Lord Snowdon and Princess Margaret with their children in 1973

England have

Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon are to separate after 16 years of marriage, it has been announced by Buckingham Palace.

After weeks of speculation a 39-word statement was issued by the Palace today.

It said: "HRH The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, and the Earl of Snowdon have mutually agreed to live apart.

"The Princess will carry out her public duties and functions unaccompanied by Lord Snowdon. There are no plans for divorce proceedings."

'Desperately sad'

Earl Snowdon, who is currently in Australia to open a photographic exhibition of his work, said he was "desperately sad".

It is understood he knew nothing of the announcement prior to its release.

He appealed for understanding for his two children, 14-year-old Viscount David Linley and 11-year-old Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones.

Princess Margaret's spokesperson, John Griffin, said: "A separation has been a possibility for some time and once the final decision had been reached it was obviously best to implement it straight away.

"A separation was the best course to take in all the circumstances bearing in mind in particular the interests of the two children."

Princess Margaret, who becomes the first member of the Royal family to divorce since Henry VIII, married Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones on 5 May 1960.

Just five years earlier she had called off plans to marry divorcee Group Captain Peter Townsend with whom she had been linked for several years.

Her acquaintance with 29-year-old Roddy Llewellyn, son of Olympic gold medallist horseman, Lt-Col Harry Llewellyn, has fuelled rumours about her marriage.

Last month the couple spent time on the Caribbean island of Mustique, where the Princess has taken several extended holidays without her husband since their marriage.

The Queen is said to be very sad but has had no influence in the decision.

It is understood the 45-year-old Princess, who is fifth in line to throne, will continue to take ?5,000 a year from the Civil List and will continue with her public duties.

Lord Snowdon, 46, will be required to find alternative accommodation. He has never received funds from the Civil List.

In a statement the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Donal Doggan, who is in the West Indies said: "One hopes that every understanding will be shown to the Royal Family at this time of distress."

The Argentinian group has been asked to leave South Georgia immediately

About 50 Argentines are reported to have arrived at Leith Harbour, on South Georgia, about 1,400 miles east of the Falklands archipelago off the Argentine coast.

South Georgia is a dependency of the disputed Falklands Islands which Britain claimed in 1833.

The British Antarctic survey team at Grytviken, on South Georgia, reported their arrival today.

Provocative step

They are understood to have a commercial contract to remove scrap metal at Leith Harbour but there are reports they arrived aboard a ship chartered by the Argentine Government.

The group has been asked to leave immediately and seek British permission to work on the island.

There is no indication of what the group's motivation is or whether it has hostile intentions.

The Foreign Office has not commented on the incident and it is not known if Britain will dispatch the Royal Navy's patrol ship HMS Endurance, which is in the Falklands area, where about 40 marines are stationed at any one time.

Today's events are seen as aprovocativestep in the on-going dispute between Britain and Argentina over the sovereignty of the islands.

Argentina calls the Falkland Islands the Islas Malvinas and it has claimed sovereignty over it ever since the end of Spanish rule.

Last month, talks in New York between the two countries broke down after Argentina declared it would break off negotiations with London to seek other means of solving the dispute more speedily.

But Britain maintains the Falkland Islands, made up of two main islands and nearly 300 smaller ones, will not be handed to Argentina without the approval of the islanders and British Parliament.

provocative: Tending to provoke（挑衅的；煽动的）