The former wife of the 13th Duke of Manchester has died aged 73

 The first wife of the 13th Duke of Manchester has died at the age of 73.

The former Marion Johanna Stoner (born Hamburg 1 February, 1950), the daughter of Fritz Stoner and his wife Maria. She emigrated with her parents to Australia in 1954. 

She married in 1984 in Melbourne, Australia, the then Alexander Charles David Drogo Montagu (born 11 Dec, 1962), son of the then Lord Angus Charles Drogo Montagu (born 9 Oct, 1938), and his wife the former Mary Eveleen McClure. Marion's husband was a grandson of the 10th Duke of Manchester (1902-77), and nephew of the 11th Duke (1929-85).

The 11th Duke of Manchester died in 1985, and her husband's father succeeded to the family peerages. Alexander Montagu was then styled Viscount Mandeville, as heir to his father's dukedom.

Marion's marriage, a violent one, ended in divorce in 1996, Alexander Montagu having married bigamously, in 1992, Wendy Dawn Buford. With the death of the 12th duke, 25 July, 2002, Alexander succeeded as 13th Duke of Manchester (cr 1719), 16th Earl of Manchester, co. Lancaster [E., 1626], 16th Baron Kimbolton of Kimbolton, co. Huntingdon [E., 1620], 16th Viscount Mandeville [E., 1620] , &c. 

Marion was unsure of the validity of her divorce in 1996. If the marriage was not dissolved then she became Duchess of Manchester on 25 July, 2002. If the divorce was legal, then she was in fact Marion, Viscountess Mandeville from 1985. Her former husband was styled Viscount Mandeville by courtesy, from 1985 until succeededing to the dukedom.

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