Nicola Sturgeon and Peter Murrell were married in a civil ceremony in Oran Mor in Glasgow's West End in July 2010.
They first met in 1988 when she was 18 years old at an SNP youth event and he 24 and officially became a couple in 2003 living together in Uddingston, South Lanarkshire.
At the time of their marriage, Ms Sturgeon was Deputy First Minister while Mr Murrell was SNP chief executive.
Ahead of their big day, Ms Sturgeon described Mr Murrell as her 'constant reminder that while the SNP is important to us both, other things in life matter as well'.
In interviews over the years, Ms Sturgeon often portrayed Mr Murrell as the more domesticated of the two, someone who enjoyed cooking and taking care of household chores.
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The couple were regularly pictured together, at home, at polling stations, and at events such as the tennis championships at Wimbledon and the funeral for the late Queen Elizabeth.
But heartache came when Ms Sturgeon suffered a miscarriage when she was 40, shortly before the 2011 Scottish parliamentary election campaign period.
She later revealed she was in the early stages of pregnancy and preparing to tell people her and her husband's happy baby news when the couple suffered the sad loss.
And reflecting on why she decided five years after the loss to make it public she said: "I gave [the interviewer] the go ahead to make reference to it now in the hope that it might challenge some of the assumptions and judgments that are still made about women - especially in politics - who don't have children.
"There are many reasons why women don't have children. Some of us simply don't want to, some of us worry about the impact on our career - and there is still so much to do, through better childcare, more progressive working practices and more enlightened attitudes, to make sure we don't feel we have to choose.
"And sometimes, for whatever reason, having a baby just doesn't happen - no matter how much we might want it to.
She added: "For me, as for many women, all of these things have been true at different times of my life - the point is that judgments and assumptions shouldn't be made about what are personal choices and experiences."
Shortly after the interview was published, Ms Sturgeon tweeted: "Thanks for all your kind messages this morning. Peter Murrell and I really appreciate it."
She later revealed, in 2021, that she and Mr Murrell, who have no children, were open to becoming foster parents.
In 2023 she spoke of her ongoing sense of loss after the miscarriage.
"I've always thought it was a girl. I've no idea why but I've always described the child I lost as 'she'. She would be in her early teens now, probably causing me all sorts of grief," she said.
In November 2014 Ms Sturgeon succeeded Alex Salmond as SNP leader and First Minister with Mr Murrell continuing as SNP chief executive.
Mr Salmond, who had congratulated the couple on tying the knot in 2010, expressed his concerns to Ms Sturgeon about Mr Murrell continuing as SNP chief executive when she became FM.
In an interview last year ahead of the tenth anniversary of the independence referendum in September 2014, Mr Salmond, who died suddenly while attending a conference in North Macedonia in October last year, said he tried to persuade Ms Sturgeon to remove Mr Murrell from the post.
Mr Salmond said in a TV documentary: "After I stood down as leader, I thought it was my job to tell Nicola first and then Peter. I thought the combination between her being the first minister and Peter being the chief executive was going to cause great difficulty. Not necessarily when things were going well, but as soon as things went badly, it was going to be a relationship which the press would exploit."
However, Ms Sturgeon responded it would have looked strange if Mr Murrell had resigned at that point, saying forcing her spouse to stand down would have been sexist if the roles had been reversed.
"Peter had done the job as chief executive way before I became first minister," she told the programme.
"And you know, I think if the gender roles have been reversed, and the ideal woman had to step down from their job because of their spouse's role, that would have looked odd."
But Mr Salmond's words were indeed prescient.
With the escalation of Operation Branchform and the arrest of Mr Murrell in April 2023, Ms Sturgeon was forced to deny that her resignation as SNP leader and First Minister weeks earlier had anything to do with the Police Scotland investigation into SNP finances.
The couple's home was searched in the probe and Ms Sturgeon was arrested in June 2023 as police officers continued their inquiries.
Mr Murrell was charged with embezzlement of SNP funds in April last year.
Following her arrest Ms Sturgeon denied any wrongdoing. However, speaking to journalists in Holyrood following her arrest she did not make the same claim for her husband.
While she said she was "absolutely certain that I have done nothing wrong" she declined to answer when asked if the same was true of her husband or anyone else in the party.
Asked if Mr Murrell was also innocent of wrongdoing, she replied: “Before I say what I'm about to say, I'm saying it as a statement of fact, not a loaded statement that you should read anything into one way or the other.
“But in a situation like this, I can only speak for myself and I am speaking for myself.
“There is also a difference between me and my husband.
“I'm an elected politician, I'm a public servant, and therefore there is an expectation, I think a legitimate expectation on your part that I make statements and to the best of my ability answer questions, obviously Peter is not in that position.”
Later in 2023, Ms Sturgeon strongly denied her marriage was on the rocks amid the strain of the police investigation.
"We're still married and we will be married for a long time to come,' she told TV presenter and former Tory MP Gyles Brandreth on a podcast.
In a post on Instagram on Monday, the SNP MSP said “to all intents and purposes we have been separated for some time now”.
She wrote: “With a heavy heart I am confirming that Peter and I have decided to end our marriage.
“To all intents and purposes we have been separated for some time now and feel it is time to bring others up to speed with where we are.
"It goes without saying that we still care deeply for each other, and always will. We will be making no further comment.”
