One of the UK’s most famous divorce lawyers has urged schools to help young people prepare for marriage.

Baroness Shackleton of Belgravia wants schools to help pupils view marriage as “the most important decision they make”. She said it must be understood not simply as romance, but as the context for bearing and raising children: “It’s a practical arrangement . . . which has to survive to rear children.”

She added: “It’s the children who are the very sad losers when parents are selfish and decide their own desires override those of their family.”

To avoid the “untold grief” of separations, she hoped that research on the best marriages would be introduced in schools, and that they would devote “just a little time to get students to focus on what is the most important decision they make, which is basically who they breed with”.