Tina Green is a formidable businesswoman in her own right with a huge personal fortune of £2billion thanks to her 92 per cent stake in the Arcadia Group – but little is known about her early years.
She met Philip, 66, in 1985 and now lives in Monaco, meaning she pays no tax on her enormous income, making her the UK's wealthiest businesswoman.
Born in the UK to a father who worked in the wine business, Tina first married a musician when she was just 18.
But she now lives the life of luxury, enjoying lavish dinners, holidays on a £100million superyacht and the title of 'Lady' after her husband received a knighthood in 2006.
Here, Sun Online takes a closer look at the savvy yet secretive businesswoman.
A 'wild child' who married a musician as a teen
Little is known about Tina's early life – she rarely gives interviews and is extremely cagey on details.
It's thought she was born in 1948 to a father who worked in the wine industry and that she travelled widely when she was young, living in places such as Thailand.
A self-confessed "wild child", she met South African jazz drummer Robert 'Bobby' Palos in Hong Kong when she was 17. He was 31 at the time.
She told The Sunday Times in 2014: "I was 17, he was 14 years older than me, 6ft 2in and divine. We travelled around Japan and Australia, and move to South Africa.".
They married a year later after a whirlwind romance and went on to have two children together. Daughter Stasha is a cookery book author and artist, while son Brett has kept things in the Arcadia family having been appointed as a director of the company.
Stasha has described her mum as a "blonde hurricane" and a "tough, independent little lady".
Bobby and Tina opened a clothes shop in Johannesburg and eventually took the business to London – but this led to friction in the marriage.
"Bobby was a wonderful man and everybody loved him, but he wasn’t driven in the same way I was," Tina said in the same Sunday Times interview.
"I was pushing ahead with the business and needed him to help out when things were tough. Sadly, we grew apart. It hurt like hell, but I had to leave him."
They divorced when Stasha was 13, but the pair stayed friends and she "loved him until the day he died".
"I lay on the bed with him and his second wife, Vicky, and we all held hands as he was literally dying," she recalled.
An 'ordinary person' who loves to be a home-maker
In 1985, Tina was introduced to a life of massive wealth and luxury when she met "love of my life" Philip Green at a party.
At the time, she was running her own boutique, Harabels in Knightsbridge, West London. Philip was unimpressed when she told him what she did and he responded saying he'd never heard of it.
"I thought 'what an arrogant man'," she said – but she gave him a second chance.
The next day they met again at a mutual friend's party.
Tina says she noticed that Philip's bow tie was wonky, so she went up to him and straightened it.
“It was the oddest thing,” she would later say. “I thought ‘I’m in trouble here’. I just fell in love with him that moment.”
"When I met Philip, he was a colourful character, but had zero money," Tina added
"Just an ordinary person with a seriously strong work ethic. We are still ordinary people today, but we’ve worked hard."
Five years later, they went on to marry, with Tina assuming the role of home-maker.
"I loved being a home-maker, looking after Philip and the children and to this day I still love doing anything for him — cooking, putting away his clothes. Women are women and men are men," she said.
They went on to have two children – socialite daughter Chloe, who designed a shoe range for Topshop and recently had a child with 'hot felon' Jeremy Meeks and son Brandon, who works in different roles within Arcadia.
Living the life of luxury in Monaco
The pair formed a formidable partnership, going on to dominate UK fashion.
Worth almost £4billion, Philip Green has ensured Tina has benefited from his extreme wealth.
She owns all the family shares in Taveta Investments – the Jersey-registered company that the Arcadia Group, which includes Topshop, New Look and Dorothy Perkins, falls under. It is the second-largest retail operation in the world.
As part of this, she has a 92 per cent stake in Arcadia and is the sole owner of the Shoe Express chain.
The couple moved to Monaco in 1998, with Philip claiming this was due to health reasons. However, as it's a tax haven, activists have claimed it was done to dodge some hefty bills.
When Philip moved back to the UK in 2000, Tina remained in Monaco. She now spends all her time there as a "working wife", while her husband splits his time between the two locations.
In 2005 Tina collected a £1.2billion dividend from Arcadia, the biggest in British corporate history, and due to living in Monaco, she paid no tax.
As well as the family business, she owns Green & Mingarelli Design.
"I am fortunate to live on a yacht six months of the year. In that respect I have an edge," she's said when asked about her design credentials.
In Monaco, she lives the life of luxury. She regularly travels on the family's 109-ft yacht Lionheart, worth £100million, with her white pedigree dog in tow.
She's also a major fixture on the party and dinner scene in Monaco. She's attended gala dinners with Hollywood royalty such as Robert Redford, as well as Monaco’s reigning monarch, Albert II, and his wife Princess Charlene.
And she has been pictured with models such as Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell.
Ordering 40kg of caviar for a raucous toga party
Where Tina really shows her love for her husband is organising his famously lavish birthday parties.
Presents she's recently bought for him have included a £7million Gulfstream jet and a £250,000 gold Monopoly set.
But she really came up trumps for his 50th by organising a £20million party for 220 guests who were flown to Cyprus for an exclusive Roman-themed bash.
For the event, Tina ordered 40kg of caviar, 1,000 bottles of wine and 400 bottles of champagne and booked Rod Stewart and disco legends Earth, Wind And Fire to perform.
Guests were told to bring flesh-coloured underwear for a toga party staged in a mock amphitheatre, while Philip was dressed as the Emperor Nero, known for his overly-extravagant ways.
And for his 63rd birthday, Tina treated Philip to a specially-made cake, showing a shirtless Philip – complete with grey chest hair – lying between the sheets with his dog Louie.
Tina treats the kids too: son Brandon had a £4million bar mitzvah with entertainment by Beyoncé.
Tina's reaction to the claims that her husband bullied, sexually harassed and racially abused staff is as of yet unknown, though her husband vehemently denies the claims.
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