A pair of twins who were separated at birth got married without knowing they were brother and sister, a crossbench peer (a seat in the House of Lords occupied by a member who is independent of any political party) has told the House of Lords. A court annulled the UK couple's union after they discovered their true relationship, Lord Alton said.
He said that they were adopted by separate families, and neither was told that they had a twin sibling. Details of their identities have been kept secret, but Lord Alton said the pair did not realise they were related until after their marriage.
The former Liberal Democrat MP raised the couple's case during a House of Lords debate on the Human Fertility and Embryology Bill in December.
"They were never told that they were twins, he told the Lords. "They met later in life and felt an inevitable attraction, and the judge had to deal with the consequences of the marriage that they entered into and all the issues of their separation."
He told the BBC News website that their story raises the wider issue of the importance of strengthening the rights of children to know the identities of their biological parents .
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