Madonna leaves Ritchie waiting at premiere

Madonna and Guy Ritchie's plans to put on another show of unity at the premiere of RocknRolla got off to a bad start last night when the Queen of Pop arrived an hour late.

The couple had been planning the public appearance together since July, when rumours of relationship difficulties were dogging the pair.

Madonna posed for pictures with her husband when she finally arrived at Leicester Square for the first screening of Ritchie's new movie. Moments later, Ritchie stopped to field questions from reporters about the state of their marriage.

Asked how he keeps the relationship going strong, Ritchie told the Daily Mail: "You've just got to love your wife. Is that boring enough?"

He also insisted that he was paying no attention to the claims made in Life With My Sister Madonna, penned by his wife's brother Christopher Ciccone.

RocknRolla centres around a group of London gangsters as they fight for a share of profits from a real estate scam. Ritchie has revealed that he sees the film as a watershed in his career.

"I see this as a beginning of my career I suppose," he explained. "I am looking forward to the next ten years and trying to make a lot of films. To make as many different films as I can in different genres. I am hungrier than I was ten years ago."