{"id":306738,"date":"2025-11-25T21:36:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T21:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/306738\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T21:36:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T21:36:10","slug":"heartbroken-richard-branson-announces-wifes-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/306738\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Heartbroken\u2019 Richard Branson announces wife\u2019s death"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sir Richard Branson<\/a>\u2019s wife of 50 years has died aged 80.<\/p>\n

Announcing her death on social media, the Virgin founder, 75, said he was \u201cheartbroken to share\u201d the news of Lady Branson\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cShe was the most wonderful mum and grandmum our kids and grandkids could have ever wished for.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was my best friend, my rock, my guiding light, my world. Love you forever, Joan x.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sir Richard and Lady Branson met in 1976 in the bric-a-brac shop she worked at in Westbourne Grove, London. The business tycoon said he \u201cfell in love\u201d with her at first sight.<\/p>\n

They married in 1989 at Branson\u2019s Necker Island, his 74-acre private island in the British Virgin Islands.<\/p>\n

\"Sir<\/p>\n

Sir Richard and Lady Branson, with their children Holly and Sam, on their wedding day in 1989 on Necker Island<\/p>\n

They have two children together, Holly Branson, 44, and Sam Branson, 40. They also had a third child, Clare Sarah, who died four days after birth after being three months premature.<\/p>\n

Lady Branson was described as the \u201cmost amazing mother\u201d to her children and a \u201cperfect grandmother\u201d to her five grandchildren, Etta, Artie, Lola, Eva-Deia and Bluey.<\/p>\n

Lady Branson, born Joan Templeman in Glasgow in 1948, celebrated her 80th birthday in the summer.<\/p>\n

\"Lady<\/p>\n

Lady Branson was described as the \u2018most amazing mother\u2019 to her children<\/p>\n

Paying tribute to her on social media at the time, Sir Richard said: \u201cThank you for being by my side through it all \u2013 the highs, the lows, and all those quiet, content and peaceful moments in between.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the moments I cherish most with you, I love you more and more each year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple were due to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in February. In 2016, while celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary, Sir Richard penned a love letter to his wife.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The couple met in 1976 and were married for almost 50 years<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI experienced love at first sight upon meeting a blonde-haired, down to earth, Scottish beauty named Joan, who just happened to be making a cup of tea.<\/p>\n

\u201cI generally make up my mind about someone within 30 seconds of meeting them, and Joan won my heart instantly. She was unlike any other woman I had ever met.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was beautiful. She was bright. She was witty. She was down to earth. She was fun. And she had eyes made of magic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Try full access to The Telegraph free today. Unlock their award-winning website and essential news app, plus useful tools and expert guides for your money, health and holidays.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sir Richard Branson\u2019s wife of 50 years has died aged 80. Announcing her death on social media, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306739,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,75,137367,137370,137368,137371,137369,137366,137365],"class_list":{"0":"post-306738","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-holly-branson","13":"tag-joan-templeman","14":"tag-lady-branson","15":"tag-necker-island","16":"tag-sam-branson","17":"tag-sir-richard","18":"tag-sir-richard-branson"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}