Rio Ferdinand wears wedding ring in tribute to late wife Rebecca on holiday with Kate Wright

Former The Only Way Is Essex star Kate Wright has been showing off her romance with ex-Manchester United player Rio Ferdinand by sharing snaps of herself having an al fresco lunch with his relatives in Portugal, but Rio Ferdinand is still wearing his wedding ring as he holidays with his new lady.

The 38-year-old retired footballer lost his wife Rebecca Ellison to breast cancer two years ago at the age of 34, and amid his recent Instagram shots of his holiday, which he is known to have spent with his new girlfriend Kate, he is seen swigging on a glass of wine with his wedding ring firmly in place.

Rio – who was married to Rebecca, mother of his three children, from 2009 until her death in 2015 – proved his everlasting love for his late wife by still wearing the ring, just months after he opened up about his grief in a BBC documentary called Rio Ferdinand: Being Mum and Dad.

Talking of being a single dad on the show, he said: "This is one of the only things in life that we're going to go through together, where I haven't got the answers for them, and that's quite a worrying, daunting thing."

Rio's 2.3m Instagram followers didn't mention the wedding ring, with one fan telling him: "Good to see you smiling" as another put: "Aww your smile has made me smile today thank you rio Xx"

Reality star Kate has been lapping up the Portugese sunshine in her Instagram snaps meanwhile, posting a picture of herself drinking rose on a yacht in a stylish two piece white outfit.

She captioned the picture: "Lovely day at sea, taking in the beautiful views .... wearing @rubyviolet1 ☀️"

Just the day before, she wowed her followers by sharing a picture with lunching with Rio's female family members with the words: "Lunch with the girls ☀️"

Kate has been pictured with Rio several times over the past few months, but 38-year-old Rio has yet to publicly comment on the romance. The couple went public back in July after they appeared as one big happy family in a snap.