Grief of Sir Bobby Charlton's widow as 1966 World Cup hero is laid to rest

Grief-stricken Lady Norma Charlton followed her beloved husband Sir Bobby Charlton's coffin into church today as the 1966 World Cup hero was laid to rest.

The 83-year-old was dressed all in black and at times bowed her head as she slowly walked into Manchester Cathedral.

The funeral cortege had passed Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium in front of thousands of fans as they paid their respects and said their last goodbyes to the England legend.

Sir Bobby died in Macclesfield Hospital on October 21, aged 86, after a fall at The Willows in Knutsford, a nursing home caring for patients with dementia.

Sporting greats and Manchester United legends from yesteryear - including former manager Sir Alex Ferguson, captains Roy Keane, Bryan Robson, and Steve Bruce, and Sir Bobby's teammates Alex Stepney and Brian Kidd - attended the emotional service today.

The Manchester United midfielder's grandson William Balderston was among those to give a heartfelt tribute in which he said he had 'been inspired not so much by his greatness as by his goodness'.

But perhaps among all the pictures which emerged from Sir Bobby's funeral it was that of a lone Lady Norma walking behind her husband of 62-years' coffin which was the most poignant.

Sir Bobby and Lady Norma met by chance at a Manchester ice rink in 1959 - a year after he had survived the Munich Air Disaster in which eight of his teammates were killed.

The couple wed two years later and raised two daughters Suzanne and Andrea.

They stuck by each other's sides through thick and thin and cheered him on at Wembley as England lifted the World Cup in 1966.

But their relationship would cause a 42-year rift between Sir Bobby and his brother Jack amid claims of tension between the sibling's mother, Cissie, and Norma.

Years of growing antipathy exploded in 1996 when Jack criticised Bobby for failing to visit Cissie in her final years and suggesting that had been influenced by Norma.

A decade later, Bobby described Jack's claims about his wife as 'absolutely disgraceful'. Writing in a book in 2007, he confessed he and his brother had 'never been further apart than we are now', adding: 'I just don't want to know him.'

Sir Bobby gave an emotional interview to The Times where he opened up about the feud.

He said Norma tried to make peace with her mother-in-law but in vain, forcing him to choose. 'We stopped seeing each other. At the end of the day you have to have your priorities and mine was my wife.

'I suppose if I'd made a major effort, maybe I could have changed things. But it wouldn't have changed anything at all. It's not abnormal. People say, "Well, that happened to me".'

The sibling's dislike for one another appeared to show no sign of abating, with Sir Bobby later saying his brother had made a 'big mistake'.

Their relationship seemed irreparably broken but they were very publicly reconciled a year later when Bobby was presented with a BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award. Jack agreed to present the trophy and told his sibling: 'Bobby Charlton is the greatest player I've ever seen. And he's my brother.'

The pair embraced – just as they had on the turf at Wembley 42 years earlier.

Jack died in in July 2020. The 2021 documentary, 'Finding Jack Charlton', was filmed during the last 18 months of his life and gave an insight into the effect dementia had.