THE Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza's fifth wife said they expect the trial in the Supreme Court in Bermuda to take between a year-and-a-half and two years to settle.

Carmen `Tita' Cervera also said that the law suit, which has been going on for over a year now, is believed to be one of the most costly and involving the most documents in history.

The Baroness, who is a former Miss Spain, opened her home to the Spanish magazine Semana as the Baron and his wife celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary. She told the popular publication when asked about the court case: "The case is against only one of his sons, Georg Heinrich, the eldest son.

The others are staying at the fringes and have not paid much attention to the case, even though the matter also affects them.

"Things are going very well, according to my husband and the eight lawyers who are defending his rights.'' She added: "There are eight lawyers on my husband's side and 24 on his son's side, a fact which makes it very difficult for the other side to reach a consensus of opinion.'' When asked when the case will end, she said: "It will not be in the near future. It will take a long time because it is considered the most costly and most heavily documented case in history. We will have to wait a year-and-a-half or two years.'' Magazine spotlights Thyssen saga Father and son and various trusts are battling over a fortune worth an estimated $2.7 billion in the Supreme Court in Bermuda.

The Baron signed over the family business (and fortune) to a continuity trust created in 1983, which immediately made his son Georg, the principal beneficiary.

The father is claiming the trust and his son owes him $232 million in arrears with inflation and loss of value and wants to wrest control of the empire. But the trial, which has been going for more than a year and costs an estimated $70 million in legal fees, has been stopped for legal clarifications and will not be resuming until some time in November.

However, the colourful dynasty has been bickering in the Press over Heini, the 80-year-old baron, who has failing health.

Gossip columnists in Europe, where the Baron and his wife `Tita' regularly appear in glossy magazines, have long said the Baron's fifth wife is behind the rift between father and son and she has been labelled many times as the `evil stepmother'.

His other four children have stayed out of the limelight during the trial, but three weeks ago Francesca, one of Heini's five children, in an interview in The Sunday Times , which was published in rg magazine last week, sided with her brother Georg, also known as Heini Jr. for the first time in public.

The Baron, during the protracted court case, has through his team of crack lawyers, claimed that he is also acting to protect the interests of his other children and wants to spread the wealth more evenly among them.

But his daughter Francesca, the Archduchess of Hapsburg accused `Tita' of being an evil stepmother who has meddled with her father's mind.

Tita hit back in the world's best-selling magazine Hola! saying she loved her husband very much.

And the fifth wife added fuel to the flames in the Semana article by declaring that the famous art collection the Baron donated to the Spanish Crown and is now housed in a special museum in Madrid, had to be donated to avoid being handed down to ungrateful heirs.

The private collection, which was considered only second in the world to Queen Elizabeth II's, was handed over to Spain to form the Thyssen Collection at the Thyssen Museum.

The Baroness said the 20 years the Baron and she had spent together had been happy ones.

She added that in that time: "Heini has seen his dream that the art collection stay together and be shown to the world in the Thyssen Museum come true. Spain has a unique art collection, and the international art market has been deprived of the sale of 80 masterpieces, as the collection would have been whittled away if it was passed to the heirs who were not interested in keeping the collection.'' Media spotlight: The Thyssen saga spawned this double page spread in the Spanish magazine Semana BUSINESS BUC MAGAZINE NJ