Ohio, in a low-key ceremony at a church near his home in Surrey, southern England, on New Year‘s Day.

Guests were told they were attending the christening of the couple‘s six-month-old daughter Julie Rose. But after the baptism of Julie Rose and Clapton‘s 16-year-old daughter Ruth, the couple were called forward by vicar the Reverend Christopher Elson and exchanged marriage vows.

„It was a very happy occasion and I pray God‘s blessing upon Eric and Melia in their married life as well as for Julie and Ruth at the beginning of their Christian lives,“ Elson said. Ruth was born after Clapton had an affair with her mother, Yvonne Kelly in 1983, but the rock star did not meet her until 1991. A church statement said the service was attended by Melia‘s parents, as well as a few of their closest friends and family. Fellow rock musician Andy Fairweather-Low was in the congregation. His wife Barbara was quoted as saying: „Everyone cheered when Eric stepped forward. It was lovely, a total surprise to everyone.“ The ceremony took place at St Mary Magdalen church at Ripley, where Clapton‘s son, Conor, four, is buried. He died after falling from a window in a skyscraper apartment in New York 11 years ago and is immortalised in Clapton‘s song „Tears in Heaven“.

Clapton was married for nine years to Patti Boyd, former partner of Beatle George Harrison. They divorced in 1988. Clapton met McEnery, a graphic artist, on a trip to Los Angeles.

Reuters