[Indexed as: Reventlow / Hutton case), “Barbara Hutton Grant; Haugwitz-Reventlow Accuses Ex-Wife in Action Over Care of 9-Year-Old Son,” Los Angeles Times, May 26, 1944]
Barbara Hutton Grant, wife of Film Actor Cary Grant and one of the world’s wealthiest women, was accused yesterday of using coarse and vulgar language in the presence of her 9-year-old son, Lance Haugwitz-Reventlow, and of permitting him to learn naughty words in her home.
These and other accusations, which are expected to start another battle royal between the Woolworth heiress and the boy’s father – her former husband, Count Haugwitz-Reventlow, who renounced his title as a Danish count in 1943 to become an American citizen – are set forth in an unusual suit filed in Superior Court here by the ex-Count.
Letters in Code
In the suit, filed by Atty. Joseph Lewinson of the firm of Lewinson & Armstrong, Mrs. Grant is charged with having sought to poison the youth’s mind against his father. In support, several photostatic copies of coded messages, allegedly written by Lance and his mother, are attached to the file.
Decoded, one of the boy’s letters, dated Feb. 12, 1944, is asserted to read: “The h—to my father. I would like it if he died.”
No money is involved in the suit which seeks to provide enforcement of a foreign divorce decree regarding the boy’s custody and for injunctive relief, seeking to enjoin Mrs. Hutton from allowing vulgarity in the youth’s presence. It also seeks to compel her to employ a governess of the ex-Count’s choosing.
Get Royal Decree
Back of the suit is a long-smoldering feud dating from the couple’s initial courtroom clash in a Bow St. (London) police court in July, 1938, in which Barbara accused the Count if menacing her and threatening to “shoot like a dog” a certain unnamed “gentleman of London.” She also charged the count demanded a $5,000,000 divorce settlement from her.
The Count denied the accusation and shortly afterward Barbara asked that charges be dropped. This was done and the couple reached an amicable understanding.
In the suit on file here, it was stated a written separation agreement was reached in London on July 28, 1938, and on Aug. 8, 1938, Count and Barbara obtained by mutual consent a royal grant of judicial separation from the Ministry of Justice of Denmark, in which the original separation agreement was approved. King Christian of Denmark ratified their divorce on Mar. 21, 1941
Asserts Control
But in an order made by the High Court of Justice of England, March 3, 1939, regarding the custody of Lance, that Haugwitz-Reventlow now seeks to enforce. He contends in his local suit that, in the agreement he was given control over the child’s education, religious training, and general upbringing.
He also claims “parental right” under the Danish order. Young Lance, who is now residing with his father and foster mother, the former Margaret Astor Drayton, at their suite in the Huntington Hotel, Pasadena, is due to return soon to the home of his mother and Cary Grant in Beverly Hills under terms of the custody arrangement.
Symbols Charged
Haugwitz-Reventlow relates that Lance lived with his mother from June 15 to Dec. 15, 1943. While he has been with his father since December, Mrs. Grant has visited him, talked with him by telephone and communicated with him in writing and “by symbols,” the suit alleges.
“Since June 15, 1943,” the boy’s father alleges in his petition, “the defendant, and persons in the household of the defendant, have used coarse and vulgar lanuuage in the presence of Lance.”
He also charges that Barbara has “used language to Lance which was calculated to, and intended by her to undermine the love and affection Lance bore for him.” Such language, the suit charges, included communication by code.
Neglect Asserted
Other charges contained in the complaint included neglect of Lance’s dental care and failing to send him to school regularly, permitting him to swim outdoors in winter while he was suffering from chronic asthma.
Haugwitz-Reventlow further states in his complaint that Mrs. Grant has threatened to :misconduct herself and permit members of her household to misconduct themselves,” in the boy’s presence. He seeks to enjoin her from carrying out this alleged threat and to see that Lance is given proper home environment.
Wife of Actor
The second husband of Barbara Hutton, who inherited between $40,000,000 and $60,000,000 in 1917 from her grandfather, the late F. W. Woolworth. Haugwitz-Reventlow and the heiress were married in Reno, Nev., May 14, 1935, the day following her divorce from Prince Alexis Mdivani, to whom she reportedly gave $3,000,000 as a settlement. The Prince was later killed in an automobile accident in Spain.
She and Cary Grant, whose real name is Archibald Alexander Leach, were married at Lake Arrowhead, June 8, 1942, shortly after he dropped his British citizenship to become an American citizen.
