Ernest and Dolly celebrate alongside William and Kate

The nation will watch this morning as William and Kate tie the knot but if they do as well in marriage as Ernest and Frederica ‘Dolly’ Lockyear, then they’ll know they made the right choice.

Ernest and Dolly have known each other since 1931, but their own wedding day was on April 29 1939 when the girl from the country walked up the aisle towards her own Clark Gable at the start of a union that would last all their lives.

They met when Ernest, Cockney born and London through and through, went for a two-week stay with the Scouts on the farm where Dolly grew up.

She was 14 and he was 15 and, though she admired his knees enough to wave goodbye at the end of the fortnight, she must have been surprised to see him pop up the next day having cycled 30 miles down from Tottenham.

Ernest said: “I used to come down every weekend to see her - her father used to call me ‘Friday’.

“We have been together ever since - nearly 80 years.

“Her father would not let us get married straight off because I was only earning 10/6 a week. Then when we did get married I was earning £3.18s.0d a week at the sewing machine company Wilcox and Gibbs.”