If a royal couple divorced with no children

[curiouslythinking]

If a royal couple got divorced with no children, what effect on the ex-wife would this have, would this effect the type of divorce settlement they would receive and the media interest in them after the divorce if there are no royal children involved?

DisgruntledPelican: This. Not that I’ve looked in depth but I am surprised there hasn’t been a hatchet job on Autumn Phillips yet.
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That's a point, few escape unscathed.

Surely after everything, even if C and C hated each other, he'd do everything to avoid the public knowing after their history.

Given Peter has no title and is never going to see the throne, Autumn probably isn't interesting enough, esp if she's keeping her head down and helping her girls through this difficult time. Hopefully it won't affect her relationship with Kate and Zara as the kids all seem close

Autumn and Peter seem to have bashed out a good arrangement where they can co-parent near each other. Oodles of cash and both realising neither party wants negative publicity must help to oil the wheels of a friendly divorce.

I'd be amazed at C&C after all this time. They have a fab arrangement where they retreat to their separate country homes at the weekend. I'd do the same myself if I had a glorious country pile.

Altho a quick google suggests she's got a new love interest, article in Tatler amongst others

It depends if you are thinking of a wife that has no biological children or who has not given birth to her children.

A divorcing non-royal husband would probably barely make the back pages

Like Capt Mark Phillips? Next to nothing on him, and if Tim Lawrence went the same way, then I expect ditto.

Needs of DC are bound to affect any divorce settlement, as are chances of the non-Royal spouse being able to have anything approaching a normal working life

This is one of those questions that it is difficult to say, as it’s equally difficult to think of an example. Prince Louis and Princess Tessy of Luxembourg divorced a few years ago (a younger son of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg), but they did have two children.

As they lived in London at the time they split, the divorce and property settlement was conducted in British courts. Tessy pursued a claim for a lump sum settlement of £1.5m, which failed, as her ex was able to show that he really did not have any assets in his own name - everything other than an allowance from his (stupendously wealthy) family was actually owned by his parents rather than him, they just let him use the London house, the holidays villas, the palaces etc. He wasn’t working either - he was a full time student at the time they split. In the end she was granted the right to live in the London property while her former in-laws were happy for her to do so, and received £4000 a year from her former husband by way of maintenance (she has now remarried and so I presume no longer has the use of the house).

If you take that as an example, then I’d say an ex from a marriage without children shouldn’t necessarily expect a large lump sum from their former spouse - but it all depends, of course! How long was the marraige, what job prospects does the non-Royal have, did they have any assets coming into the marriage, and probably most importantly, will the family fund settlement, or will they ensure that only the Ex’s own finances can be considered? And do they want this settled privately or argued in court…?

@dunkery

It depends if you are thinking of a wife that has no biological children or who has not given birth to her children.

Presumably tho even if she hasn't given birth to them, if she has equal parental rights to the royal male and they're biologically his, it doesn't make much difference. Seems unlikely they wouldn't use the royal sperm

@dunkery

It depends if you are thinking of a wife that has no biological children or who has not given birth to her children.

There'd be huge media interest when it was announced, through to completion of the divorce and then it would largely depend on how the divorced spouse went ahead with their life. If they kept their head down and lived quietly (not saying they should feel obliged to) media interest would die down quickly. If they had other high profile relationships, gave interviews or published 'tell all' stories, they'd stay in the public eye.

As for divorce settlement it would proceed according to the law, looking at marital assets, what standard of living was fair etc. There might be a strong argument for some kind of spousal maintenance on the grounds the marriage would make it difficult for the ex-spouse to go out and get any old job.