Almost beaming for the camera, Rupert Murdoch at the age of 93 has got married for the fifth time to a bride just a quarter of a century younger.

Wedding photographs released on Sunday show Mr Murdoch, the media tycoon, in high spirits with his new bride 67-year-old Elena Zhukova, a former molecular biologist born in Moscow. 

The bride wore an off-white, off-the-shoulder wedding dress while her new husband looked immaculate in a dark suit, white shirt and patterned yellow tie.

Succession, the hit TV series, modelled in part on the internecine rows of Mr Murdoch and his children (he has six in all) could not have made up such a fairytale ending for the world’s most influential media magnate.

The photos released - three in total - show Mr Murdoch’s new wife hugging him tenderly while holding a posy of Lily of the Valley flowers. 

In another they are sat on chairs and she is laughing out loud and he is smiling broadly too. In the third, the happy couple are sat on an outdoor sofa, the couple appearing content. Mr Murdoch is clutching a glass that contains water. 

The wedding took place in Mr Murdoch’s vineyard in California beneath suitably blue skies and in warm sunshine. It might have been fifth time around, but it’s hard to believe he’s had better weather than this.

The new Mrs Murdoch, despite her academic background, is no stranger to the high life. Her former husband Alexander Zhukov was a Russian oil tycoon and their glamorous daughter Darya - known as Dasha - was married to Roman Abramovich, the oligarch and one-time owner of Chelsea Football Club who is now on a sanctions list in the UK.

Mr Murdoch met his latest wife, who had worked at University of California, Los Angeles (better known as UCLA) some months ago at a party, it has been reported, hosted by wife number three Wendi Deng. Their engagement was announced in March and came as something of a surprise.

He had previously been engaged to Ann Lesley Smith, a former police chaplain, but their relationship was abruptly called off in April last year.

Mr Murdoch’s fourth marriage to the ex-model Jerry Hall ended after seven years in June 2022. Previous wives were Patricia Booker, an Australian flight attendant, and Anna Mann, a Scottish-born journalist.

Mr Murdoch stood down as chairman of News Corporation, which owns the Sun and Times newspapers in the UK as well as US media outlets including Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, in November when his son Lachlan took over his responsibilities.