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Louise Thomas
Editor
Prince Harry and Boris Johnson are among guests pencilled in for the UK-leg of the $600m wedding for the son of Asia’s richest man.
A glittering array of A-list celebrities and politicians descended on Mumbai last weekend as the Ambani-Merchant wedding reached its crescendo with three days of lavish celebrations.
From Kim Kardashian to Tony Blair, the great and the good from the world of showbiz and politics were drawn to the extravagant event, which will now turn its attention to the UK for an extraordinary two-month after-party.
The happy couple tied the knot on the weekend of July 12 but celebrations are expected to continue for months to come – with festivities resuming at the historic Stoke Park Country Club near Slough.
The seven-star hotel was purchased by the Ambani family in 2021 for £57m and has featured on the silver screen – most famously in Bridget Jones’ Diary when Hugh Grant’s character falls into the water while rowing a boat.
Some guests who attended the Mumbai wedding such as Boris and Carrie Johnson, who were reportedly paid to attend, may make a second appearance at the hotel. The pair could be joined by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who are rumoured to be among the UK guest list.
However, the event is not without controversy. Around 850 members of the Grade II listed golf club were warned to steer clear as the family have block-booked the hotel until September for renovations ahead of the event, reports suggest.
The Ambanis are said to have clashed with the local council as questions were raised as to whether they were correctly upholding the terms of the estate’s leasehold, according to the Financial Times.
The leasehold is clear the site must be used as a commercial property rather than a private one, making the move to close the hotel to the public while remaining open to the family a contentious one.
Although the celebrations in the UK will likely spare little expense, it is unlikely to upstage the pair’s lavish Mumbai ceremony.
Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant are estimated to have spent $600m on various events, which will last for another two months. Anant is the son of India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, while Radhika is the heiress to a pharmaceutical dynasty.
Their pre-wedding party consisted of a three-day celebration with a 1,200-person guest list including former world leaders, tech tycoons and a performance by Rihanna. Later, they embarked on a European cruise which featured performances by the Backstreet Boys and Katy Perry.
Celebrations culminated with last weekend’s events with the likes of Justin Bieber taking to the stage to perform at their traditional Sangeet night in Mumbai.
The couple married in a traditional Hindu ceremony on the Friday. This was followed by a ‘Shubh Ashirwad’ on Saturday — a ceremony held for the couple to receive blessings from guests and elders, culminating in a ‘Mangal Utsav’, the reception.
The weekend saw Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, John Cena and Tony Blair attend the nuptials. The Ambanis are said to have hired 100 private jets to fly guests in from around the world, while every five-star hotel in the area was booked up.
Kim and Khloe Kardashian skipped the red carpet but documented their attendance to their millions of followers on social media.
The sisters wore two show-stopping outfits as they attended both Friday’s and Saturday’s programmes of events. On Friday, Kim wore a red lehenga while Khloe opted for a white and gold ensemble. On Saturday, Kim wore more neutral colours as Khloe went all out with a bright pink lehenga.
Kim’s red ensemble raised some eyebrows because, according to Indian tradition, guests do not typically wear red to a wedding.
Despite the extravagant efforts of guests, the couple remained very much the stars of the night with the groom arriving first wearing a golden sherwani paired with trainers before later changing for the ceremony.
Then the bride appeared in a dazzling, hand-embroidered red and white ensemble, featuring a 16ft veil finished with stones and sequins.
Inside the venue, guests walked into a miniature version of the holy Indian city of Varanasi, with finely carved sculptures and bouquets of flowers placed around the venue.
The bride made her entrance on a boat before the couple exchanged their vows under a large altar with white domes.
Later in the evening footage shared on social media showed spectacular performances from Indian singer Daler Mehndi and Afrobeats artist Rema.
The guests also enjoyed the baraat, a lively wedding procession for the groom featuring live music and dancing.
Videos of Priyanka Chopra and Ranveer Singh dancing to popular Bollywood songs quickly went viral on social media.
The father of the groom, Mukesh Ambani, 66, is the world’s ninth richest man with a net worth of $116bn, according to Forbes – making him the richest person in Asia.
Ambani senior has begun passing the torch to his two sons and daughter. The eldest, Akash Ambani, is now chairperson of Reliance Jio, their telecoms business; his daughter, Isha, oversees retail, while the groom Anant, the youngest, has been brought into the new energy business.
Anant, 29, has a bachelor’s degree from Brown University, according to Reliance Industries’ website, and oversees the renewable and green energy expansion.
The bride, Radhika Merchant, also 29, is the daughter of pharmaceutical tycoon Viren Merchant and is the marketing director for his company, Encore Healthcare, according to Vogue.
She told the magazine that the two were introduced through mutual friends in 2017. “That first meeting just sparked something special between us, and it wasn’t long before we started dating,” she said.
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