78-year-old Victor Fletcher recovers from stroke in time to marry just a month later

Victor Fletcher, of Brockley Close, showed that Prince William and Kate Middleton are not the only ones in love when he tied the not with wife Diane on April 5.

But exactly a month before he said “I do” he was hit by a stroke that left him unable to speak.

He said: “I found it quite terrifying when I couldn't speak, it was really a scary situation. Once I could get that back and begin to recover and feel normal I was relieved that it was over.”

He says he owes a massive gratitude to the staff on the specialist stroke unit at Northwick Park Hospital, in Watford Road, for helping him recover in days, with plenty of time left to prepare for the wedding.

He married his first wife Amira in 1963 but says since she passed away he has always wanted to live with someone and felt she would not have minded.

He said: “I have no doubts that it's better to be waking up with Diane than waking up without her. There's no doubt at all – it's much better.”

They met playing bridge but initially he did not know how to contact her and gave a card to her friend saying he wanted to meet her.

He had to wait for a window in her busy schedule but eventually they met again and before long they were taking a romantic walk along the river at Sarratt, near Rickmansworth.

It was three years before they decided to get married.