Sir Paul McCartney is planning to wed his girlfriend in a secret ceremony.

The 67-year-old former Beatles star flew his friends and family to the Caribbean earlier this month to inform them of his plans to marry American businesswoman Nancy Shevell (48). He has been dating the beauty for nearly two years and the couple are now planning a "low-key" ceremony in the US next year.

"Paul and Nancy’s relationship is rock solid and there's no mad hurry for a wedding," a friend told British newspaper The Daily Express. "Next year has certainly been mentioned as the most likely time, but neither of them wants some big hoo-ha. It’s almost certainly going to be done very discreetly over in the US and Paul would ideally like to do it without any publicity beforehand. Whether he could pull that off is another matter."

Paul's first marriage to Linda Eastman lasted from 1968 until her death from cancer in 1997. He then married former model Heather Mills in 2002 but the couple split in 2006 and divorced in 2008. He has been dating Nancy since November 2007.

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