LONDON -- A judge in London granted a preliminary divorce yesterday to former Beatle Paul McCartney and Heather Mills. If no one objects, the divorce will be final in six weeks. Neither McCartney nor Mills was in court.

Mills, 40, will emerge from the rancorous divorce with a settlement of $47.5 million. She will retain custody of the couple's 4-year-old daughter, Beatrice. McCartney will retain the bulk of his fortune, estimated by the court at $880 million.

The split makes McCartney, at age 65, the last of The Beatles to get a divorce. John Lennon left his first wife, Cynthia, for Yoko Ono. Ringo Starr and his first wife, Maureen, divorced after 10 years. And George Harrison's marriage to Patti Boyd ended after 11 years. McCartney's marriage to the former Linda Eastman endured 19 years, until her death in 1998. He married Mills in 2002.

First Published: May 13, 2008, 4:00 a.m.