‘Everyone needs a Joan in their life’: As she dies aged 80, how a ship carpenter’s daughter from Glasgow became Lady Branson, her besotted billionaire husband Sir Richard’s ‘constant rock’
Joan Branson, who died on Tuesday aged 80, was a supportive ‘rock’ to her billionaire husband Sir Richard throughout their 49-year relationship, not only in their personal lives but also in their Virgin business ventures.
Just this month, days before his beloved wife’s death, the businessman posted a photo showing himself kissing her head and said: ‘Everyone needs a Joan in their life.’
And what Sir Richard had was the ‘beautiful, witty, down-to-earth’ Scottish woman from the days when Virgin Records was a sapling with only a few clients.
The pair met at The Manor, the company’s live recording studio, in 1976, three years after Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells introduced Virgin to the public, eventually selling nearly 15 million copies worldwide.
Still, the industry remained a safe haven for niche progressive rock bands, not branching out into more mainstream genres until jumping on the punk bandwagon with the signing of the Sex Pistols the following year.
If Virgin’s world remained stable, Sir Richard’s was turned upside down; The businessman later admitted that he ‘fell in love’ the moment he saw Joan making a cup of tea in the studio.
After discovering that she worked in a ‘pet store’ in nearby Westbourne Grove, he began courting her, demonstrating the same relentless persistence he had shown during his fifty years in business.
In a blog celebrating his 70th birthday in 2015, Sir Richard said: ‘Joan, the blonde-haired, down-to-earth, no-fools Scottish beauty, was like no woman I’d ever met.
Joan Branson was filmed with Sir Richard in 1991. She died on Tuesday, aged 80, after acting as a supportive ‘rock’ for her billionaire husband throughout their 49-year relationship.
The first picture of Sir Richard and Joan. They met in 1976 at The Manor, the company’s live recording studio.
‘To win her heart, I had to persistently wander around the shop and buy countless objects before I started courting her.’
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From the beginning, despite her husband’s fame, she remained a very private person, trying to stay out of the public eye and rarely giving interviews.
Sir Richard would quit his job to win her affections and spend a small fortune in his shop before they became a thing.
The transport contained numerous trinkets, including a ‘Now, that’s what I call music’ sign that would later inspire the label’s best-selling compilation records.
It is said that Sir Richard was trying to come up with a name for the special records when he looked at his wall and noticed the slogan, at which point he knew he had struck gold.
In a 2020 blog post, he wrote: ‘I usually make up my mind about someone within 30 seconds of meeting them, and I fell in love with Joan almost from the moment I saw her.
‘Over the next few weeks, my visits to Joan left me with an impressive collection of old hand-painted tin signs advertising everything from Hovis bread to Woodbine cigarettes.’
The couple took a photo with their daughter Holly. He set out to court her after discovering she worked in a ‘pet store’ in nearby Westbourne Grove.
The couple was photographed with their children Holly and Sam on their wedding day on Necker Island in 1989.
From the beginning, despite her husband’s fame, she remained a very private person, seeking to avoid the public eye and rarely giving interviews (image: Joan and Holly)
The mogul revealed that he only bought Necker Island to surprise Joan after she managed to get an all-expenses-paid trip to see the idyllic retreat in the late ’70s.
This was just the beginning. When their affair began later that year, Sir Richard’s quest to impress his Scottish lover led him to purchase an entire island.
The mogul revealed that he only bought Necker Island to surprise Joan after she managed an all-expenses-paid trip to see the idyllic retreat in the late ’70s.
If the couple were flown in by helicopter and given a red carpet welcome, they would be ‘hitchhiked’ back to England after Sir Richard’s paltry offer of $100,000 was quickly rejected.
Sir Richard’s persistence paid off in every sense; A year later, after ‘begging and borrowing’, he offered $180,000 and the island was his.
He married Joan there 11 years later and the island is now thought to be worth hundreds of millions.
The couple married in 1989, when their two children, Holly and Sam, were eight and four.
The couple had five grandchildren: Artie, Etta (Holly’s children) and Lola, born to Holly and her husband Fred, and Eva-Deia and Bluey Rafe Richard, born to Sam and her husband Isabella.
Joan remained by Sir Richard’s side as Virgin transformed from an up-and-coming record label into one of Britain’s most successful multinational conglomerates.
Sir Richard often praises her as a ‘rock’ and ‘source of wisdom’ (pictured: couple in 2013)
Sir Richard photographed with Lady Joan and their daughter Holly in 2003
Joan remained by Sir Richard’s side as Virgin transformed from an up-and-coming record label into one of Britain’s most successful multinational conglomerates.
Marking the 45th anniversary of their meeting in West London in 2020, he said: ‘I owe so much to Joan, way beyond record.’
And this is not just a coincidence; The billionaire often praises his wife for both her business acumen and supportive qualities as a wife.
Indeed, Sir Richard often praises him as a ‘rock’ and ‘source of wisdom’.
Celebrating the 45th anniversary of their meeting in West London in 2020, he said: ‘Far beyond the record names, I owe so much to Joan… Joan has always been a steady source of wisdom and has played no small part in some of my better life decisions.’
She said in 2015: ‘As the saying goes, behind every man there is a great woman.
‘Joan, you are the most wonderful woman ever. Happy birthday and thank you for choosing to go on this adventure with me.’
In his emotional farewell post on Tuesday, Sir Richard summed up Joan’s vital impact on both sides of his life: ‘I am heartbroken to share that Joan, my wife and partner of 50 years, has passed away.
‘She was the most wonderful mother and grandmother our children and grandchildren could ever ask for.
‘He was my best friend, my rock, my guiding light, my world. I will love you forever Joan x’
