Rod Stewart recently put rumours that he and his third wife, police constable and Loose Women host Penny Lancaster, are experiencing relationship turbulence in bed.
“Penny and I could not be more in love with each other after 27 glorious years. Please trust me on this,” he wrote on Instagram on August 29, 2024. He was correcting what he called “erroneous articles in the Daily mail and other tabloids”.
They met in 1999 and married in 2007 – shortly after he and his previous wife, Rachel Hunter, managed to finalise their divorce.
When Rod Stewart asked Penny’s dad, Graham Lancaster, for permission to propose to his daughter, Graham’s “legs almost went from under him,” according to his own account. Bless. He said yes. And so did she!
1999: Rod Stewart meets 27-year-old Penny Lancaster after autograph dare
In January 1999, Penny was studying photography at Barking College in Essex.
She happened to be at a party with a friend at the Dorchester Hotel when Rod Stewart – 53, or, a year off twice her age – walked in.
Penny’s friend dared her to ask for his autograph. She got it, along with a job as his tour photographer.
He got her phone number, but seeing as he and Rachel – his wife at the time – had just broken up, he gave the number to his bass player to keep hold of.
Six months later, he got it back, and invited Penny out to dinner.
Lancaster was in a 10-year relationship at the time, with city trader Micky Sloan. They were living together, and engaged, which presented something of an obstacle to her and Rod Stewart’s courtship.
But Rod wooed her with an “upside down” kiss while she lay on his bed, which she later described as “the most romantic and seductive meeting of lips” she’s ever known, according to the Standard.
She later told the paper that Rod is the “whole package”.
“He’s romantic, thoughtful, supportive and protective of me. I’m madly in love,” she said.
And the age difference? Irrelevant: “It’s about people’s vitality. You can find younger guys who are very sedentary and boring, with no sense of humour. Rod’s got a great sense of humour. We’re always laughing.”
Penny then broke off her engagement for Rod.
2004: Memory of 9/11 inspires Rod to want another baby
Rod Stewart writes in his 2012 autobiography that he became inspired to expand his family on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
They took place in 2001. Three years later, he got the itch.
“And then came September 11, 2004, the third anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center,” he writes.
“We were sitting by a lake on one of those bright, clear, English autumn afternoons, talking about the families destroyed on that day and the children left behind. After a while, I said: ‘Let’s make a baby.’ And I knew I meant it.”
At the time, Rod already had six children by four other women. Penny would bear him two more, making eight in total by five different women.
2005: Proposal, conception and the ‘most amazing’ diamond ring
In March 2005, Rod took Penny and her mum and dad on a trip to Paris. Just for the day.
“As we were crossing the Tarmac to the plane, I hung back slightly with Penny’s dad, and above the whine of the engine, leaned into his ear,” he writes in his book.
He asked him for permission to ask his daughter’s hand in marriage.
“Graham’s a tough man,” Rod continues, “but his legs almost went from under him. I had to hold him up for a moment. ‘Yes!’ he said. ‘Yes, you do!’”
He popped the question later that day, in the Jules Verne restaurant on the second platform of the Eiffel Tower.
“Penny had a minute of disbelief,” he remembers in his autobiography.
“Her hands went to her face and her eyes welled. Eventually, I said: ‘Please say something Penny, because my knee is killing me.’”
The Standard quotes Penny as saying, later, that she was “stunned,” threw her arms around him and “burst into tears”.
“I opened the box and he had bought me the most amazing Princess cut diamond engagement ring – classic and striking.”
They conceived their first child around that time, and Penny gave birth to Alastair Wallace Stewart in late 2005, in London.
However, they once split up for two weeks, with Rod so heartbroken he recorded a song about it. This occurred before they walked down the aisle, during the early days of their relationship.
The singer previously said: “Penny and I broke up for two weeks and the song is about that time. I asked her for a photo of herself in a frame so that I could see her when I went to bed and when I woke up.”
