Who Is Andrew Lloyd Webber's Wife? All About Madeleine Gurdon

Andrew Lloyd Webber has been married to equestrian Madeleine Gurdon since 1991

Andrew Lloyd Webber is a leader in the world of musical theater — with Cats and Phantom of the Opera among his most successful productions — and his wife, Madeleine Gurdon, is often at his side.

PEOPLE first reported the equestrian's relationship with Lloyd Webber in July 1990, six months after his divorce from his second wife, Sarah Brightman. “We have become great friends in recent months,” he said of his relationship with Gurdon at the time.

In his 2018 memoir Unmasked, Lloyd Webber wrote, “I met Madeleine Gurdon in 1989 through mutual friends when my marriage to Sarah Brightman had got rocky.” He continued, “There had been publicity about Sarah’s affair with the original Phantom keyboard player, and hugely fond of her as I still am, things weren’t the same for me after that.”

Brightman and Lloyd Webber divorced in January 1990 and he married Gurdon in a secret ceremony early the next year. On Feb. 9, 1991, they had a church ceremony in England to bless the marriage. The New York Times reported that the couple had “decided to head off press attention by marrying quietly.”

The pair went on to have three children together. Alistair Adam Lloyd Webber was born a year after their wedding in 1992, William Richard Lloyd Webber in 1993 and Isabella Aurora Lloyd Webber in 1996.

Here is everything to know about Andrew Lloyd Webber's wife Madeleine Gurdon and her relationship with her EGOT-winning husband.

She is from a military family

Gurdon was born on Nov. 30, 1962, to Brigadier Adam Gurdon, an officer in the Scottish military group called the Black Watch, and his wife, Gillian Thomson, whose father was also in the Black Watch. She has three sisters, Miranda, Melanie and Mary-Louise, per The Sunday Times. Her parents wed in 1958 and remained married until Brigadier Gurdon died in 2019.

Her father’s work took them around the world, and the family spent time traveling to places across Asia and Africa.

She has joined Lloyd Webber in the theater world

While she is not a musician or performer, Gurdon has become a part of her husband’s theater empire. Per the U.K. Government's companies website, Gurdon is the director of Really Useful Group, Lloyd Webber’s production company that represents his body of work, including all of his hit musicals, for production, licensing and promotion.

Gurdon is also director at LW Theatres, Lloyd Webber’s company that owns six venues in London’s West End.

They married in 1991 and started a family the next year

Although the couple hasn't shared the exact date of their nuptials, they married in a private ceremony at the Westminster Register Office in London in February 1991.

Lloyd Webber and Gurdon had intended to wed on Feb. 9, 1991, but a large media presence was expected in light of his divorce from Brightman the year prior, so they decided to marry first in secret. They then held a church ceremony on Feb. 9.

Their first child, Alastair, was born the following year, on May 3, 1992. They welcomed a second son, William, on Aug. 24, 1993, and a daughter, Isabella, on April 30, 1996. All three children currently work in the media and entertainment industry.

Lloyd Webber shares two children with his first wife, Sarah Hugill, named Imogen and Nicholas Lloyd Webber. Nicholas died in March 2023 of gastric cancer.

She is an accomplished equestrian

Before meeting Lloyd Webber, Gurdon was an equestrian competitor. She was a member of the Easton Harriers branch of The Pony Club in the U.K., and won the championships in eventing in 1981, per Horse & Hound. She also competed at the 1986 World Championships in Poland, and the Burghley Horse Trials between 1983 and 1988, finishing second in her final year.

When she was appointed president of The Pony Club in 2010, taking over for Princess Anne, she reflected on her relationship with the organization in Horse & Hound. “The Pony Club has been an important part of my life for nearly 40 years, whether participating as a teenager or coaching, and now as a dreaded Pony Club mother!” said Gurdon.

Gurdon also serves as a director at Newbury Racecourse in England.

She breeds champion racehorses

Gurdon and Lloyd Webber have bred several prize-winning horses. She turned her passion for horses and riding into a business in 1992 when she and her husband founded Watership Down Stud in Berkshire, near the couple's home. In 1996, they added Kiltinan Castle Stud in Ireland. Champion racehorses from these locations have won at races across the U.K. and around the world.

She was recognized for her work in 2022 when she was given the Devonshire award for outstanding achievement and contribution to the British breeding industry.

She collaborated on a screenplay with an Oscar winner

Gurdon once took inspiration from real-life events to create a screenplay with Emerald Fennell, who won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Promising Young Woman in 2021.

The script was inspired by the true story of Gurdon's work with an up-and-coming polo team from a state comprehensive school — a secondary school that does not require specific academic achievements — that wanted to compete against the established teams at elite private schools. Since the team didn't have many of the resources offered to their competitors, Gurdon stepped in and gave the players access to horses at her Watership Down polo club, in addition to training sessions with a leading polo instructor.

The team went on to win the 2007 Schools and Universities Polo Association Cup, per Reuters, and was believed to be the only state school in England to play polo competitively.

In a 2012 interview, almost a decade before she made her Oscar-winning film, Fennell told The Standard that Gurdon had commissioned her to write a screenplay loosely inspired by the team of underdogs. While the screenplay has not yet been developed into a film, Fennell did end up collaborating with the family again when she wrote the story for Lloyd Webber’s Bad Cinderella.

Gurdon and Lloyd Webber are friendly with British Royals

Gurdon’s connection to the British Royal Family predates her marriage to Lloyd Webber, who was knighted in 1992 for his service to the arts and declared Lord Lloyd Webber in 1996. In her equestrian days, Gurdon's circle included Princess Anne, and the pair have stayed friendly over the years while attending racing and polo events around the U.K.

She and Lloyd Webber frequently attend events like the Royal Ascot, one of Britain’s most popular racing weekends, where she has been photographed with Queen Camilla. The Telegraph reported that Gurdon was also present at the coronation of King Charles along with Lloyd Webber, who composed an anthem for the occasion.

Queen Elizabeth even visited their Berkshire home, Sydmonton Court, when she was in the area. Lloyd Webber shared the story during an appearance on BBC Breakfast in 2022.

"She came round once to our house,” Lloyd Webber recounted. “Do you know what the children did? It was so naughty of them. They were old enough to know better, but they put football shirts outside the windows as she was coming past and the Queen said, 'Do you normally put your washing outside of the window?' "

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