Paul McCartney Engaged

July 26 -- The man who gave the world all those silly love songs has found once again that love is not so silly at all.

Former Beatle Paul McCartney is engaged to be married to girlfriend Heather Mills, his office said today.

Mills, a former model and champion for the disabled, lost her left leg just below the knee when she was hit by a police motorcycle eight years ago.

McCartney: Love at First Sight

McCartney, 59, got down on one knee to propose to his 33-year-old girlfriend while the two were in Britain's Lake District on Monday, a publicist told Reuters. He gave her an Indian sapphire and diamond ring he bought in Jaipur during a holiday in January. The wedding is set for next year.

"Paul and Heather said today they would like to thank their relatives and friends for all the great support they have shown them since they met two years ago," said a statement from McCartney's office.

Their meeting came at a benefit for The Heather Mills Trust, which provides limbs for victims of war around the world. One year after the loss of her leg, Mills went to war-torn Croatia to offer prosthetics to those in need. As of November last year, her organization has given away 27,000 limbs, many of them going to land-mine victims.

While the two differ greatly in age, they both struggled with poverty and adversity at a young age, only to rise to international stardom.

Both Suffered Through Hard Times

McCartney, born of a poor family in Liverpool, lost his mother when he was 14. He relieved his despair by playing the guitar, formed a band and songwriting partnership with John Lennon, and went on to write some of the best-known songs in the history of pop music.

When Mills was very young, her father was jailed for allegedly defaulting on debts. She was sent to stay with her estranged mother, but that didn't work out.

"[We] were all shipped down to live with her, and her boyfriend," she says. "But he'd been married three times before. So he didn't want any kids around … and he said, 'Either Heather goes, or I go.'"