Murdoch And Hall In Fleet St Wedding Service

Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall are to hold a marriage service next month at an iconic church on London's Fleet Street, the spiritual home of British journalism.

The 84-year-old media mogul and the former supermodel, 59, announced their engagement last month in an advert in The Times newspaper, which Mr Murdoch owns.

The couple's nuptials will be celebrated on 5 March at St Bride's Church, famed for its wedding-cake spire and designed by Sir Christopher Wren, who was also responsible for the nearby St Paul's Cathedral.

"He will be having a service to celebrate the marriage," Claire Seaton from St Bride's told Reuters.

She said the actual wedding ceremony will take place elsewhere.

The three-times-married media tycoon and Ms Hall, the former partner of Rolling Stones singer Sir Mick Jagger, got engaged in Los Angeles, where they had been attending the Golden Globes awards ceremony.

He divorced his third wife, Wendi Deng, a former executive at Murdoch-owned Star TV in China, in 2013 after 14 years, saying their marriage had irretrievably broken down.

Ms Hall was married to Sir Mick for more than 20 years but in divorce proceedings in 1999 the musician claimed they were never legally married.

Among the 150 or so guests are likely to be Robert Thomson, News Corp's chief executive, and Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News UK.

Mr Murdoch is an executive co-chairman of 21st Century Fox, which has a 39.6% stake in Sky plc, the owner of Sky News.