Carmelo and Josephine Magri, aged 93 and 87, celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary yesterday.

Their family threw a small party for them in Mr Magri’s room at San Vinċenz home for the elderly.

The couple met on the Sliema seafront, where she used to go swimming with her family and he worked as a barman.

“He used to try and talk to me but my grandfather would chase him away,” Mrs Magri laughs. She was only 13 at the time.

The teenage sweethearts eventually tied the knot in 1941, at the height of World War II. “Unfortunately we couldn’t go on honeymoon because of the war so we stayed at his parents’ house instead.”

Family members describe the “special” love that exists between the two. Although they live in separate wards at the home, they still meet three or four times a week and Mr Magri, who can barely walk, gets anxious even if Mrs Magri is only a minute late.