‘I’VE JUST WED MY FIRST LOVE... AT 65’

Amanda Richardson, 65, of Brentwood, Essex – who married her teenage boyfriend, John, last

week – says:

When John suggested meeting up, I thought: “Oh no! What if we don’t like each other?” It was 2014, we were both twicedivorced, and had only crossed paths once since 1974.

We met that year when I was a windowdresser at Selfridges, and he worked in the basement. I was 18 and he was 17. John’s best friend fancied mine, and so we went on doubledates. He was my first kiss. I wouldn’t say there were any earth-shattering violins, but he was handsome and had a mullet.

I’m from a Jewish family, and when my father found out, he banned me from seeing John. (I did marry a Jewish boy when I was 23, though my second husband wasn’t).

Over the years, I’d think about John, but I didn’t see him until he contacted me, in about 2003, on Friends Reunited. A crowd of us went out for drinks, so there wasn’t much chance to talk.

I was just out of a spectacular divorce when John got in touch again at Christmas 2014, and suggested a drink. The attraction was still there and we kissed. In August, John moved in.

Relationships are so much better at this age. It’s not all about jangling hormones; the sexual attraction is still there, but companionship is as important.

I was reluctant to formalise our relationship because I had lost property in my divorces and wanted to safeguard my children’s inheritance. John understood this, and offered to sign a prenup.

He proposed at a bistro in Stratford-uponavon in September 2019. Having changed the date four times because of the pandemic, we married last Thursday.

There was no need to do it, but we wanted our family – including 10 grandchildren – to celebrate with us. I’ve remarried because I want to spend the rest of my life with someone, not because I need to.

As told to Miranda Levy