Lady Branson, wife of Sir Richard Branson, has died aged 80.
The 75-year-old Sir Richard posted an emotional tribute to Joan as the “most wonderful mum and grandmum” on Instagram. Branson said he “fell in love from the first moment” he saw her in 1976, as she was “unlike any woman I had ever met” and set about wooing her.
In 1970 the then Joan Templeman married Ronald P. Leahy but the couple divorced in 1978.
She then married Branson in 1989 on his Necker Island in the Caribbean – which he later revealed he only bought to impress her.
"Heartbroken to share that Joan, my wife and partner for 50 years, has passed away," Branson wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of Templeman. "She was the most wonderful mum and grandmum our kids and grandkids could have ever wished for."
Richard Branson and Templeman met in February 1976 at The Manor, a live-in recording studio built for Virgin Records. The couple married 20 December, 1989 and had issue, a daughter Holly (born 1981), wife of Frederick Andrewes, and a son Sam Edward C. Branson (born 1985), who is married to Isabella Amaryllys Charlotte Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe (b 1980), scion of the Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe Baronets, daughter of John Austen Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe (b 1947), by his former wife the former Lady Mary-Gaye Georgiana Lorna Curzon (b 21 Feb 1947), scion of the Earls Howe.
Branson's relationship with Templeman even inspired his music ventures. The British businessman was inspired to name the pop music compilation series "Now That's What I Call Music!" after an advertisement for Danish bacon that Branson spotted while spending time at the antiques shop Templeman worked at.
"She was my best friend, my rock, my guiding light, my world," Branson concluded. "Love you forever, Joan x"
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