Young Girl Is Forbidden to Marry Her First Love — He Refuses to Give Up & Finds Her 52 Years Later
A couple got their happily-ever-after six decades after the woman’s parents broke off their engagement. Life found a way to bring them back together, and now they’re finally married as they had originally planned.
We see and hear stories of forbidden love in Hollywood movies like “Romeo and Juliet” and songs like Taylor Swift’s “Love Story.” Forbidden love is such a common theme in music and movies for one simple reason: many people can relate to it.
For one couple, their forbidden love tore them apart, but after several decades, they found themselves in each other’s arms again
Meeting as Teenagers
Len Allbrighton and Jeanette Steer were once engaged in 1963 when Jeanette was only 18 and Len was 19. They met while working as trainee nurses in the United Kingdom, then fell in love and made plans to start a life together in Australia after getting married.
Back then, the United Kingdom’s legal age for marriage was 21, and since both were teenagers, they needed their parents to sign off on the union. Unfortunately, Jeanette’s parents refused to give them their blessing
Len Moved to Australia
Ambitious and full of dreams, Len decided to pursue their original plan of moving to Australia. He was simply not happy in the United Kingdom, and he hoped to live a different life down under.
The plan was to wait for Jeanette in Australia. She hoped to move there shortly after Len did, but this never happened.
Jeanette’s parents were against the move, and Len was left alone miles away. They never got to see each other again, and the last thing Len received from Jeanette was a letter ending their engagement.
They Moved On with Different Partners
Len was heartbroken. He had already envisioned their life together in Australia and had even purchased a plot of land where they could one day build their home.
Instead, they lost touch and went on to have different lovers. Len fell in love with another woman and built a home for the two of them on the lot he intended for him and Jeanette. He went on to have a happy life with his wife and three children.
Meanwhile, Jeanette never got to leave the Isle of Wight, the same town where she and Len met. She married a naval officer and had two kids with him
Their Reunion
In 2015, Len’s marriage ended, and he decided to move back to England and look up his first love to see if she remembered him at all.
He searched for Jeanette’s address at the local library and when he found it, he went to see her. At first, he just stood outside her home, hoping he could catch a glimpse of her.
When Jeanette finally came out to see what he needed, she didn’t recognize him immediately, as he had a beard. He used to be clean-shaven when they were together.
Admitting Her True Reaction
At the time, Jeanette was faithfully loyal to her first husband and they were still happily married. Despite this, she couldn’t deny the fact that she was taken by surprise that, somehow, Len found her.
“I nearly died when I realized it was him standing by my garden fence. I was glad he looked me up – I thought about him a lot at the time,” she admitted later on.
However, at that moment, Jeanette asked Len to leave and then told her husband he was just a stranger asking for directions.
Rekindling their Love
Len thought that was the last time he would ever see Jeanette. However, when her husband died of cancer two years later, she decided to contact her first love.
Thanks to a Christmas card he sent her the previous year, Jeanette was able to find Len through his address. Since then, there was no turning back for the couple, and they eventually moved in together.
In 2022, Len asked for Jeanette’s hand in marriage for the second time. This time around, they needed no permission from anyone, and their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren gave their full support.
On February 11, 2023, 60 years since their first engagement, Len and Jeanette wed in a simple ceremony. They finally got their happily ever after, and life couldn’t be better
