Who is Maria Sharapova's fiancé Alexander Gilkes? All about the art dealer's links with Prince William and Harry
Sports legend Maria Sharapova recently took to her Instagram to announce her engagement to British businessman and art dealer Alexander Gilkes. In a series of stunning couple pictures and videos, the Russian tennis champion and five-time Grand Slam title holder, 33, announced to her world and introduced her new beau.
She captioned her post with, "I said yes from the first day we met❤️This was our little secret, wasn’t it 💍🥂@gilkesa." The post quickly racked up over 286,000 likes and several congratulatory comments. Marrying someone as famous and powerful as Maria can be intimidating for many men, but a glance at her future husband Alexander's life will leave you convinced that Maria couldn't have found a better partner for herself. Here's how Alexander, 41, announced it to the world:
Read on to know more about this famous art dealer, who has close ties with the British royal family and several celebrity connections.
Alexander studied at Eton, where he became close friends with Prince William, despite being three years senior to him. Later, he went on to become close even with Harry. Although his connection to the royal family begins at Eton, it doesn't end there. Prior to falling head over heels in love with Maria in 2018, the successful art-dealer had a decade-long romance with a fashion designer- Misha Nonoo. Alexander met Misha when he was 25 and she was just 17 while working at the concierge firm Quintessentially. According to DailyMail, when Misha first met Alexander she thought he was gay because he was so well-dressed.
But soon the couple began dating each other and got married in 2012, in a lavish ceremony in Venice. The couple's wedding was attended by Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice. This forged yet another future royal connection as Misha is one of Meghan Markle's best friends. The couple's marriage, unfortunately, came to an end in 2016. Neither of them gave any explanations behind their split, aside from a vague mention of mutual ambitions getting in the way of their marriage.
While his romance with Misha might have not lasted, his connection to the royal family kept getting stronger, as he offered Princess Eugenie a job as an auction manager at one of his art firms. She worked at the firm from 2013-2015.
Sharapova, the founder of sweets company Sugarpova, was previously engaged to basketball player Sasha Vujacic. In February, she announced to the world that she was retiring from the sport. The tennis superstar and Alexander were first spotted together in 2018, at an airport. In 2019, the couple arranged for a lavish getaway to Spain with friends to celebrate Alexander's 40th birthday party. Looking at the many A-list connections that Alexander has and Maria's superstardom in the sports world, their wedding will definitely be the one to watch out for.