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Love them or hate them, they'll be remembered for ever

When these men and women weren't composing poetry, combating the Great Depression or committing mass genocide, they were sharing their lives with their equally famous other halves. They may be revered (or reviled) for the deeds that secured their presence in history books, but they were also loved. Like Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer who were married in front of 3,500 wedding guests and an international television audience of 750 million.

George Putnam and Amelia Earhart
George Putnam was Amelia Earhart's publisher and publicist before he became her husband. The two fell in love while Putnam was still married to his first wife. Earhart approached marriage with as bold an attitude as she did her aviation career. The New York Times remarked on her wedding vows in 1931 that "Miss Earhart did not promise to 'obey' her husband, as the word is not included in the civil ceremony."

Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe
When Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe were married in 1954, they were an A-list celebrity couple. But the retired baseball player didn't like the publicity his wife garnered for the suggestive pose she struck while filming "The Seven Year Itch." According to reports, DiMaggio abused Monroe physically and emotionally, and when she filed for divorce nine months after the wedding, DiMaggio didn't show up in court.

Bill and Melinda Gates
Microsoft business brought Bill and Melinda Gates together. They have three children and run the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a charitable organisation that, according to the Gates', seeks to help people live "a healthy, productive life."

Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo
Mexican artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo were both well-recognised artists in their time, but Rivera predicted that his wife's reputation would be far greater than his in generations to come (which is true). Though art historians surmise that Rivera and Kahlo were very much in love, they both engaged in extramarital affairs, which ultimately contributed to their divorce in 1940. A year later, the couple reunited.

King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn caught King Henry VIII's attention when she was a lady-in-waiting to his queen, Catherine of Aragon. Anne became Henry's second wife, and the scandal of his divorce from Catherine shocked the court. In 1536, Henry had Anne beheaded on the charge of adultery, though many scholars assert he was just getting rid of her so he could pursue Jane Seymour.

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward
Joanne Woodward became Paul Newman's second wife in 1958. The two award-winning actors had one of the most enduring relationships in Hollywood. As fellow actor Warren Beatty described their lasting union, "They were just sensible, nice, intelligent people." As for his own rationale on marriage, Newman once quipped, "Why fool around with hamburger when you have steak at home?"

John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier
President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy reigned over so-called Camelot during his term. The facetious name nodded at the golden years of the nation, during which anything seemed possible with the youthful, handsome president at the helm and his young family by his side.

Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker
The couple that steals together stays together, at least in the case of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, who are best remembered as the dangerous duo Bonnie and Clyde. Wanted on charges of murder, kidnapping, robbery and auto theft, the couple was gunned down in Louisiana on May 23, 1934.

Pierre and Marie Curie
Even renowned chemists will leave the lab behind for a romantic honeymoon. Pierre and Marie Curie met at the Sorbonne in Paris, and they achieved fame in the science world for their studies of radioactivity, which later earned them a Nobel Prize. When Pierre was killed in 1906, Marie was appointed to his position at the Sorbonne, where he had been a professor of physics.

Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer
On July 29, 1981, Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer were married in front of 3,500 wedding guests and an international television audience of 750 million, which, according to the BBC, makes the wedding the "most popular programme ever broadcast." The couple bore an heir to the throne less than a year after the wedding, and though they formally separated in 1996, their image as a couple endures due to their vast celebrity and humanitarian efforts.

Juan and Eva Peron
As far as power couples go, perhaps no duo had greater command over the public than Argentinian President Juan Peron and First Lady Eva Peron. Their signature wave was a welcome sight to the descomisados, or "shirtless ones," working-class Argentinians to whom the Peron administration promised higher wages and better housing. Beloved by the public, the first lady was dubbed and memorialised as "Evita."

Queen Victoria and Prince Consort Albert
The German Prince Consort Albert and Queen Victoria gave birth to nine children and the concept of Victorianism, a term that biographer Gillian Gill says connotes ideals of "faith, thrift, discipline ... marital fidelity, parental control [and] social cohesion." The couple drastically altered public ideas about British royalty by cleaning up the scandalous image of the court and replacing it with a homespun one of a couple very much in love, nurturing a large and closely knit family.

John Rolfe and Pocahontas
Despite the romantic accounts of Pocahontas saving John Smith's life (which historians believe are probably not true), the real love of her life was the English colonist John Rolfe. Their marriage in 1614 forged a diplomatic peace between the foreign settlers and the indigenous people of the Virginia colony. Following Pocahontas' baptism she became known as Rebecca. Though Pocahontas died just three years after marrying Rolfe, during their union, they had a son and worked in tandem to garner interest and financial support for the American colonies.

Franklin Delano and Eleanor Roosevelt
Franklin Delano and Eleanor Roosevelt resided in the White House during some of the most financially tumultuous years in U.S. history. Though Eleanor was his distant cousin, Roosevelt was determined to make her his wife. When she discovered that Roosevelt was having an affair with her social secretary, Lucy Mercer, Eleanor proposed divorce. Roosevelt declined, and though the two remained together, the National Park Service's biography of the couple suggests that this event caused an awakening in Eleanor's personal life, inspiring her to become more involved in politics and to seek more meaningful friendships.

Johnny and June Carter Cash
Johnny and June Carter Cash met in 1961 when she began touring with him. Carter Cash came from a family of country singers, and she dabbled in singing, songwriting and acting. The couple married in 1968 after Cash proposed to her onstage at a concert in London, Ontario. Their marriage of 31 years was a collaboration of love and talent, and between them, they earned several Grammy Awards. Carter Cash notably helped her husband overcome an addiction to amphetamines, and when she passed away in 2003, Cash died just four months later.

David Bowie and Iman
Rock star David Bowie and Somalian supermodel Iman were married in 1992, and despite the constant glare of the paparazzi's flashbulbs, the couple has enjoyed a lasting marriage. While Iman is known as a pioneer among black models in the fashion industry and recognised for designing the first line of cosmetics for women of colour, Bowie is renowned for his rock 'n' roll legacy, which includes contributions to the glitter rock genre as well as a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award and countless hit singles.

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