Elton: I will marry David

Sir Elton Johnis to marry his long-term partner, he revealed today. He said he will wed David Furnish in Britain as soon as Parliament allows gay couples to do so.

"We're definitely going to do it," Sir Elton said. "I would like to commit myself to David ... I already have in my mind."

It won't be the 56-year-old star's first wedding: he married his ex-wife Renate Blauel in Australia in 1984. He admitted he had been "on the fence" about marrying Furnish, his partner for 11 years. "I've been married before," he told the New York Daily News paper. "I thought, why would I want to get married again?"

He said President Bush's proposal to outlaw gay marriages was the final push down the aisle he needed. "In this day and age, if people who want to make a life commitment can't have protection, we live in a pretty sick world," he said.

It would certainly be an A-list ceremony. Elton and David's close friends include David and Victoria Beckham, Liz Hurley, Naomi Campbell, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas, Kate Winslet and Ozzy Osbourne. Another likely guest is their pet spaniel Arthur, who wore a collar with a diamond Oscar statuette to a post-Oscars party this week.

Elton said he and Canadian-born Furnish, 40, want the wedding to be in Britain, indicating that it will be at his estate in Windsor. The ceremony will go ahead as soon as the Civil Partnership Bill becomes law - although that won't be for at least a year. The Bill will give gay couples the same legal rights as married couples and they will be able to sign a civil partnership document at a register office - and dissolve the agreement in a type of divorce.

Elton and Furnish have been called "the most conspicuous gay couple in the world". On Valentine's Day, in Las Vegas, Elton demonstrated his love for his partner by releasing giant inflated roses at Caesars Palace. Elton, who is worth around £170 million, has declined to say whether there will be a pre-nuptial agreement.