End of a Storybook Romance

It ranked among the least surprising social announcements of the year. In a terse, yet poignantly personal four-sentence message, Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, 57, and his aspiring-photographer wife Margaret, 28, last week declared that they are formally separating. The statement issued by the Prime Minister's Ottawa office said that "because of Margaret's wishes" to "leave the marriage and pursue an independent career" the couple "will begin living separately and apart." According to the announcement, "Pierre will have custody of their three children [Justin, 5, Alexandre, 3, and Michel, 1 1/2], giving Margaret generous access to them." Whether divorce will follow is uncertain, since both are Roman Catholics (Margaret by conversion). "Both pray," the statement concluded, "that their separation will lead to a better relationship between themselves."

Severe Stress. Barring a reconciliation that few expect, it was apparently the end of a marriage that began as Canada's storybook romance. When the pair first met in 1967 on the Polynesian island of Moorea, Pierre, then Canada's Justice Minister, was a dashing, wealthy, bilingual bachelor of 48 and the occasional companion of Barbra Streisand. Margaret, then 19, was the beautiful, free-spirited daughter of a British Columbia industrialist and former Canadian Cabinet member, James Sinclair. Canadians learned of the couple's ultra-private wedding ceremony in March 1971, three years after Trudeau was elected Prime Minister for the first time; the rejoicing was akin to that for a royal coronation. After Trudeau successfully fought his third national election campaign in 1974, Margaret's cool yet sprightly presence on the hustings was judged to be a significant political asset.

But tensions began to appear in the relationship shortly thereafter. In September 1974 Margaret was hospitalized for two weeks, suffering from "severe emotional stress." She subsequently announced that moving into the Prime Minister's residence was "a catastrophe in terms of my identity." A year later, she declared: "I'm not going to be locked away again as I have been in the past."

Nor was she. While Pierre stayed home in Ottawa with the children, Margaret celebrated their sixth wedding anniversary by partying it up in Toronto with one of her favorite rock bands, Britain's raunchy Rolling Stones (TIME, March 21). The group's lead guitarist, Keith Richard, had just been charged with possession of heroin for the purpose of trafficking. Margaret subsequently flew off to Manhattan and launched a freelance photographic career.

Back in Ottawa, the Prime Minister stoutly defended his wife's independent ways; since then, however, the couple's paths have barely crossed. One of Margaret's confidants declared last April that the pair had quietly agreed to a trial separation, but it was never confirmed. When last week's formal separation was announced, Margaret was back in Manhattan, refusing any comment.

The breakup was presumably wrenching to both parties. Yet at an Ottawa reception the night before the announcement, according to one of the Prime Minister's aides, Trudeau "looked the best he's looked this year. He's in fine spirits and great shape."

The Prime Minister's perkiness may have another cause: renewed political support at home. Public enthusiasm for his Liberal government, at a low ebb only a year ago, has been rising steadily since the election last November of a separatist government in the largely French-speaking province of Quebec. Last week, in a series of federal by-elections viewed as a significant sounding of electoral feeling toward the Liberals, Trudeau's party hung on handily to four vacated parliamentary seats and gained another from the opposition Progressive Conservatives.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.