This Day in History | 1975 – Liz Taylor and Richard Burton remarry

Actors Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor have secretly remarried in Africa only 16 months after getting divorced.

The couple who split last year after nearly 10 years of marriage were reconciled in August and have been enjoying a second honeymoon in Chobe game park in Botswana.

The couple first met when they were starring in the film, Cleopatra, in Rome, when their onscreen romance quickly turned into an offscreen love affair.

They married in 1964. Richard Burton was her fifth husband, she was his second wife.

They arrived in Johannesburg in September ostensibly to attend a charity celebrity tennis tournament.

They then flew by private jet to the Rhodesian border near Victoria Falls where they were met and driven to the Chobe game lodge

The private wedding ceremony was conducted by African district commissioner Abrose Masalila and witnessed by the manager of the game lodge where they were staying, Fred Knoessen, and Brian Graham, who runs tours from the lodge.

Mr Masalila said: “The bride wore green, with lace frills and guinea fowl feathers.”

Burton was in a red shirt, white trousers and red socks.

The simple service, which took just 20 minutes to perform, was held at 1530 local time in Mr Masalila’s office in the remote village of Kasane.

The couple exchanged rings and held hands and later they asked Mr Masalila to join them for a champagne toast on the banks of the Chobe river.

He said: “They looked very excited but composed. I don’t think they had a party afterwards because I think they would have invited me if they had. They are very nice people.”

Courtesy BBC News

In context

News of the couple’s wedding emerged five days later.

Elizabeth Taylor said she had remarried Richard Burton after an x-ray revealed spots on her lungs which she feared were cancerous.

She said the 12 hours of anxiety waiting for the prognosis, which turned out to be clear, convinced her to remarry.

Another newspaper story which surfaced shortly after their second wedding said Liz Taylor had sold back a £500,000 honeymoon ring to pay for a hospital in Botswana.

However, their stormy relationship did not last. The couple began rowing and separated in February 1976, reportedly when Richard Burton began drinking again.

Their marriage was dissolved. Burton married twice more but died in 1984 of a cerebral haemorrhage. Taylor also went on to marry twice more – her last marriage to Larry Fortensky was dissolved in 1995.

She was made a dame in 2000 and officially retired from acting in 2003. Despite a number of health problems, she has continued to campaign for Aids research.

Liz Taylor died at the age of 79 in 2011.