Richard Branson has remembered his late wife Joan Templeman as the “shining star” around which the Branson “family’s universe has always orbited.”

In a pair of posts on Instagram, Branson, the British businessman who founded the Virgin Group and launched scores of recording careers through his labels Virgin Records and V2, said he was “devastated” at the death of Templeman, aged 80.

“Heartbroken to share that Joan, my wife and partner for 50 years, has passed away,” he writes. “She was the most wonderful mum and grandmum our kids and grandkids could have ever wished for. She was my best friend, my rock, my guiding light, my world. Love you forever, Joan.”

The pair married on Necker island in 1989, owned by Branson, and had three children three children — Holly, Sam, and Clare Sarah, who

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