Elisabeth Murdoch to divorce Matthew Freud

(Reuters) - Elisabeth Murdoch, the second daughter of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, is to divorce her husband, public relations executive Matthew Freud, Britain's Mail on Sunday reported.

The paper said the couple, who have been married for 13 years and have two children, were expected to be granted a 'decree nisi' -- preliminary approval for their divorce -- this week.

A spokesman for Freud's company and a spokesman for News Corp declined to comment. A source close to Rupert Murdoch said that Elisabeth had her father's full love and support, without commenting further.

Murdoch and Freud were a well-known media couple in Britain, and were friends with Prime Minister David Cameron and Rebekah Brooks, the former editor of Murdoch's News of the World tabloid who was found not guilty of phone-hacking charges in a lengthy trial this year.

The 46-year-old Elisabeth Murdoch is, like her younger brothers Lachlan and James, a child of Murdoch's second marriage, to Anna Murdoch Mann. She sold the successful television business Shine Group, which she had founded, to News Corp in 2011.

The Financial Times reported last week that Elisabeth would step down as the chairman of Shine when it merges with two other companies.