Penny Lancaster feels "very lucky" to be married to "extremely romantic" Rod Stewart.

Penny Lancaster and Rod Stewart

Penny Lancaster and Rod Stewart

The 45-year-old model and the 71-year-old singer - who have sons Alastair, 10, and five-year-old Aiden together - will renew their wedding vows to mark 10 years of marriage next year, and the blonde star couldn't be happier with her spouse, who she met in 1999.

She said: "I can't wait [to renew our vows] - we've been in the longest relationship he's ever been in so that's a record!

"Rod is extremely romantic and I'm very lucky. Keeping the romance and passion alive is very important to both of us.

"It helps that Rod is older. I've always preferred older, more mature men and he's such a gentleman."

Penny and Rod never row because they are aware of how important it is to communicate with one another before problems arise.

She said: "We're particularly good at communicating and are very open about how we feel.

"We're never shy about expressing our opinions to one another and that kind of prevents you having rows.

"I was shy and not very confident when I met Rod. He's always saying how proud he is of me and loves to support my work.

"You initially fall in love with someone and sort of have an idea of what your ideal man is. Rod's fulfilled all and more of what I wanted."

But things weren't always easy for the couple as Penny had to work hard to bond with Rod's other children, Sarah, 52, Kimberly, 37, Sean, 39, Ruby, 29, Renee, 24, and Liam, 22, from his various past relationships.

She told Closer magazine: "It's taken time to blend the family together but like any good relationship you have got to build from the roots up and take it slowly - and that's what I've done."