DUCHESS' PETITION.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 April 1920, Page 5

DUCHESS' PETITION.

SUIT IN DIVORCE COURT. London, March 22. The Divorce Court to-day granted the petition of tha Duchess of Marlborough for a decree for the restitution of conjugal rights. A defence was entered, but was withdrawn at the last moment. The duke was not, present. Sir Edward Carson, representing the duchess, explained that a rather curious separation deed was executed in 1!>07, in obedience to which the parties met frequently for the sake of the children, discussed family arrangements, and "resumed, in a certain sense, friendly relations." When the children attained their majority the deed was to be revised. The duke, in October, 101!), suggested that his wife should return to him. The duchess consented, and they lived temporarily together at Crowhurst. A few weeks after the resumption of relations, said Sir Edward, the duke wrote to his wife: "We have tried our best to mend the past, but I fear that owing to the long separation of upward;? of 12 years we have .crown too far apart to live together happily again." The letter, however, did not convince the duchess, who invited a reconsideration. This the duke refused.

The Duchess of Marlborough, who is a daughter of William K. Vanderbilt, of New York, was married to the present duke in 1805. Two sons were horn of the marriage, both of whom are now of age. Outside peers of the blood royal, the Duke of Marlborough, who ij ninth of his line, is the tenth duke in order of precedence in the United Kingdom. The present duke's father was divorced by his wife, the Marchioness of Blandford, in 1883 after 14 years of married life.