Madonna and husband Guy Ritchie are to divorce in London on Friday, according to the High Court where so-called “quickie” divorces are formalized.

The case was listed on Thursday under the names Ciccone M L v Ritchie G S and will be heard before a judge in the High Court’s Family Division.

Both are entitled to attend the court, although in most high-profile celebrity cases people choose not to.

The couple announced last month that they had agreed to finish their eight-year-old marriage, ending intense speculation over the relationship.

Details of the terms of the split have not been made public.

Madonna, 50, and Ritchie, 40, have a joint fortune estimated to be worth around $525 million.

The couple have a son, Rocco, who was several months old on their wedding day in December 2000, and in 2006 Madonna applied to adopt David Banda, a boy from Malawi whose mother died shortly after his birth and whose biological father has supported the adoption.

A Malawian court approved the adoption in May.

The singer also has a daughter Lourdes, born in 1996, from her relationship with fitness trainer Carlos Leon. She was married once before, to actor Sean Penn, in the 1980s.

How Madonna and Ritchie share custody of the children is unclear. Media reports have said that Madonna wants to live in the United States while Ritchie plans to remain in his native Britain.

There is also the question of how their combined fortune will be divided.

“We’re not going to comment on anything at the moment,” said Barbara Charone, Madonna’s London-based publicist.

Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone was born in Bay City, Michigan on August 16, 1958, into a large, devout Italian-Catholic family.

She went on to become one of the most successful singers of all time with estimated album sales of more than 200 million and is in the middle of her “Sticky & Sweet” world tour. Ritchie is a British film director who is currently making a major Hollywood blockbuster “Sherlock Holmes” starring Robert Downey Jr. as the Victorian-era super sleuth.

Madonna is reportedly having religious counseling to help her get through her divorce from Guy Ritchie.

The couple announced last week that they are to split following seven years of marriage and there has been intense media speculation regarding the financial and custodial settlement between the former couple.

Madonna has carried on with her Sticky & Sweet world tour, and is allegedly turning to Kabbalah “anger management” to help deal with her emotions.

A source tells Britain’s The Sun, “Madonna is very angry with Guy - about his cold treatment of her in the marriage, about the nasty details of their marriage that have leaked out, and about the money he is demanding.

“She’s furious that he feels entitled to get a lot of cash, while she’s the one working her ass off on tour.

“She is getting help from a Kabbalah counselor who is helping her try to put aside her anger, so they can settle the divorce as quickly as possible for the sake of the children. The counselor is telling her she will meet her soul mate but first has to calm her anger.”

Madonna and her husband Guy Ritchie plan to divorce grew on Wednesday after a report in a British newspaper said the couple would announce the split “imminently.”

When asked about the report in the Sun tabloid, Barbara Charone, Madonna’s London-based publicist, replied: “No comment.”

Madonna and British filmmaker Ritchie have denied previous reports that they planned to end their eight-year marriage.

The Sun quoted a “highly-placed source” as saying Madonna, 50, and Ritchie, 40, “just couldn’t live together any more” and could “no longer bear to live with the pretence” of being happily married.

Rumors that the London-based couple planned to split have been circulating for months, fueled by reports in the summer that the singer had lined up Fiona Shackleton, a lawyer who acted for former Beatle Paul McCartney in his divorce.

Madonna, one of the most successful singers of all time, is in the middle of her “Sticky & Sweet” world tour.

Ritchie has seen his directing career recover from a series of critical duds, and he is now making major Hollywood blockbuster “Sherlock Holmes” starring Robert Downey Jr. as the Victorian-era super sleuth.

Madonna and Ritchie have a son, Rocco, who was several months old on their wedding day in December 2000. In 2006 Madonna applied to adopt David Banda, a boy from Malawi whose mother died shortly after his birth.

Madonna won’t have much time to fret about turning 50.

While many people passing the milestone may prefer to pause and reflect, the “queen of pop” is in the midst of final preparations for her world tour which kicks off in Cardiff, Wales, on August 23, a week after her birthday.

If previous shows are anything to go by, the 40-plus “Sticky & Sweet” dates around the globe will put Madonna under the kind of physical and mental strain that would test a woman half her age.

But the world’s most successful female recording artist has never let age, sex or background get in her way, and has remained in the ascendancy with an uncanny ability to reinvent herself just when the old Madonna was nearing her sell-by date.

Her latest reincarnation is a shrewd businesswoman, after she severed ties with long-term record label Warner Brothers to sign up with Live Nation, a company that until recently specialized in music tours.

As well as earning a reported $120 million over the life of the agreement, Madonna appeared to be among the first to recognize which way the music industry was heading.

Recorded music, many artists now believe, is making them less money than live performing, meaning they are looking to spend less time in the recording studio and more on the stage.

Film director Guy Ritchie broke his silence on Friday over rumors that his marriage to Madonna is on the rocks, telling People magazine it was “fine.”

“My marriage is fine as far as I’m aware of,” the British director was quoted as telling People in an interview.

Rumors have been circulating for months that Ritchie’s 8-year marriage to Madonna, 49, is on the rocks, despite several denials by the singer that the couple are planning a divorce.

Ritchie, 39, who found fame with his 1998 movie “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” said Madonna had allowed him to look at his hometown of London with fresh eyes.

“I live vicariously through my wife, so I was once a spy and now I’ve become a tourist, and it’s much more fun to live in London as a tourist than it is as a spy,” he told People.

Ritchie is in Southern California promoting his new movie “RocknRolla,” while Madonna is rehearsing in New York for her upcoming world tour starting in August.

“RocknRolla” which opens in the United States in October, is set in the London criminal underworld of Russian gangster and stars Gerard Butler as a street-smart mobster, along with Thandie Newton, Jeremy Piven and Chris “Ludacris” Bridges.

His recent efforts, “Swept Away” starring Madonna, and “Revolver” were both critically panned.

Ritchie’s next movie is “Sherlock Holmes” a drama based on the English literary detective and starring Robert Downey, Jr., which is slated for release in 2010.