It is a love that spans a 46 year age gap, but an 82-year-old gran is without her 36-year-old husband once again. Iris Jones, from Somerset, married Mohamed, from Egypt, back in 2020 after meeting the year before on Facebook.
Iris, a retired care worker, has shared details of their relationship on social media and on ITV's This Morning show. Earlier this week, she had gone on to Facebook to say Mohamed was back in the UK, but it now appears he has had to return to Egypt, Bristol Live reports.
The Mirror reports Iris wrote: "Love is... Knowing you look like s**t after a days housework and gardening, without a scrap of make up on dressed in my scruff! After a month's absence, my wonderful husband will welcome me just just the way I am, because that's what love is all about.
"Welcome home, Mohamed. Missing you this past month has made me realise what a priceless gem you are. This rough diamond of a wife will be more appreciative of you in the future."
However, there was then a video message from Mohamed taken at Cairo airport in which he said he had to return to Egypt for a "special reason". He said in the video message: "I miss my wife Iris, I miss her, and I miss my life with my wife".
Mohamed was finally granted a three-year visa on November 3 2021 after the couple applied so he could then move in with Iris. Speaking to the Sunday Mirror last November, Iris shared how Mohamed rang her to tell her the good news while she was shopping.
“There was a lot of happy shouting and screaming," she said."I cried in Tesco while sorting out my fruit and vegetables. My tears were dripping on the apples. It was amazing.”
When they were back in each other's arms, she said: “We didn’t celebrate – we are just together and that’s celebration enough.
“We just had a cup of tea together. Mohamed is happy but he can’t say much at the moment. He’s one of those reserved Egyptians.”
The couple first started chatting on a Facebook group for atheists in the summer of 2019. They met in person the following November and wed in Cairo a year later.
Iris, from Weston-super-Mare had spoken of the couple's love life on This Morning, leaving Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield aghast in January 2020.
Speaking on January 28, Iris said: "It was fantastic, I didn't realise he was so tall, he was an Adonis, and he grabbed me in a bear hug.
"No one had been near me for 35 years, I felt like a virgin again."
After chatting to the Sunday Mirror last year, it was shared that Mohamed plans to find engineering work in the UK.
Iris said: “As for the future, who knows. It depends on how long I last.”
The mum of two sons, Stephen, 55, and Darren, 54, said some relatives gave her the “silent treatment” after she married Mohamed.
But she said: “We love each other. That’s all that matters.”
