This Valentine’s Day we’re celebrating a clutch of unforgettable couples, from history to the present day
WORDS: ALI HENDERSON
Antony and Cleopatra
She sailed into Rome in a riot of colour and stole his heart. The beautiful, cultured Cleopatra was the richest woman in the Mediterranean and soon the strikingly handsome politician and soldier Antony would be accused of losing his prowess in battle after losing his head to her. Wily Cleopatra faked her own death when Antony’s popularity waned but was distraught when he committed suicide, taking poison herself.
Edward and Mrs Simpson
The future king met Wallis Simpson at a dinner party she attended with second husband Ernest and before long there were whispers of romance. He denied them but invited her to Buckingham Palace and Ascot. Soon after Edward took the throne Wallis filed for divorce. The new king told his mother and the prime minister that he simply could not rule without her by his side. He proposed with a Cartier emerald ring before his abdication and her divorce were even finalised. They married and lived in Paris until his death.
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor
“When you are in love and lust like that,” she reflected, “you just grab it with both hands and ride out the storm.”
They became infatuated with each other on the set of the Antony And Cleopatra movie. There were ons and offs, marriages, divorces, heated arguments, reconciliations and lots of scandals.
“She was, in short, too bloody much,” he said.
He wrote her many love letters, the last allegedly three days before his death. Elizabeth apparently kept that letter by her bedside and asked to be buried with it.
William and Kate
The Prince and Princess of Wales became firm friends while studying Art History at St Andrews University, becoming housemates before romance blossomed. When she walked down the catwalk at a charity fashion show in a famously sheer dress, smitten William remarked to friend Fergus, “Wow, Kate’s hot!” There was a brief split when they left the cocoon of university life but following various photos of Kate partying in London, were soon reconciled. He proposed with his mother’s ring in a wildlife reserve in Kenya, and the rest is history.
As Kate recovers from abdominal surgery, and William c
