Richard Branson ‘heartbroken’ as his wife dies aged 80

Billionaire Richard Branson and his wife, Joan Templeman, at a 2016 pre-Grammy gala. Photo by KEVORK DJANSEZIAN /GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

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London (AFP) — British entrepreneur Richard Branson paid tribute Wednesday to his wife Joan Templeman shortly after announcing her death, saying “life will never be the same without her.”

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The founder of the Virgin Group had revealed Templeman’s death, aged 80, in an Instagram post late Tuesday, saying he was “heartbroken.”

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He did not say what had caused her passing, but noted in a subsequent blog post that she had recently been recovering from a back injury in hospital in England.

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Eulogising their decades-long relationship, Branson said they had enjoyed “fifty incredible years of memories.”

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“Years filled with tears and laughter, kindness, and a love that shaped our family more than words could ever capture,” he added in the message, shared on his Virgin Group’s website.

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“It was a relationship that worked. We just had lots of laughs. We were very lucky.”

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Branson said the family — which includes their two adult children, Holly and Sam, and several grandchildren — were “devastated” at the loss.

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The couple first met in London in 1976, with the tycoon previously saying he had fallen in love with Templeman at first sight.

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They married 13 years later, on the private Necker Island in the Caribbean, which Branson had bought in the late 1970s for $180,000 and where they have lived for decades.

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Templeman avidly avoided the public spotlight, with Branson describing her as a “down-to-earth Scottish lady” and “very private person” who almost never gave interviews.

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In his post Wednesday, he said she “lived so fully and joyfully, always thinking of others, always lifting everyone else up.”

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