Valentine dinner falls flat for rom- com king

Richard curtis may have been hailed as the king of rom-com, but his own romantic life is less rose-tinted.

Not only has the Love actually director failed to get engaged to Emma Freud, his long-term partner of 27 years, but he no longer celebrates Valentine’s day by dining out with her.

this follows an ill-fated restaurant date some 20 years ago.

Mother- of-four Emma teasingly recalls: ‘My current boyfriend and i had as usual booked nowhere, and we ended up begging a grumpy concierge for a table at a frighteningly posh London restaurant, with dozens of couples sitting in long lines of tables for two, eating from a set menu like stepford husband and wives.

‘Just after the petal-strewn starter, a single-rose-in-cellophane supplier entered — the sour cherry on the cake of the doomed romantic night.

‘he dispensed flowers to each of the women whose partners had remembered to order one. My partner hadn’t. so we sat for the rest of the overpriced, overlong meal feeling like overstuffed, unromantic, pennypinching strangers.

‘that was the last time we ate in a restaurant on February 14.’