Rod Stewart is smitten with Penny Lancaster amid star-studded date night

Rod Stewart and his wife of 18 years, Penny Lancaster, looked so loved-up they attended the premiere of Finding Harmony: A King’s Vision at Windsor Castle on Wednesday night. 

The pair were there to support King Charles, the subject of the documentary, who arrived at the event with his wife, Queen Camilla. A host of A-listers like Kate Winslet, Benedict Cumberbatch and Stanley Tucci were also in attendance on the night. 

Penny was glowing in a pink and brown floral gown with ruffles cascading down to the hemline. The former model added a long black shawl, red heels, dainty silver jewelry and a black purse to complete the look, and wore her long blonde hair in tight curls down her back. 

Her husband looked dapper in a white lace shirt and black tailcoat blazer with black pinstripe pants and a black bow tie. He added a large cross necklace and black dress shoes to round out the look, and watched with pride as Penny stunned the crowd. 

Rod, 81, and Penny, 54, have been together for more than two decades, and first met backstage at one of his shows in 1999 after her friend dared her to get his autograph. She then gave her number to the rocker, yet he gave it away to his bandmate Carmine Appice instead, as he had just split from his third wife, Rachel Hunter. 

“Carmine had kept that telephone number away from him,” Penny recalled on BBC’s Anita Rani’s My Life At Christmas. “He said, ‘You are going to go a bit crazy over the summer and let your hair down, and Penny seems like a nice girl.'” 

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“He was an absolute gentleman…he kept her telephone away from me,” Rod added. “He didn’t think I was in the right position because I had just got a divorce and didn’t know if I was coming or going.” 

Learn more about Rod and Penny’s beloved children below…

The pair went on their first date nine months later, and quickly fell in love. They welcomed their son Alistair in 2005, then tied the knot in 2007 in Portofino, Italy, in front of around 100 friends and family. Rod and Penny welcomed their second son, Aiden, four years later. 

The “Maggie May” singer is also a father to six other children: Sarah, 61, Kimberly, 46, Sean, 45, Ruby, 38, Renee, 33, and Liam, 31. During the BBC interview, Penny got candid about the difficulties of becoming a stepmother and finding her place in their blended family. 

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“I tiptoed very lightly. Because there were lots of personalities, and more importantly, there were children ranging from all ages,” she explained. 

“From Liam, who was five when we first met…so it was delicate, and they were children from different mothers.” The Loose Women panelist added that she thought it was best to “stay in the background”, and it took a long time to get “to a place that I never thought I would get to with them”.