Speaking after Monday night's service in London, which was attended by all three surviving Beatles and a welter of other celebrities, Sir Paul said a second tribute would allow Linda's friends and relatives in the US to pay their respects.

The second service will be held at the Riverside Church in New York on June 22.

On Monday around 630 friends of the couple gathered at St Martin-In-The-Fields Church in central London to hear tributes from Sir Paul and several of Linda's friends.

The millionaire ex-Beatle told guests: "Through our kids, our beautiful kids, her spirit lives on."

Musical tributes, including songs he had written which were inspired by his wife, were also performed in the church by the Brodsky String Quartet and students from a performing arts academy in his native Liverpool.

The event brought Sir Paul together in public with Ringo Starr and George Harrison for the first time since 1969.

A spokesman for Sir Paul, Geoff Baker, said a service in the US had been "in the back of Paul's mind" for some time.

Linda McCartney was a New Yorker - born Linda Eastman - and Mr Baker said: "There are a lot of people over there who couldn't get to this one."

The couple's children - Mary, Stella, Heather and James - are expected to travel with Sir Paul to the second memorial.

Sir Paul sent a message to the crowd of animal lovers who had braved the unseasonal rain to hold a candelit vigil outside the church.