Peterborough couple to celebrate 70th wedding anniversary with card from King Charles

A couple from Peterborough will be marking 70 happy years of marriage together this weekend – with a little help from The King.

Dennis and Dolly Brittle, from Westwood, are planning to celebrate their platinum anniversary with family and friends at The Wine Bar in Stamford.

As well as a bakery buffet and some home-cooked treats, the couple will receive a special card featuring a personal message from His Majesty The King on April 22.

The noteworthy sentiment has been organised by the pair’s thoughtful son, Colin, who also arranged for the couple to receive similar cards on their 60th and 65th anniversaries.

“They have had two previous cards from the late Queen,” Colin explained.

With the new monarch still to be crowned, Colin believes an anniversary card from Charles III is something truly special: “this has got to be one of the earliest cards from the actual King,” he said.

Dennis and Dolly were married in 1953 when they were both living in King’s Cross in London.

“They were both very young,” Colin told the Peterborough Telegraph, “My dad was a soldier and my mum was a tailoress.”

It was clear, Colin explained, that the young Dennis and Dolly were destined to be together.

“My mum fancied my dad and my dad fancied my mum,” he added.

“They’ve had no other partners between them at all - a remarkable story these days.”

The young couple left Kings Cross and moved to Huntingdon when Colin was just a baby.

Ten years later they settled in Peterborough, where they have lived happily together for over 50 years.

Both in their 80s now, Dolly and Dennis have been blessed with two sons, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

“They’ve been very happily married,” Colin noted proudly.

So what does the 63-year-old – who lives in Ravensthorpe and works as a fork-truck driver for a local printing company – believe is the secret to his parents’ marital success?

“My dad does as he’s told,” he said, wryly.

Anyone who knows Dennis and Dolly is “more than welcome”, Colin said, to come and join in the celebrations at The Wine Bar in Stamford.