Royal announces split from wife just days after his mother's death

Lord Nicholas Windsor has announced his split from his wife, Paola, after 19 years of marriage. The news comes just days after the death of his mother, the Duchess of Kent. Lady Nicholas Windsor, as she is known, was noticeably absent from her mother-in-law's funeral at Westminster Cathedral on Tuesday.

Senior members of the Royal Family joined those of the late Duchess's family at the service, however Paola was not among them. Lord Nicholas, 55, and Paola Frankopan, 56, a member of Croatian, Italian, and Austrian nobility, tied the knot in 2006 after meeting each other in 1999.

During their marriage, the Duke of Kent's youngest son welcomed three children with wife, sons Albert, Leopold and Louis.

Their marriage sent shockwaves around the world as it was the first Roman Catholic wedding of a member of the Royal Family since the reign of Queen Mary I in the 16th century. It was also the first time a member of the British Royal Family married at the Vatican.

However, according to the Daily Mail, the couple have been separated for some time, and while they are not likely to get divorced, they will no longer attend family events together.

A source close to the family told the newspaper: "It's very sad, but the couple have been separated for some time. They no longer attend family events together. Both are very conservative and dislike divorce, so apparently they will never actually get divorced."

Lord Nicholas was born in London in 1970 and is the youngest child of the Duke and late Duchess of Kent. He has two elder siblings, George, Earl of St Andrews and Lady Helen Taylor.

He has since forfeited his right to the throne under the Act of Settlement 1701, as he was received by the Catholic church in 2001.

The couple's eldest son, Albert Louis Philip Edward Windsor, was born in 2007, while their second, Leopold Ernest Augustus Guelph Windsor, was born in 2009. Their youngest child, Louis Arthur Nicholas Felix Windsor, was born in 2014.