Eve Jobs and Harry Charles marry in ‘quaint corner' of the Cotswolds

Times

4 days ago

Even billionaires can't make the sun shine. But as guests gathered for the wedding of the Apple heiress, Eve Jobs, to the British Olympic equestrian Harry Charles late on Saturday afternoon, the grey clouds finally started to lift over the Cotswold hamlet.
The usually tranquil roads were busy as guests arrived in Mercedes vans at the small medieval parish church of St Michael and All Angels in Great Tew. Nine bridesmaids, including Jessica Springsteen, daughter of Bruce and a show-jumping champion, wore crimson gowns to match the 5ft balls of roses decorating the outside of the church.
The bride herself sneaked in via a secret entrance to avoid the photographers outside. Other guests included the actor Callum Turner, 35, and the chef Ruth Rogers, 76, who was followed into the church by a delivery man carrying a stack of pizzas.
The bride, 27, is a Stanford graduate, equestrian and model, as well as the youngest daughter of Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, who died in 2011 from pancreatic cancer.
Jobs, named by the society magazine Tatler as one of its new generation of It Girls, and Charles, 26, who won a gold medal at the Paris Olympics last year, began dating in 2022 and became engaged last September. Theirs is a 'nepo baby' love match: the groom is the son of Peter Charles, also an equestrian, who was in the British team that won gold at the 2012 London Olympics.
Guests at the reception included Kamala Harris, the former US vice-president, who has been friends with the bride's mother, Laurene Powell Jobs, for more than 20 years. The billionaire philanthropist backed her failed run for the US presidency last year. Other guests included Jony Ive, who met Steve Jobs at Apple, where they ate lunch together almost every day.
The lavish reception was held at the private members' club and hotel Estelle Manor, where Sir Elton John performed for the newlyweds and their guests for a reported £1 million fee. All the manor's 107 rooms were booked by guests, while other friends stayed at Soho Farmhouse, where the Duchess of Sussex, then plain Meghan Markle, had her hen party in 2018.
Although the couple paid the same fee — £675 — as any other betrothed couple to marry in the church, the estimated cost of the wedding was £5 million.
Jobs grew up in Palo Alto in California. Despite the high cost of the wedding, she is not expected to receive a hefty inheritance. Speaking to The New York Times after her husband's death, Laurene Powell Jobs said: 'I'm not interested in legacy wealth building, and my children know that … Steve wasn't interested in that. If I live long enough, it ends with me.'
The couple's nuptials have disturbed the bucolic atmosphere of the area this weekend, with ex-military personnel setting up hazel hurdle screens outside the church gates and security staff parking their SUVs on narrow lanes.
This part of the Cotswolds is home to Sir David and Lady Beckham, the actress Donna Air, who is in the process of selling her £3 million house, and Ellen DeGeneres, the talk show host, who moved to the UK with her wife, Portia de Rossi, to escape the US during President Trump's second term.
The music mogul Simon Cowell and his fiancée, Lauren Silverman, also live nearby, and while riding their e-bikes on Saturday afternoon they stopped outside the Quince and Clover café to take photos with fans. Silverman, 48, whose friends, the hospitality entrepreneurs Sharan and Eiesha Pasricha, own Estelle Manor, said that the area appealled to Americans — including herself — because their privacy can be maintained. Cowell, 65, congratulated the newlyweds. 'I wish them the best of luck — it's a beautiful place for it.'
Harris, 60, spent Wednesday night at The Bull in Charlbury as a part of a private party ahead of the wedding. The Bull, a 15th-century pub which was last month crowned the UK's best, is now owned by James Gummer and Phil Winser, who also run The Pelican gastropub in Notting Hill. The pair grew up nearby and both had their first pints at The Bull, and their return has drawn a famous crowd to the pub.
Some locals feel uncomfortable, however, at the way their charming country town has been increasingly commandeered by the celebrity set. The reality TV star Kourtney Kardashian was also in the Cotswolds on Saturday, posting a gallery of pictures on Instagram including one of Estelle Manor.
David Jenkins, 19, an apprentice surveyor who has lived in Charlbury for his entire life, said: 'The success of The Bull is really good for the community, but I think this is my best description of the reality: I was in Austria and I described where I lived. I said 'you know Soho Farmhouse, I live 20 mins from there?' and they said: 'Ah, you know The Bull?' It's famous but maybe for the wrong reasons. I see all the security around and think, Charlbury has changed.'
Harry, 21, has also lived in Charlbury all his life and worked at Soho Farmhouse as a waiter and at The Bull for two and a half years, before he left to pursue a career in photography.
'I've seen Becks [and] Margot Robbie, and Boris Johnson had his New Year's Eve party here [at The Bull],' Harry said. 'I just left but apparently for this most recent event [with Kamala Harris] everyone had to sign an NDA. I never had to sign an NDA before … Charlbury as an area has changed a lot. I dislike that it's been heavily Americanised, it's lost its charm.'
Others welcomed the global spotlight landing on this quaint corner of the Cotswolds. Natalie Walsh, 54, who manages a healthcare department in a prison, said: 'It's a perfect place to get married if you're rich and you like horses. I think sometimes the negativity around it is just envy.'