The Royal Family gathered to say goodbye to the Duchess of Kent on September 16 after the 92-year-old died earlier this month, and sadly, the Kents are also experiencing another type of heartache. Shortly after the history-making Catholic funeral, it was revealed that the Duke and Duchess of Kent's youngest child, Lord Nicholas Windsor, has split from his wife of 19 years, Lady Nicholas Windsor. However, it seems the couple has no plans to divorce, per a royal source.
Born Paola Frankopan, Lady Nicholas Windsor shares a trait in common with Princess Beatrice's husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, as she hails from Italian and Croatian nobility. Paola, 56, is rarely seen at royal events, but her shocking absence from her mother-in-law's funeral seems to have forced the news of her separation to come to light.
"It's very sad, but the couple have been separated for some time," a source told the Daily Mail. "They no longer attend family events together. Both are very conservative and dislike divorce, so apparently they will never actually get divorced."
Like Nicholas's mother, the Duchess of Kent, his Catholic faith has shaped his life and, it seems, his views on divorce. Lord and Lady Nicholas broke royal tradition with their 2006 wedding, which was not only the first royal wedding to be held in Vatican City but the first Catholic British royal wedding since the 16th century.
They welcomed their first child, Albert, in 2007, making history once again as their son became the first royal child to be baptized a Catholic since 1688. Lord Nicholas and Paola also have two younger sons, Leopold, born in 2009, and Louis, born in 2014.
Lord Nicholas has expressed his religious views in the past, writing a 2011 anti-abortion essay in the Telegraph as well as a 2011 piece for the Catholic Herald condemning Britain's "moral handicap of our failure to care for the unborn."
