rota were simply annulments. The tribunal, cases like the present one, affirmed that matrimony was cull and void and that a real, true marriage never existed. Therefore no matrimonial ties had been broken as they were never in existence from the beginning. The statement added that 50 cases were presented to the Rota in 1925. In only 10 of these were elements found which made the marriages subject to annulment. In the case of the Duke of Marlborough there was incontestable proof that moral violence was used on the bride, wjio gave her assent to the marriage under the influence of grave fear. A cablegram from London published in TuesdayS Herat.u said the newspapers were giving prominence to the Vatican's decision to annul tho marriage of the Duke ol Marlborough to Miss Consuelo Vanderbilt, now tjae- wife of Colonel Jacques Balsai The action of the Vatican wa apparently taken at the request of thi former duchess, who applied to the Diocosai Con i at Southwark. The mattei was referred to the sacred Roman Rota, which has now given its decision. The duke, who was recentlly converted to Roman Catholicism, did not oppose the annulment of the marriage. The former duchess claimed that it was arranged against her wishes. The duke, who is 55 years old, married Miss VandeAilt, a daughter of Mr W K. Vanderhilt, of New York, in 18S5. The duchess obtained dtvorct in 1920 and in the following year she married LieutenantColonel Jacques Balsan, French air attache in London.