They first met in the spring of 1999, just one year after his beloved wife Linda’s death. Since then the relationship between music legend Paul McCartney and anti-landmine campaigner Heather Mills has gone from strength to strength, with the former legend announcing this week that the pair plan to wed.
When his late wife Linda succumbed to breast cancer after a long fight, the 59-year-old musician was devastated. The couple had enjoyed one of the happiest marriages in the industry, one which had weathered the storms of the rock’n’roll scene for 30 years. Paul’s grief was so great that many were surprised by initial reports of his growing relationship with former model Heather Mills.
Although he didn’t get to speak to Heather at that fateful awards ceremony where they were both serving as presenters, Sir Paul was smitten by the vivacious blonde’s energy and determination. “When I saw her, I thought: ‘Wow, she looks great’,” he said recently. “A very beautiful, true, fine woman. That was the first impression and then when I heard her speak I was very impressed.”
“So I found out her phone number, like you do, and rang her up and said, ‘We should talk about some charity stuff and I like what you’re doing’. So we had three or four meetings, all very prim and proper. She came to the office to talk about the charity and I realised I fancied her.”
Not wishing to upset Paul’s children, who were still grieving deeply for their mother, the couple initially kept their relationship low profile. And when rumours began to emerge towards the end of the year, they were denied. But when Heather joined the former Beatle on holiday at Parrot Cay in the Turks and Caicos islands it was obvious something was afoot.
A month later Sir Paul announced that, yes, they were an item, and requested “space” to give the relationship time to develop. Since then the pair have been constantly in each other’s company, and the extent of their feelings was evident in recent photos of the couple snapped during an outing to the beach in Malibu. Relaxing together on the sand, they looked happy and very much in love.
Friends and associates of the music mogul have believed for some time that Paul was considering asking Heather to marry him, and the star himself had dropped large hints on the subject in recent TV interviews, so it came as little surprise to hear that he popped the question on Monday during a break in the Lake District. Ever the romantic, apparently Paul went down on one knee to present the woman he calls “my amazing Heather” with a sapphire and diamond ring he bought earlier this year in India.
The couple have yet to set a date for their nuptials, but according to the statement issued to announce the engagement the wedding will take place “some time next year”.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
