Princess Raiyah of Jordan has quietly parted from her husband Ned Donovan - the grandson of the famous children's author Roald Dahl. The couple married in July 2020, in the first royal wedding after the coronavirus lockdown, outdoors and at a distance. Raiyah, half-sister of King Abdullah II, was 40 at the time; now that marriage is in the past.

Royal separations rarely come with an explanation, and this one is no exception. According to British media, Ned, 32, has already entered a new relationship - and not just any one. Last week he married American influencer Megan Tomlin, at a church in Somerset. Among the guests were his half-sister, the author Sophie Dahl, and best man Sir Nicholas Coleridge, provost of Eton - the future school of Prince George. A small world, as usual when it comes to the British aristocracy.

Ned's story in recent years has not been easy. His father died of cancer in 2021, and in 2024 he was injured while stopping a pickpocket near the British parliament, after which he told police he was disappointed by their "failings." Raiyah, for her part, builds her life far from the court chronicles - she holds a degree from Edinburgh, a master's in Japanese literature from Columbia and a doctorate in pre-modern Japanese literature from the University of California.

Two very different paths, then, that crossed for a few years and have now parted again. Neither the court in Amman nor the Dahl family offer any details - and perhaps that is the most civilised part of the whole story. Not every separation needs a statement; sometimes silence is the only elegance left.