Sir Richard Branson has paid tribute to his wife on what would have been their 36th wedding anniversary following her death aged 80 last month.
In a touching post on Instagram, the Virgin boss wrote: ‘Today marks mine and Joan’s wedding anniversary.
‘I still remember mine and Joan’s wedding like it was yesterday.
‘I’m not sure what I was whispering into her ear when these photos were taken on her 80th birthday this year, but I’m glad it made her smile!’
Sir Richard was with Lady Joan for 50 years and shares two children with her, Holly and Sam.
In the poignant tribute, Sir Richard also noted that the date marked when their daughter, Holly, also married her husband, Freddie Andrewes, as well as the birth of their twins Etta and Artie – his and Joan’s grandchildren.
The series of photos shared of the couple laughing together were taken just months before Joan sadly died last month.
Sir Richard described her as a ‘wonderful mum and grandmum’ and his ‘best friend’ when he announced her death on November 25.
Sir Richard Branson paid tribute to his wife Joan on their 36th wedding anniversary today following her death aged 80 last month
He wrote: ‘I’m not sure what I was whispering into her ear when these photos were taken on her 80th birthday this year, but I’m glad it made her smile!’
He wrote: ‘Heartbroken to share that Joan, my wife and partner for 50 years, has passed away.
‘She was the most wonderful mum and grandmum our kids and grandkids could have ever wished for.
‘She was my best friend, my rock, my guiding light, my world. Love you forever, Joan x.’
Lady Joan, who shares two children with Sir Richard, has long been credited as the billionaire’s ‘rock’ and ‘source of wisdom’.
Lady Joan was thought to be in good health when she celebrated her 80th birthday this summer, with Sir Richard paying tribute to her on his social media.
‘Thank you for being by my side through it all – the highs, the lows, and all those quiet, content and peaceful moments in between. These are the moments I cherish most with you, I love you more and more each year,’ he wrote on Facebook in July.
The couple had been looking forward to celebrating their 50th anniversary in just a few months on February 7.
They met in 1976 at The Manor, a live-in recording studio for Virgin Records, where the business magnate said he ‘fell in love’ with her at first sight.
The earliest picture of Richard and Joan. Lady Joan, who shares two children with Sir Richard, has long been credited as the billionaire’s ‘rock’
The pair pictured on their wedding day in 1989 with their children, Holly and Sam
He has previously revealed how he was taken in by the ‘beautiful, witty, down-to-earth’ woman when she visited the studio in West London.
After finding out that she worked nearby, he recalls how he set about wooing her.
In a 2015 blog celebrating her 70th birthday, Sir Richard said: ‘I fell in love with her from the first moment I saw her, while she worked in a bric-a-brac shop in Westbourne Grove, in London.
‘A blonde-haired, down to earth, Scottish beauty who didn’t suffer fools, Joan was unlike any other women I had ever met.
‘To win her heart, I had to persistently hang around the shop and buy countless objects before we started courting….’
He signed off the blog: ‘As the saying goes, behind every man there’s a great woman.
‘Joan you are the greatest woman of all. Happy birthday and thank you for choosing to come on this adventure with me.’
In a later blog in 2020, marking their wedding anniversary, he added: ‘Far beyond record titles, I owe a lot to Joan….Joan has always been a steady source of wisdom and has played no small part in some of my better life decisions.’
The pair were wed 14 years after first meeting in 1989 on Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands when their two children, Holly and Sam, were eight and four.
Lady Joan was from the beginning, despite her husband’s fame, a very private person, keen to avoid the public eye and rarely gave an interview.
She was described as the ‘most amazing mother’ to her children as well as the ‘perfect grandmother’ to her five grandchildren, Etta, Artie, Lola, Eva-Deia and Bluey Rafe Richard.
Born Joan Templman in Glasgow, Scotland in 1945, she had hailed from humble beginnings with her father working as a ship carpenter to support her and her six siblings.
