Madonna on tour in Australia while custody battle for son Rocco unfolds in London

WHILE the Queen of Pop Madonna was on stage clowning around in Melbourne, a custody battle over the future of her son Rocco was unfolding in London.

SINGER Madonna has missed a court hearing over the future of her 15-year-old son Rocco because she is on tour in Australia, a London judge has heard.

The 57-year-old singer made the court challenge, under The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abductions, after her son Rocco visited his father, director Guy Ritchie, and decided he would rather live with him in England than his mother in the US.

Clowning around in Melbourne 💘#tearsofaclown pic.twitter.com/FAHRiUBH0z

— Madonna (@Madonna) 10 March 2016

But while the case was being heard in the Family Division of the High Court in London overnight, Madonna was dressed as a clown and riding a tricycle around the stage in an intimate show at The Forum Theatre in Melbourne.

A lawyer told Mr Justice MacDonald said that the singer would “very much wish” to be at the private hearing in the Family Division of the High Court but was unavailable because of her Australian tour.

Rocco, Guy Ritchie and his wife Jacqui were at the hearing.

Guy Ritchie is currently engaged in a custody battle with his former wife, Madonna, over their son Rocco. Picture: Carl Court/Getty Images.

“The mother remains on tour, I think in Australia,” David Williams QC, for Madonna, told the judge.

“She would very much wish to be here.”

Madonna plays Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena on Saturday and Sunday.

Son Rocco is at the centre of the custody battle.

Madonna and Guy Ritchie after Rocco’s baptism in 2000.

The judge said the fact that the hearing was taking place could be reported — and the parties could be named — but he said no detail could be publicised.

Mr Justice MacDonald has already considered a number of legal issues at a hearing last week while similar hearings have taken place in New York following the launch of family court litigation in America.

The couple had been urged to settle the matter outside of court but Madonna initially wanted to pursue legal avenues then later decided she would settle for visitation rights and withdraw her formal application.

Madonna with her daughter Lourdes, at nine, son Rocco, at six, and baby David Banda at 13 months.

But the judge has said that he had to decide whether the proceedings launched by Madonna in England should end — or whether he should make decisions on Rocco’s welfare.

Madonna is represented by Mr Williams and Jacqueline Renton; Mr Ritchie is represented by barristers Alex Verdan QC and Michael Gration; Rocco is represented by barristers Henry Setright QC and Edward Devereux via a court-approved guardian.

Originally published as Madonna on tour in Australia while custody battle for son Rocco unfolds in London