LONDON (Web Desk)- A British couple tying the knot are to break two records as they become the oldest ever newlyweds, with a combined age of 195, and the UK’s most elderly groom at 103.
Loved-up George Kirby will tie the knot with 91-year-old Doreen Luckie – his girlfriend of 27 years.
With a combined age of 195, the pair will become one of the oldest known married couples in history.
George and Doreen, who have been “living in sin” since 1988, have finally decided to make their union official by giving into pressure from their elderly children.
George, currently 102, proposed on Valentine’s Day and will marry for the third time on June 13 – getting hitched to Doreen in front of 60 guests.
Between them the pair has had seven children, 15 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
George said: “I suppose it’s about time, really. I definitely don’t feel my age. Doreen keeps me young.
“I didn’t get down on one knee, because I don’t think I would have been able to get back up.”
Doreen added: “I won’t be much of a blushing bride, but I’m getting a bit giddy thinking about it.”
On their wedding day, the pair will have a combined age of 194 years and 281 days – smashing the previous world record of 188 years set by a couple in 2013.
The pair, who now lives in a hotel in Eastbourne, East Sussex, started courting in the 1988, when they met through an organisation to find friends for mature people.
George, then 76, had just got divorced while Doreen, who lived in Staplehurst, Kent, had sadly become a widow three years earlier following 36 years of marriage.
She said: “He used to come to my house. We got on straight away. He liked the roses in my front garden.”
The couple quickly became an item and set up home together in 1990, but George only proposed to her on this February 14.
George said: “We were having dinner and I asked Doreen if she wanted to be married to me for a short time. I was so happy that she said yes.”
The pair will get married at the Langham Hotel, owned by George’s son Neil, where they have lived since 2013.
Neil, 63, who will be best man, said: “We’ve adopted Doreen as our mum and we’re delighted that she’s going to become a Kirby.
“She’s a Luckie now, so we hope it’s not going to be unlucky. But we’re thrilled that they are going to get married in front of all their proud friends and family.
“Also, it’s about time my dad has finally made an honest woman out of her.”
George was born in London in June 1912 and joined the RAF as a physical education instructor in 1933, where he stayed for 25 years.
He was a passionate and talented boxer, winning every single one of the 60 fights he entered during his life.
In 2009, he was guest of honour at the Army London Regiment at a dinner and charity boxing match in London.
After leaving the RAF in 1958, George did a string of jobs, including restaurant manager, chauffeur and gardener.
He finally gave up work, and lifting dumbbells, at the age of 94, although continued to tend Doreen’s garden in Kent.
Doreen was born in Brixton in September 1923 and spent much of her career as a shorthand typist for the Director of Public Prosecutions at Temple, where she had to type out documents and transcripts of court cases including those of the Kray twins and Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley.
Sprightly Doreen keeps herself in shape by doing yoga classes on the seafront every week.
Neil added: “At their age, there’s nothing that they want materially and so they would like to raise as much money as they can for their chosen charities.”
Instead of wedding presents, the pair would like to raise as much money as they can for their chosen charities – the Royal Air Forces Association and the Women’s Royal Naval Service Benevolent Trust.
