DEPUTY First Minister Martin McGuinness has tweeted a private photo-graph of his wedding day in Co Donegal 40 years ago.
The former Derry IRA commander married Bernie Canning on November 20 1974, just a week after he was released from Portlaoise prison in Co Laois where he served a term for IRA membership.
Unable to return to Derry where he risked arrest, Mr McGuinness, who was effectively "on the run", tied the knot across the border at St Mary's Church, Cockhill near Buncrana.
The images from his wedding day were captured by a former Irish News photographer Willie Carson who acted as the official wedding photographer.
Despite possessing an album of photographs which news outlets throughout the world would have paid a small fortune for, Mr Carson steadfastly refused to use the picture for his own personal gain.
The photographer's discretion was praised by the Sinn Féin politician as he posted the image in his 40th wedding anniversary tweet.
The deputy first minister, who has four children with his wife Bernie, tweeted: "Derry photo
journalist, Willie Carson took our pic 40 years ago today (last Thursday). He could've used it for his gain but never did!!"
One of the north's best known photo-journalists, Mr Carson's photographs covered day-to-day life in the Troubles in Derry.
While he worked with a number of newspapers, he spent his final years as photographer with The Irish News. He passed away in October 1996.
In 2006, the Derry photographer's family published a posthumous collection of his work.
The book, published by Derry's Guildhall Press, contained some of the few pictures of Mr McGuinness in his days as a member of the IRA.
The deputy first minister is pictured in full uniform at the funeral of fellow-IRA man and his then close personal friend, Colm Keenan who was shot dead by the British army.
Irish News columnist and commentator Denis Bradley, who was still a priest at St Columba's Long Tower parish in Derry's Bogside, at the time, recalled how he was asked to conduct Mr McGuinness's wedding.
would have been the Canning family (Mr McGuinness's wife's family) who asked me to do it, Mr Bradley said.
"I honestly don't remember it other than it was down in Cockhill. At the time, I was doing about three weddings a week and I don't remember the details.
"Willie (Carson) was the photographer. He wasn't doing it for the paper at the time. He was the official wedding photographer," he said.
* CAUGHT ON CAMERA: Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness with his wife Bernie, above, at the count centre in Ballymena Co Antrim; the couple on their wedding day, bottom right and Mr McGuinness in his days as a member of the IRA taken by former Irish News photographer Willie Carson. Mr McGuinness tweeted on Thursday that Mr Carson could have used the wedding day photo for his own gain but never did