FANCY THAT
I waited two decades to start dating my cousin who was 10 years my junior – family are surprised we didn’t do it sooner
Watch the video below to find out about another relationship with a big secret
A DIVORCEE has revealed she waited two decades to start a relationship with her cousin who was 10 years her junior.
Sandra was 28 and married with a one-year-old baby when she began to struggle to ignore her “profound connection” with Charlie.
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She said they would only see each other at family occasions as she lived in Nottinghamshire and he lived with his parents in Scotland.
No one suspected that they fancied each other because they were cousins, but they had a “non-verbal understanding” of their feelings for one another.
“It wasn’t until 20 years later – when I was 51 and he was 41 – that we finally got together,” Sandra told .
“My husband had left me by then and Charlie had split up with his long-term girlfriend.”
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A kiss while on a walk during a family holiday in the Lake District led to the start of their year-long secret relationship.
Sandra said she was hard on herself and feared their family wouldn’t understand if they found out.
At the time, she had two children aged 22 and 24 who had known Charlie growing up.
She and Charlie would have to make excuses to spend time together and lie he was comforting her following her divorce if spotted embracing.
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However, nine months into their affair Charlie started having fits related to a brain tumour that went into remission.
Sandra said she became convinced that it was time to tell their family about the affair so she could visit him in hospital.
I have been married to my husband for years and I’ve just made a shocking discovery about our relationship, I’m not sure what to do
Despite Charlie’s concerns that it would cause “upset,” she told her mum and following a positive reaction called his parents.
“Nobody could understand why we hadn’t told them sooner. In our minds, it was a guilty secret – but in reality, it wasn’t that bad,” Sandra said.
“What quickly overrode the family drama was that Charlie was unwell, and time was precious.”
The doctor told Charlie he had six months to two years to live, which after some time led to Sandra quitting her job to move in with him in Scotland.
The pair were unable to get married because her divorce hadn’t come through but decided to make memories by buying a campervan to go travelling around Europe.
Can I marry my cousin in the UK?
ACROSS the globe, more than 10 percent of marriages are between first or second cousins.
In the UK, there's no legal bar to two cousins having a relationship.
That means that if end up falling for the children of your aunts and uncles, there's nothing stopping you from eventually tying the knot.
If you're over the age of 18, you can do this without the consent of your legal guardian or parent.
First-cousin marriages were once quite common in Europe, especially among the elite.
Their trip was cut short when Charlie collapsed three weeks into their exploration while in Croatia.
He was rushed back to the UK for treatment but never walked again and a month later died at age 44.
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Sandra said they had just three years together after revealing their relationship to the rest of the family and it taught her the importance of following your heart.
“We had a very short time together, and we could have spent more time together if we hadn’t worried so much about what other people thought,” she said.
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