Don and Maxine Simpson, who had been together for 60 years, died just four hours apart from one another.

The couple spent their last moments together in hospital holding hands.

Don and Maxine met in the 1950s and spent the rest of their lives touring the world together before adopting two little boys and settling down in California.

Their granddaughter Melissa Sloan shared photographs of the couple together, including a touching black and white image of them holding hands taken as they passed their final moments together.

She said: “We kept them together, and had their beds side-by-side. Gram woke up and saw him, and held hands and they knew that they were next to each other. I knew in my heart this is what’s supposed to happen. Grandma and grandpa are supposed to be together and grandma and grandpa are going to die together.”