Linda and Paul spent less than a week apart in 29 years

PAUL McCARTNEY married the American photographer Linda Eastman on March 12, 1969, who at the time was four months pregnant with their first child.

The devoted couple were barely pictured apart and McCartney often stated they spent less than a week away from each other during their entire 29-year marriage.

McCartney said Linda was the woman who, "gave me the strength and courage to work again," after the break-up of The Beatles.

McCartney - who adopted Linda's daughter Heather from her first marriage, and the couple had three children, Mary, Stella and James - taught his wife the keyboard and included her in the line-up of his band Wings.

Linda also launched a vegetarian food range under her name. She died of breast cancer in 1998.

Heather Mills and McCartney met at a charity event in 1999 and the couple were married in June 2002 in Castle Leslie in Co Monaghan.

She took the name Heather Mills-McCartney, and the marriage started well -- she went on every tour with McCartney and in October 2003 gave birth to Beatrice Milly McCartney.

But the former model and anti-landmines campaigner, who lost her left leg below the knee when she was hit by a police motorcycle in 1993 and later became a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations, faced heavy media scrutiny when the marriage broke down, leading to a public and ugly divorce.

Mills, who initially sought £125m (¤144m) from McCartney, was awarded £24.3m (¤28m) in a settlement in 2008.

The judge in the case famously branded Mills "devoid of reality," adding she was "inconsistent, inaccurate and less than candid" while her former husband was "honest".