It was a romance that will be remembered as a show of unity in a world of bitter racial divide.

In June 1947, Ruth Williams was working as a clerk in Blackheath living an ordinary life.

She had no idea that soon she would embark on a journey that would lead her to being an African First Lady that would inspire a film adaptation years after her death.

Born in Meadow Court Road in Eltham, she studied at Eltham Hill Grammar School and then served as a WAAF ambulance driver in the Second World War.

In June 1947 she went to a dance at Nutford House organised by the London Missionary Society, where she was introduced to African law student Seretse Khama.

It was initially unbeknownst to Ruth that Sereste was the heir to the throne of African country Bostwana (then called Bechuanaland).

The pair quickly fell in love and married in 1948 in Kensington.

But perils lurked as South Africa, a neighbouring country to Bostwana, had just introduced apartheid.

The British authorities, a close associate with South Africa, attempted to intervene in the marriage before undermining it when it was official.

Members of Sereste’s own family also objected to the interracial partnership when he brought his new wife to Africa.

However, their bond proved unbreakable as they had four children together and are now buried side by side in the Royal Cemetery in Serowe, Botswana.

Ruth served as Bostwana’s First Lady from 1966 to 1980 as her husband became the first ever President of the country.

The story was brought to the big screen in a film called A United Kingdom which was released in 2016 starring David Oyelowo, Rosamund Pike, Tom Felton and Nicholas Lyndhurst.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of when Ruth Williams and Sereste Khama first met at a London Missionary Society dance in London.

It was to be the beginning of a controversial, powerful and inspiring love story.