Who owns what? | Could legal battle favour Ritchie? | Pictures: Madonna and Guy Ritchie

When Madonna married Guy Ritchie in the Great Hall of Skibo Castle eight years ago, there was a piper to serenade the couple inside and security men outside to keep the paparazzi at bay. The celebrations and accompanying tabloid hysteria resembled a royal wedding.

It seemed fitting, then, that with the couple’s confirmation yesterday that they are to divorce it was also disclosed that Madonna has hired Fiona Shackleton, the lawyer who represented the Prince of Wales when his first marriage came to an end. Nothing but the best for the Queen of Pop.

Mrs Shackleton also represented Sir Paul McCartney in his divorce from Heather Mills, reducing his former wife’s claim to a fraction of what she had requested. Given the dizzying sums at stake in the Madonna/Ritchie settlement – they have an estimated joint fortune of £300 million, and one observer suggested that Ritchie could be awarded up to £150 million – it may be a wise appointment.

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The divorce announcement, which came as no surprise to anyone who has watched the slow disintegration of their marriage, came in the form of a terse joint statement from Madonna’s spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg. “Madonna and Guy Ritchie have agreed to divorce after 7½ years of marriage, their representatives confirmed today. They have both requested that the media maintain respect for their family at this difficult time.”

Despite the romantic setting for their wedding, and attempts by some commentators to suggest otherwise, there was nothing fairytale about the Madonna/Ritchie nuptials: her previous marriage to Sean Penn, and the birth of her and Ritchie’s son Rocco four months earlier, ruled that out.

It did, however, seem to be a match of equals. She may have been the most famous woman on the planet, but Ritchie’s star was in the ascendant – after the success of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, he was one of the most sought-after young film directors around – and he had a self-belief to rival Madonna’s.

They had met at a dinner at the London home of the rock star Sting and his wife, Trudi Styler, and it was Madonna who made the running, ringing him up for dates only to be told that he was too busy. By the time of their wedding, Ritchie’s influence was such that Madonna had embarked on a remarkable transformation from Material Girl to tweed-wearing member of the county set. Ritchie may have entertained cockney gangster fantasies, but as the boarding-school-educated stepson of a baronet he loved his country pursuits, and Madonna enthusiastically threw herself into her latest reinvention – hunting, shooting and drinking pints in the local pub near Ashcombe House, their Wiltshire estate that was once owned by Sir Cecil Beaton.

Cracks in the union were not slow to appear, however. Madonna’s work, and the strain that touring put on family life, was one problem; her enthusiasm for adoption was another.

She convinced Ritchie that they should adopt David Banda, a 13-month-old Malawian child, and her determination to adopt a second child from Africa is said to have put further strain on their relationship.

Increasingly they began to lead separate lives, communicating through their personal assistants. Ritchie, 40, failed to turn up at one event after another and when they did appear in public together their strained demeanour did little to convince anyone that the marriage could be saved.

For all that, Ms Rosenberg insists that relations between them are still cordial, saying that they expected to agree a divorce settlement without going through the courts.

The lawyers, though, are lined up. The Times reported in June that Madonna, 50, was believed to have engaged Ms Shackleton. Ritchie has previously used the Mayfair firm Forsters, but its lawyers are not expected to be instructed on the divorce.

The hottest bets are Anthony Julius, who acted for Diana, Princess of Wales, or one of the top family lawyers at the City firm Withers, such as Diana Parker.

Meanwhile Madonna, who is still on tour, may live to rue her English sojourn. Andrew Newbury, a divorce lawyer with the Manchester-based firm Pannone, said that if the split did end up in court Madonna’s decision to base her family in Britain could mean her having to pay a much larger settlement than if she lived in the US. Thunderer, page 26

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