Rod Stewart and Penny Lancaster cosy up during public outing and ignore 'rift' rumours

Rod Stewart and Penny Lancaster were seen putting on a united front at the WellChild Awards on Monday, September 30.

The couple, who have been married since 2007, appeared to be in high spirits as they posed for photos alongside their son, Alastair Wallace Stewart.

The WellChild Awards celebrate the remarkable achievements and resilience of seriously ill children and their families, and this year's event took place at the Royal Lancaster in London. Rod and Penny’s public appearance comes amid swirling rumours of a rift between them.

The family looked perfectly coordinated, with Penny, 53, sporting a grey striped shirt paired with a knee-length leather skirt. The rock star, 79, wore a black blazer, matching striped trousers, and grey loafers. Meanwhile, their son Alastair, 18, looked dashing in a grey suit and black shoes.

Rod and Penny’s relationship was reported to be struggling after the Loose Women star became "furious" with her husband for refusing to leave their LA mansion.

The couple had allegedly agreed to sell their Beverly Hills home and permanently move to their £4.3 million countryside estate in Essex. However, reports suggested that Sir Rod had changed his mind, leading to a "stalemate" over their disagreement.

"Penny has no plans to return to LA, which she's not a fan of, while Rod has no plans to move back right now," an insider told MailOnline. "

However, the music legend sensationally squashed rumours of a feud between them as he took to Instagram to say: "We wanted to set the record straight. There is absolutely no rift between Penny and I and no disagreement over where we should reside, in fact it's the opposite. We moved back to our beloved Britain a year ago but are fortunate enough to also have homes in different countries, which we love to visit.

"Originally we did think it made sense to sell our house in LA, but having spent a wonderful time there this summer with family and friends during my Vegas residency, we realised that it makes sense to keep our house there.

Adding: "Two of my eldest children still live in Celtic House (the LA residence). Penny and I could not be more in love with each other after 27 glorious years. Please trust me on this... there's no disharmony in our marriage."

Rod, who had been married twice before, began his relationship with Penny in 1999, and the couple tied the knot seven years later. Penny once revealed that they made a pact to "never spend more than 10 days apart."

Back in 2017, the mum-of-one gave a rare insight into her relationship, explaining: “He is still working hard he is not going to retire anytime soon. For the first year of our relationship he was in America and I was in the UK, I was still studying at college, so we had that separation.

“I thought if this is going to work then this is going to make a very strong foundation and it will give us better leverage for later on.

“But nowadays with the kids still school and Rod at work, we've made a pact to not spend any longer than 10 days apart. The longest we spent apart was two weeks and we were like ‘this is too much, we can't do this’.”