After 36 years, the 82-year-old Duke of Marlborough and his 64-year-old wife Rosita Douglas, have ended their marriage in the London Divorce Court.
District Judge Roberts granted the Duchess a decree nisi because of separation.
The case was in a list of 30 so-called quickie, undefended cases on Friday, and neither part appeared in court.
In her petition, Lady Marlborough staged she and her husband, the 11th Duke, separated by the end of 2002 because of "irreconcilable differences".
She had already concluded some time before that the marriage had ended.
They lived at Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, but she now lives at Lee Place, Blenheim.
The Duke, the father of Lord Blandford, has been married three times.
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