Rupert Murdoch to marry Jerry Hall

IT IS an unlikely union that combines wealth and fame to create one of the world's most powerful couples.
Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall. Picture: PARupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall. Picture: PA
Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall. Picture: PA

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch and former super­model Jerry Hall yesterday confirmed they are to marry.

The surprise engagement was announced in the pages of The Times, part of Mr ­Murdoch’s global newspaper portfolio.

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It follows a whirlwind four-month romance between the pair who met last summer after being introduced by one of Mr Murdoch’s sisters and his niece in Australia.

Between them, the couple have ten children. The marriage will be Mr Murdoch’s fourth and Ms Hall’s first.

The notice, placed in the births, marriages and deaths section of yesterday’s edition of the newspaper, reads: “Mr Rupert Murdoch, father of Prudence, Elisabeth, Lachlan, James, Grace and Chloe Murdoch, and Miss Jerry Hall, mother of Elizabeth, James, Georgia and Gabriel Jagger, are delighted to announce their engagement.”

The couple were engaged in Los Angeles at the weekend, during which they attended the Golden Globes awards in one of their rare public appearances together.

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Their relationship became public last October when they were seen for the first time together at the Rugby World Cup final in London.

Although details of the ceremony have yet to be revealed, it promises to create one of the most high-profile marriages in the world.

Mr Murdoch, 84, and his family have an estimated worth of £7.7 billion, according to Forbes magazine, while Ms Hall, 59, is understood to have a fortune of around
£15 million.

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But the marriage is also likely to throw up some tricky topics of conversation for guests invited to witness the exchange of vows.

Mr Murdoch has offered his support to Republican Ben Carson in this year’s US presidential elections, while Ms Hall has previously shown support for the Democrats.

On climate change, meanwhile, Mr Murdoch regards himself as a sceptic, a stance that contradicts his wife-to-be’s views. Ms Hall has described global warming as the biggest threat the world has seen and has campaigned to raise awareness of the issue.

Despite their conflicting views, a spokesman for the Murdoch family said the couple were looking forward to becoming husband and wife, explaining: “They have loved these past few months together [and] are thrilled to be getting married and excited about their future.”

Mr Murdoch was previously married to Patricia Booker, an Australian, and then to Scots-born journalist Anna Torv. He later married Chinese-born Wendi Deng, whom he divorced in 2013. Ms Hall, a Texas native, was one of the most photographed models in the 1970s and dated Roxy Music singer Bryan Ferry. She entered a long-term relationship with Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger in the late 1970s. She and Jagger had an unofficial private Hindu marriage ceremony in Bali, Indonesia, in 1990, but during divorce proceedings in 1999 a British court declared the marriage invalid.