New Gilbert and George show Jack Freak Pictures opens at White Cube

THEIR unconventional relationship has long been a source of coy pride to them and bemusement to others.

But East London's most curious couple of artists, Gilbert and George, have finally gone and done the traditional thing - and got married.

In the week that they prepare to launch their newest exhibition at London's White Cube gallery, the duo have finally confirmed they are now legally spliced.

"We got married last year at Bow register office," said George. "We thought it was probably about time."

Their two staff, Yi Gangyu and Keith, were witnesses - and the four enjoyed a slap-up reception meal in a local East End curry house.

It comes after years of speculation about the pair. They first met in 1967 while studying sculpture at St Martins. In a 2002 interview they said: "It was love at first sight" - a rare comment about the nature of their relationship. They live in Spitalfields and have an eccentrically rigid routine, breakfasting in a local cafe at 6.30am every day and dining nightly in a Dalston Kurdish restaurant (their house has no kitchen because they can't abide the "mess").

But George has also insisted: "We prefer to live in sin. We are the ideal feminist couple. We have equality in our relationship.”

Further questions were raised three years ago when it was reported George, 67, was married when he first met Gilbert, 66.

The Times claimed he and his wife, Patricia, also conceived two children, Sunny and Rayne.

The duo's new exhibition, Jack Freak Pictures, opens at White Cube Gallery's two spaces, in Hoxton and SW1, on 10 July.