THE daughter of a Scottish duke has shocked family and friends by leaving herAmerican husband, apparently without warning, and returning to Scotland.
Lady Anne Douglas-Hamilton, whose family history can be traced back to Mary Queen of Scots, announced her sudden departure from Missouri, where she lived with John McClure, the son of a wellknown banker. Her husband of seven years is said to be devastated by the separation, which he claimed he had not anticipated.
Lady Anne, 29, is now spending time at home near Lennoxlove, the fourteenthcentury family estate in East Lothian which belongs to her father, Angus DouglasHamilton, the fifteenth Duke of Hamilton.
Last night, William Stewart, a spokesman forMrMcClure, said: "I can tell you that John has been left shocked and upset at the news. It happened extremely abruptly, and without explanation.
"She returned to the States after a holiday in the UK, and essentially just got off the plane and said she was leaving. Within 48 hours, she was back on the plane going across the pond. It has left a lot of us with a lot of questions. They seemingly had a story-bookmarriage."
The pair became engaged in Paris just two months after meeting through friends at Strathclyde University.
At the time she said: "It was love at first sight. We met and have not really been apart since."
Lady Anne, then 22, married her fiance, then 25, at Lennoxlove Chapel in August 1998.
Clarissa Dickson-Wright, close friend and television chef, prepared the food for the wedding celebrations.
Lady Anne and her husband, who is a master chef trained at Le Cordon Bleu cookery school in Paris, then moved to Mr McClure's native state in the mid-West, where they opened Hamilton House, an exclusive Scottish-themed restaurant in a suburb of St Louis.
Mr Stewart said: "She seemingly was a very happy person with a very pleasant disposition who was highly regarded.
"She will be missed by a lot of people. It has left everyone shell-shocked."
Kay Douglas-Hamilton, the third wife of the duke, last night confirmed that the couple had temporarily separated."It's early days, " she said.
The Duke of Hamilton, who married Kay, a formerMacmillan nurse and animal welfare campaigner around the same time as the marriage of his daughter, is hereditary keeper of the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
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