Editing Gerald Durrell (section)

== 1970s: divorce and remarriage ==
The lease on Les Augrès Manor, the zoo's home, was scheduled to run out in 1984, at which point the Trust might have been forced to close down.  The manor's owner, Hugh Fraser, set the purchase price at £120,000 (equivalent to £{{formatprice|{{inflation|UK|120000|1970|r=-4}}}} in {{Inflation/year|UK}}). [[Giles Guthrie]], the Trust's financial adviser, organised an appeal which raised £25,000, and Durrell donated another £20,000.  [[States Assembly|Jersey's parliament]] provided a low-interest loan for  £60,000, and in April 1971 the Manor became the property of the Trust.<ref>Botting (1999), pp. 363–364.</ref>  The Durrells returned to France for the summer; they were unable to afford to buy the Mazet from Lawrence, as they had hoped, but took a five-year lease instead.<ref>Botting (1999), pp. 365–366.</ref>  Guthrie proposed a two-part fundraising plan: Saranne Calthorpe, one of the Trust's main fundraisers, was to focus on raising £20,000 for the Trust's ongoing operating expenses, while Durrell was to travel to the US in 1972 to ask for donations.  These plans came to nothing: Durrell made it a condition of Calthorpe's employment that she stay single, and when she married again he dismissed her; and his doctors told him he was not well enough to travel to the US.<ref>Botting (1999), pp. 366–367.</ref>
[[File:Princess Anne October 2015.jpg|alt=Head and shoulders of a woman talking|left|upright|thumb|Princess Anne, patron of the Durrell Wildlife Preservation Trust]]
Durrell's ''Fillets of Plaice'', a collection of autobiographical anecdotes, was published in late 1971 to good reviews; it was followed in early 1972 by ''Catch Me a Colobus'', which covered the trips to Sierra Leone and Mexico, and some material about the Jersey Zoo.  Reviews were mixed, but it sold well.  In the spring Durrell was at the Mazet again, working on an account of his time at Whipsnade, to be titled ''Beasts in My Belfry''.<ref>Botting (1999), pp. 369–370.</ref>

On 30 April 1972 a new gorilla breeding complex was opened in Jersey, and the next day the first [[World Conference on Breeding Endangered Species in Captivity as an Aid to their Survival|World Conference on Breeding Endangered Species in Captivity]] was held there.<ref name=":16" />  The conference was successful and generated publicity both for the Trust and the cause of captive breeding.<ref name=":16">Botting (1999), pp. 371–373.</ref>  [[Anne, Princess Royal|Princess Anne]], who was a fan of Durrell's books, visited the zoo that summer, and by August had agreed to be the Trust's patron.<ref>Botting (1999), pp. 375–376.</ref>  At the end of the year the trustees made an attempt to replace Durrell as the administrator of the zoo, since he was rarely there: they argued that the zoo and Trust needed a full-time manager who was onsite.  Durrell was furious, and eventually outmanoeuvred the trustees, all (or almost all) of whom resigned.<ref name="B376">Botting (1999), pp. 376–382.</ref>{{#tag:ref|Durrell's biographer records that every trustee resigned, but some later returned to the council; [[Jeremy Mallinson]], who worked for the Trust, says that one trustee did not resign.<ref name="B376" /><ref>Mallinson (2009), pp. 156–157.</ref>|group=note}}  In 1973 Durrell visited the US on a three-month fundraising tour, and while there arranged the creation of the [[Wildlife Preservation Trust International]] (WPTI), an organisation intended to funnel American donations to the Trust.<ref>Botting (1999), pp. 387–390.</ref>  The following year the Durrells visited [[Grace Kelly|Princess Grace]] in Monaco, and persuaded her to act as the patron of the WPTI.<ref>Botting (1999), pp. 391–392.</ref>

Durrell spent part of 1975 writing a treatment for a screenplay of [[Tarka the Otter (film)|''Tarka the Otter'']]; the film was made in 1979, with Durrell sharing screenplay credits.<ref>Botting (1999), p. 396.</ref><ref>Monaco (1991), p. 545.</ref>  He had also been working on a book about the zoo, to be titled ''[[The Stationary Ark]]'', and in May 1975 filming began in Jersey for a Canadian TV series based on the book.<ref>Botting (1999), pp. 396–397.</ref>  At the end of the year, Jacquie decided on a separation; she left Gerald, who fell into a depression and was taken to a private nursing home by a friend.  After three months, Jacquie returned to Jersey to clear out her possessions and make the separation permanent.<ref>Botting (1999), pp. 402–408.</ref>  During the separation she had suggested that Gerald visit Mauritius, on a fact-finding trip, and despite the breakdown of his marriage, he left as planned in March, visiting [[Mauritius]], [[Île Ronde, Mauritius|Round Island]], and [[Rodrigues]], and returning to Jersey in May 1976.<ref>Botting (1999), pp. 408–412.</ref>  The divorce proceedings were protracted and bitter.<ref>Botting (1999), pp. 412–413.</ref>  Durrell continued writing: ''The Stationary Ark'' had not sold well, but his next two books, ''Golden Bats and Pink Pigeons'', about Mauritius, and ''[[The Garden of the Gods]]'', the third and final book about his childhood in Corfu, did better.<ref>Botting (1999), p. 476.</ref>

On another fundraising trip to the US, in 1977, he met [[Lee McGeorge Durrell|Lee McGeorge]], a zoology student working on a Ph.D. on the animals of Madagascar.<ref>Botting (1999), pp. 416–417.</ref>  He was immediately attracted to her, and courted her, mostly by letter, over the next year, before she finally agreed to marry him.<ref>Botting (1999), pp. 418–421; 445.</ref> The wedding was held in May 1979, shortly after Durrell's divorce was finalised.<ref>Botting (1999), p. 466.</ref>