2007: Rod Stewart and Penny Lancaster enjoy Italian Riviera wedding
Aged 62 and 36 respectively, Rod Stewart and Penny Lancaster tied the knot on June 16, 2007 at La Cervara, near Portofino, in Italy.
“The couple exchanged vows in the presence of 100 family and friends,” a representative for Rod’s record label said in a statement at the time, per People.
Rod wore a blue linen suit. Penny shimmered in a white cocktail dress. And all to the sound of bagpipers in kilts.
(Stewart is a diehard Scotland – and specifically Celtic – fan. His father was Scottish. Rod was born there.)
A reception followed, overlooking the coast of Santa Margherita. And then? Dinner, dancing and fireworks. A Mediterranean holiday. And, eventually, another baby.
“Aiden was a little while in the making,” Rod writes in his autobiography. “We tried for two years before specialists discovered that Penny had high levels of mercury in her body and recommended that we try in vitro fertilisation.
“We had three rounds of IVF in all, which is physically very punishing for the woman and heartbreaking when it doesn’t work. Still, we kept on going. I was on tour in Moscow in the summer of 2010 when Penny phoned to say she was finally pregnant, and we both wept for joy.”
She gave birth to Aiden, who is Rod’s eighth child, in 2011.
2024: Rod Stewart denies ‘erroneous’ rumours he and Penny Lancaster are on the rocks
One of the reasons Penny Lancaster is tied to England is her role as a panelist on Loose Women. Another is her job.
In 2020, after appearing on the Channel 4 program Famous and Fighting Crime, Penny joined the City of London Police as a volunteer special constable.
Volunteer special constables have the same powers and responsibilities as regular police officers. However, they don’t get paid.
It’s a fairly common route into the police force, as volunteers receive training and get to see how they fare on the streets of London.
Penny completed her training to become a special police constable in April 2021. She was on policing duties during the Queen’s funeral, as well as the coronation of King Charles.
View this post on Instagram
Last year, the Daily Mail reported on a slew of rumours about a relationship rift between Rod Stewart and Penny Lancaster. Alternatively, the rift once existed but has since ceased to.
Either way, Rod posted on Instagram in August 2024 that the Mail (and other tabloids) had published “erroneous articles” about their personal life.
“There is absolutely no rift between Penny and I (sic),” he wrote, “and no disagreement over where we should reside. In fact it’s the opposite.
“We moved permanently back to our beloved Britain a year ago. […] Penny and I could not be more in love with each other after 27 glorious years. Please trust me on this. There’s no disharmony in our marriage.”
View this post on Instagram
Late 2024: Penny defends Rod over Gregg Wallace comments
On November 29, 2024, we reported that Rod Stewart had lashed out at Gregg Wallace for, in his words, “humiliating” his wife when she took part in Celebrity MasterChef in 2021.
Gregg was, at the time, on the receiving end of a spate of allegations regarding his conduct on the show.
An investigation is taking place and Gregg has “committed to fully co-operating throughout the process”.
“So Greg Wallace gets fired from MasterChef. Good riddance Wallace,” Rod wrote on Instagram at the time.
“You humiliated my wife when she was on the show, but you had that bit cut out didn’t you?”
He went on to call Gregg “tubby,” “bald-headed” and a bully, and claimed that karma had “got” him.
Two weeks later, Penny Lancaster defended her husband during a segment on Loose Women, saying he was simply being “protective”.
“My husband, when he heard people talking about the disturbing behaviours, he couldn’t hold back,” she said.
“Protective husband thought, I’m not going to stay silent, I need to say something. Because he realised how upset I was at the time.”
She went on to claim that she was both a victim and a witness of Gregg Wallace’s alleged inappropriate behaviour, while taking part in the show.
Paddy McGuinness took over the reins of the BBC show Inside the Factory in August. Meanwhile, food critic Grace Dent has been confirmed to host the next series of Celebrity MasterChef.
In case you missed Rod Stewart At The BBC, find it on iPlayer here.
Read more: Kerry Katona ‘in the best relationship’ weeks after split from fiancé Ryan
Do you like Penny on Loose Women? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix.