The wedding of the year? Rupert Murdoch announces his ...

Molecular biologist Elena Zhukova is the mother of Dasha Zhukova, 42, the Moscow-born art collector who was once married to Roman Abramovich, a billionaire Russian oligarch whose ownership of Chelsea Football Club made him a household name in Britain. Dasha’s father was also a Russian oligarch, Alexander Zhukov, who split from Elena when their daughter was just three years old. Elena took their young daughter to America, where she worked as a molecular biologist with a specialism in diabetes. Later Elena held a position at UCLA.

Dasha, whose inner circle includes Italian aristocrat Bianca Brandolini and the fashion designer Emilia Wickstead, married the then twice-divorced Abramovich in 2008 and went on to welcome two children with the billionaire, Aaron Alexander and Leah Lou, who were both born in the US. The couple were separated in 2017 and divorced the following year. The settlement included the transfer of over $92 million worth of property to Dasha, including a four-story mansion in Manhattan.

Dasha Zhukova (centre) and Stavros Niarchos with Charlotte Santo Domingo

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Around the time of her separation, rumours started to swirl of a relationship between Dasha Zhukova and Stavros Niarchos III, the heir to the Greek shipping empire founded by his grandfather and namesake, Stavros Niarchos. Dasha and Stavros initially tried to keep their relationship under wraps – turning up to the same events separately and being careful not to be photographed à deux (difficult in the company of some of their social media loving friends). Their relationship was all but confirmed in January 2018 when Stavros spent New Year’s Eve with Zhukova's friends in Peru, joining a starry gathering that included the likes of music magnate David Geffen, supermodel Karlie Kloss and screenwriter Erin Foster on a journey through the Amazon.