The Virgin founder posted the image on Instagram on November 15, showing the couple dressed for an evening out, champagne in hand.
In the image, Richard kissed his wife on the head and captioned the post: “Everyone needs a Joan in their life.”
At the time, followers filled the comments with affection: “I agree,” wrote one, while another called Joan “the best.”
The photo takes on new meaning after he announced on Tuesday that Joan had died, paying tribute to his partner of five decades as “my best friend, my rock, my guiding light, my world”.
Their long relationship began in 1976, when Branson first saw Joan in the kitchen of Virgin’s residential recording studio, The Manor.
In a 2020 anniversary letter, he recalled falling for her almost instantly: “I often make up my mind about someone within 30 seconds of meetings them, and I fell for Joan almost from the moment I saw her.
“Joan was a down-to-earth Scottish lady and I quickly realised she wouldn’t be impressed by my usual antics.”
Richard previously said in 2016 that the woman he saw in the studio “was unlike any other women I had ever met”.
He continued: “She was beautiful. She was bright. She was witty. She was down to earth. She was fun. And she had eyes made of magic.”
The Virgin Group founder said his wife Joan was his ‘best friend’ and ‘guiding light’ (PA)
Today’s News in 90 Seconds – Wednesday, November 26
Joan worked at a bric-a-brac shop in Westbourne Grove at the time and Richard set about trying to win her over with hesitant visits and an ever-growing collection of vintage tin signs he pretended to be interested in.
“The feeling wasn’t immediately reciprocated. I had to work hard for her attention, and ultimately affection,” he wrote.
One of those signs — a poster showing a pig licking its lips at a chicken alongside the line “Now That’s What I Call Music” — inadvertently inspired the name of Virgin’s now-iconic compilation album series.
Born in Glasgow in 1945, Joan Templeman grew up in a working-class family and held a number of jobs, including running an antique shop.
She married musician Ronnie Leahy before the couple divorced in 1978.
Throughout Richard’s ascent from record-label upstart to global business figure, Joan remained a constant, steadying presence — a role he repeatedly acknowledged publicly.
On her 80th birthday in July he thanked her for standing beside him through “the highs, the lows, and all those quiet, content and peaceful moments in-between”.
The couple married on Necker Island in 1989 and celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary ten years ago.
The couple shared three children — Holly, Sam and the late Clare, who tragically died shortly after birth — and multiple grandchildren.
Richard has long said that family has been the constant that shaped his life, and on Tuesday he told followers he would “forever cherish every moment” spent with Joan.