The bride was dressed in white, the groom was wearing sneakers and they both seemed elated, writes CHRISTOPHER STEVENS about Rupert Murdoch, 93, and his fifth wife, Elena Zhukova.

The bride wore a white off-the-shoulder dress by London designer Emilia Wickstead, whose clients include the Princess of Wales and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

Her bridal bouquet was a simple lily of the valley bouquet.

The 93-year-old groom, for his part, looked elegant in a sober gray suit with a gold tie and a pair of thick-soled sneakers that may have been chosen with comfort in mind.

The meeting between Rupert Murdoch and retired molecular biologist Elena Zhukova, 67, has been described by Tatler magazine as the media mogul’s “ultimate power encounter”.

Elena is no stranger to life among the super rich. Her first husband, Alexander Zhukov, is, like Murdoch, a billionaire thanks to his energy investments, and her daughter Darya (known as Dasha) was married for ten years to former Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich, who made billions with the privatization of Russia in the 90s. drive.

But her new husband is richer than both. His estimated fortune of £15.6bn puts him among the 75 richest people on the planet, even though he resigned last year as head of media giants News Corp and Fox, passing the chairmanship to his eldest son Lachlan. one of the three children he had with his first wife Ana.

The Sun newspaper, part of his press group, reported yesterday: “News legend Rupert Murdoch was all smiles yesterday as he married his beautiful bride.”

Only one of his four previous wives attended Saturday’s nuptials.

That was his third ex-wife and television executive Wendi Deng, who was married to him between 1999 and 2013, and with whom he has two daughters.

Her presence wasn’t all that surprising, given that it was Wendi who introduced Elena to Murdoch at a garden party she hosted last year.

It seems like she may have even encouraged their romance. Perhaps understandably, there was no sign of ex-wife No. 4, Jerry Hall, the woman the Rolling Stones’ Sir Mick Jagger stole from Roxy Music rival Bryan Ferry to be his long-term partner.

The ceremony took place at Murdoch’s beautiful Moraga Estate vineyard in Bel Air, California.

Jerry was reportedly hoping to be given Moraga as part of their divorce settlement, but she clearly had a special place in Murdoch’s heart, so much so that he decided to make it the setting for their final wedding.

Jerry married him in 2016, a week before his 85th birthday, but he was fired six years later via email, a display of callousness that shocked even the most seasoned Murdoch watchers.

“Jerry,” he wrote, “I have regrettably decided to end our marriage.” “We’ve certainly had some good times, but I have a lot to do.”

A lot to do? No one could have predicted that this would include a flirtation with the widow of country singer Chester Smith (best known for his hit Wait A Little Longer, Please Jesus).

Murdoch wooed Ann Lesley Smith, 67, with an 11-carat diamond engagement ring worth around £2million and the couple were seen holidaying on the beach in Barbados, with his lithe fiancée sporting a yellow bikini. But the engagement lasted only two weeks and Murdoch ended it when he became “increasingly uncomfortable” with his evangelical Christian beliefs, according to Vanity Fair magazine.

Murdoch’s family life is often said to be the inspiration for the television epic Succession, an HBO series about aging media mogul Logan Roy (played by Brian Cox) and his sons’ internecine scheming to take over his empire. .

But even Logan’s love life wasn’t all that colorful. “He seems incapable of having a relationship with a woman without wanting to marry her,” a media analyst told the Daily Mail when Rupert’s engagement to Elena was announced last March. “Whether it’s loneliness, fear, or something deeper, who knows?”

Others have suggested that Murdoch “doesn’t really believe in sex outside of marriage.”

She appeared to be in good shape in newly released wedding photos, but her health has been questionable in recent years.

In 2018, he suffered a fall aboard Lachlan’s 140-foot yacht, the Sarissa, and required treatment for both a broken back and a cardiac arrhythmia.

He was also hospitalized after a Covid attack, when he lost his balance at the wedding of his granddaughter Charlotte Freud, 21, in 2022.

After he was introduced to Elena at Wendi’s home in Los Angeles, he invited her to join a family cruise last August in the Mediterranean.

His choice of boat was a £600,000-a-week megayacht called Christina O, with a very romantic pedigree.

Aristotle Onassis courted Jackie Kennedy on the ship, while Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier held their wedding reception there. Although the new Mrs Murdoch is used to the good life, she has the impressive credentials of a serious scientist. Born in Moscow to Jewish parents, she immigrated to the United States in 1991 as part of the “Russian brain drain” that followed the collapse of communism.

A molecular biologist specializing in the study of diabetes, she took a position at Baylor University in Texas. By then, she was already divorced from her first husband, Zhukov, and took her daughter to the United States.

Another marriage followed to a man named George Gause, also a scientist. They had two children, Yuri and Katya, before divorcing.

In 1994, he moved to Los Angeles to work at the University of California, UCLA. Her daughter Dasha attended an exclusive private school in West Los Angeles.

After Dasha’s marriage to Abramovich, an associate of her father, Dasha was able to give her mother gifts, including an £8 million house in Beverly Hills, in 2008.

A UCLA colleague commented: ‘Elena already came from a wealthy background. Then her daughter married a billionaire. Now that the nuptials are over, the happy couple plans to spend most of their time at the Bel Air estate, where Rupert continues to work on developing an internationally renowned winery. The wine already has a cult following.

“He wants Moraga to be a big part of his legacy,” a source confided yesterday.