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Elderly Couple With Combined Age Of 195 Set To Become World's Oldest Newlyweds

Loved-up George and partner Doreen Luckie, 91, have been together for 27 years

George Kirby, 103 and his fiance Doreen Luckie, 91 pictured in March. (SWNS)
George Kirby, 103 and his fiance Doreen Luckie, 91 pictured in March. (SWNS)


Centenarian George Kirby has proved you're never too old to find a new soulmate - by tiring the knot aged 103.

Loved-up George and partner Doreen Luckie, 91, are set to become the world's oldest newlyweds with a combined age of nearly 195.

George and Doreen, who first met 27 years ago, 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 have 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 live 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.

The couple quickly became an item and set up home together in 1990, but George only proposed to her on this February 14.

Former boxer George, who won 60 of his 60 bouts. (SWNS)
Former boxer George, who won 60 of his 60 bouts. (SWNS)


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.

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.

George Kirby, front row, centre during his time in the RAF. (SWNS)
George Kirby, front row, centre during his time in the RAF. (SWNS)


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.

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.