But that far trickier divorce still lies ahead.As for the Duke, so strangely absent from the public gaze in recent months, we can only wish him well, noting that he has a role to play in restoring his family to public favour. The key to that is to follow Princess Anne’s model of quiet, dutiful public service at low cost and minimum embarrassment to the taxpayer.That is the message the royals must take from the sorry time they have had in the Nineties. It may help the House of Windsor slowly engineer a recovery in its fortunes The decks having been cleared a little. Perhaps the Princess of Wales may take note of her sister-in-law’s capacity both to reach a settlement with her former husband and then to announce it with some style. Since their separation they appear to have behaved towards one another with greater calm and affection than they managed in the last years of their troubled marriage.In itself their divorce affects neither the general condition of the Royal Family nor the Queen’s desperate need to steer it into calmer water. There are now only the three royal divorces running in parallel, Sarah and Andrew, Marina Ogilvy and her husband and Charles and Diana.The Yorks’ divorce is a formality. This is probably the high point for the royal divorce lawyers.

The cool and practical tone in which the divorce of the Duke and Duchess of York was announced demonstrated something their marriage has lacked. The Duchess has at last behaved with a modicum of dignity -a quality that was so sadly lacking in much of her behaviour. The manner of their leaving one another becomes them. Profits last year at Braas of pounds 226m represented the lion’s share of the pounds 355m made by the whole Redland group.Although Redland’s shares added only 1p to 410p yesterday, the deal was generally welcomed by the stock market. Robert Donald, an analyst with NatWest Markets, said it was “a breath of fresh air at Redland”, which should have been done five, 10, 15 or 20 years ago.”They are injecting assets which are underperforming into a company with a good track record and that must be good news for shareholders.” He expects the merger to enhance next year’s earnings per share by 2-3 per cent.. Operating profits of the Redland companies were pounds 38.5m last year.By contrast, the merger values Braas at pounds 1.6bn, equivalent to a p/e ratio of 11, Mr Napier said. The group’s own business, including roofing activities in the UK, Holland, France, Spain and Portugal, would be valued at pounds 440m by the swap, giving an exit price-earnings ratio of 15.

France is one example.”The new business, to be called Redland Braas Building Group, would have access to cash flow from the German company to finance expansion. Other areas of Europe, apart from France, where RBBG will be under-represented, include the UK and Italy, although Mr Napier cautioned that monopolies constraints could hold back further acquisitions in the home market.He said the deal should add to Redland’s earnings in the first year after completion. Debt of around pounds 700m, will fall even further when the sale of the rest of Redland’s bricks business is announced later this month.Market estimates suggest that disposal could bring in a total of pounds 230m, including pounds 71m already received from the disposal of a stake in a Dutch business in February.Commenting on the roof tiles deal yesterday, Robert Napier, chief executive of Redland who will chair the merged group, said: “One of the reasons we are doing this is because there are areas where we can grow further. Redland is set to receive pounds 220m as a result of the planned reshuffle of its roof tiles business, leaving it poised for further expansion in Europe.