AN UNHAPPY MARRIAGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19496, 27 November 1926, Page 11

AN UNHAPPY MARRIAGE.

DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH. A PRIOR ATTACHMENT. Australian and N.Z Cable Association. A. and N.Z. ROME. Nov. 25. The text of the finding of the tribunal wkich annulled the marriage of the Duke rf Marlborough affirms that it was a prior attachment on the part of the duchess that made the marriage unhappy from the start. This was confirmed by all the witnesses, including the duke and duchess and Mrs. Vanderbilt. Accordingly Miss Vanderbilt was not given the necessary liberty in the matter to make the marriage a valid one. The Vatican recently annulled the marriage of the Duke of Marlborough to Miss Consuelo Vanderbilt. now the wife of Colonel Jacques Balsan. The action of the Vatican was apparently taken at the request of the former duchess, who applied to the Diocesan Court at Southwark. The matter was referred to the sacred Roman Rota, which granted annulment. The duke, who was recently converted to Roman Catholicism, did not oppose the annulment of the marriage. The former duchess claimed that the marriage was arranged against her wishes. The duke, who is 55 years old. married Miss Vanderbilt. a daughter of Mr. W. K. Vanderbilt, of New York, in 1895. The duchess obtained a divorce in 1920 and in the following year she married Lieut-Colonel Jacques Balsan, French air attache in London.