THE marriage of one of Princess Charlotte's godparents and the younger daughter of the Duke of Northumberland has ended after less than three years.
The undefended "quickie divorce" obtained by the former Lady Melissa Percy on the grounds of Thomas van Straubenzee's unreasonable behaviour took just a few minutes at the Central Family Court in London on Wednesday.
Property consultant Mr van Straubenzee, 33, an old prep school friend of the Duke of Cambridge, was one of five godparents at Princess Charlotte's christening in the church of St Mary Magdalene in Sandringham, Norfolk, last July.
Both the Duke and Prince Harry were guests at his Northumberland wedding, in June 2013, when the reception was held in Alnwick Castle, the ancestral home of his tennis coach bride.
The couple were not present when they were granted a decree nisi by District Judge Anne Aitken.
Among the court papers made public was a sworn statement signed by 28-year-old Mrs van Straubenzee in December which said that they had separated two months earlier, in early October.
The paperwork stated that a judge found that Mrs van Straubenzee was "entitled to a decree of divorce, the marriage having irretrievably broken down, the facts found proved being the respondent's unreasonable behaviour".
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