On May 12^th, 1971, rock royalty Mick Jagger married actress and model Bianca Macias at the Cafe des Artes in St Tropez. Despite Jagger’s claims the wedding was supposed to be a quiet and personal, it did not stop him from hiring a private jet and chartering in the who’s who of the British entertainment world. Including Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr and Keith Moon. In true rockstar style the entire Mick and Bianca Jagger wedding was a complete mad house, with the entirety of the world press turning up, Mick making Bianca cry pre-ceremony and some naked abseiling.

13 reasons why this wedding was true rock & roll style:

1. Bianca Jagger’s white wedding suit. Perfectly proper with a flash of skin on show, the white wedding tux became the mark of Bianca’s style and was copied on aisles worldwide.

2. At the time, The Rolling Stones were now tax exiles. They were desperate to get on with their new album so they could release it, get out on the road and get cash back into their overdrawn bank accounts.

3. In total irony to the rock and roll life style, Jagger had been studying Catholicism with the pastor of St. Anne’s, so he Bianca could have a traditional altar wedding after the civil ceremony.

4. Tommy Weber, a close friend of Jagger’s had brought a pound of cocaine as a wedding gift that he had smuggled in to France using his two sons as mules!

5. Jagger only got around to inviting band-mate Bill Wyman along to the reception (but neither of the ceremonies) the day before the wedding.

6. Tony Sanchez, one of The Rolling Stones drug dealers, claimed to the press that he had been called by Jagger days before the wedding and told to bring 3 ozs of cocaine with him as, “I’m not going to get through this gig without it.”

7. The Civil Ceremony was due to begin at 4pm, however both Mick and Bianca were running 45 minutes late. Estezan the Mayor of St Tropez, obviously unhappy with the intrusion of the hoards of press and non-appearance of the couple told Les Perrin, The Stones press officer that if they are not there by 4:30, there will be no wedding. So Perrin called to tell Jagger what is happening and gets an earful for it. “GET RID OF THEM! If there’s going to be that crowd, then I am not getting married.” Perrin calls back minutes later to let Jagger know that due to French Laws the press has the rights to be there and they have no way of moving over 100 members of the world’s press. By now Jagger is not in the best of moods, says, “Fucking Hell! I wish to God I’d never said I was going to get married in the first place.” He allegedly says something along the lines of “Fuck it – I am not doing this”  – making Bianca cry in front of the press!

8. A guest and an Italian photographer got into a fight right next to Bianca and Mick as they were trying to leave for their reception. The end result was a broken camera, a lot of spilt blood and a dent in the bodywork of Jagger’s Bentley.

9. Keith Richards had ordered someone from The Rolling Stones management team to assemble some of the rock & roll talent at the reception for an impromptu jam, only to return and find Keith passed out on the balcony due heroine use.

10. Bianca ended up leaving her own wedding early far from impressed at the lack of attention from her new husband. She later comments that, “My marriage ended on my wedding day.”

11. Keith Moon was reported to have abseiled through Bianca Jagger’s sixth-floor window completely naked except for a pair of women’s underpants on his head and bouncy eyeball novelty glasses on his face.

12. The following day most of the guests make it back onto the plane to go home, except for Eric Clapton. Eric was suffering badly from heroin withdrawals and couldn’t get on the plane. Tommy Weber managed to score Eric enough heroin to get him home.

13. Marianne Faithful, the ex girlfriend of Mick Jagger who had been his girlfriend for many years did not take the news of Jagger and Bianca’s wedding lightly. After the break up she turned to drugs, and by the time Jagger met Bianca Marianna was a full fledged junkie. Marianne had been getting through her performances with a large dose of chemical assistance, which she paid for by sleeping with Tony Sanchez, the dealer for The Rolling Stones. She was on a complete downward spiral, loosing custody of her son, and finding a new addiction to valium whilst attempting to clean up her act. When she saw the headlines proclaiming her ex was set to marry short term girlfriend Bianca it was more than she could take. She immediately headed for a bar, downed several vodka martinis, staggered into a curry house and passed out in her meal, she was later charged with drunk and disorderly. Her downward spiral continued and she was soon to find herself homeless, living on London’s Soho streets for several years suffering with addiction and anorexia nervosa.