The couple’s seven-year-old was hospitalized in London for nine days in March suffering from E.coli food poisoning and her condition was touch and go.
‘They have talked about marriage on and off for a long time but the recent emotional roller-coaster they have had to endure seems to have spurred them into action.
The couple, who have been together for eight years and have two children, are understood to be planning a discreet ceremony in the south of France where they live.
Rather than marry in the local church, L?eglise St Martin, the couple are expected to hold the ceremony in the ancient chapel within the 50-acre grounds of their idyllic rural hideaway in the tiny village of Plan de la Tour, an hour from St Tropez. The source said: ‘We understand they will marry this summer. Villagers thought they would wed in the church here but we now hear that they have a little chapel in the grounds of their home. ‘It would make sense they would celebrate there because they don’t like drawing attention to themselves. The whole reason they live here is because they like the quiet life.’
The couple’s two children, Lily-Rose and Jack, four, will attend along with just a clutch of friends.