Prunella Scales and Timothy West had one huge regret about their 61-year marriage

Prunella Scales and Timothy West had one huge regret about their 61-year marriage. (Image: Getty)

Prunella Scales and her late husband, Timothy West, enjoyed 61 years of marriage before his death earlier this month at the age of 90. The actors got married at Chelsea Registry Office in 1963 but had a huge regret about their special day.

Writing in his biography, Pru and Me: A Love Story, Timothy recalled that Prunella said to him in 2003: “You know we’ve always regretted not being able to get married in a church.

“Well, why don’t we have a blessing in a church? Not the whole ceremony, of course – just the vows.”

Timothy wrote that he knew Prunella’s suggestion was something she had “probably been considering it for quite some time” so he gave it his “full and wholehearted support”.

They were staying just outside Chichester at the time with a friend, the now late Canon John Hester. He offered to officiate the ceremony himself at his local village church, St Andrew’s in Oving, West Sussex.

Timothy West and Prunella Scales got married in 1963. (Image: Getty)

There were only a few guests, including their sons Samuel and Joseph and Timothy’s daughter Juliet, whom he shared with his first wife, Jacqueline Boyer.

Prunella wore a white trouser suit and Timothy said she looked “effortlessly stylish and incredibly beautiful”.

Timothy will be remembered for his unfailing commitment to Prunella, particularly following her Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

When her illness was announced in 2014, Timothy told Piers Morgan’s Life Stories: “The sad thing is that you just watch the gradual disappearance of the person that you knew and loved and were very close to.

"When we've been to a concert, or a play, or a film, there's nothing very much we can say about it afterwards because Pru will have a fairly hazy memory."

Timothy West and Prunella Scales were blissfully happy together for more than 60 years. (Image: Getty)

Last year, he told Saga Exceptional that he missed his wife's companionship as she continued to live with dementia.

He said: "Now that her condition has worsened, I miss Pru's companionship as my best friend."

West said that "a lot of time" was spent reassuring his wife about where she is. He added: "Pru doesn't have much awareness of time so when she joins me in the living room, her face lights up as if we've been apart for days.

"The look on her face makes me realise how much I love her."

Timothy died earlier this month aged 90. (Image: Getty)

His death was announced on November 12 in a statement from his children. They said: “After a long and extraordinary life on and off the stage, our darling father Timothy West died peacefully in his sleep yesterday evening. He was 90-years old.

"Tim was with friends and family at the end.

"He leaves his wife Prunella Scales, to whom he was married for 61 years, a sister, a daughter, two sons, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. All of us will miss him terribly."