Can twice-engaged Ginger Spice Geri FINALLY beat her marriage ‘jinx’?
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IT’S TIME to break out the confetti and find your biggest and finest hat because, after quite a few Mr Wrongs, Miss Geraldine Estelle Halliwell — the quintessential Spice Girl — is finally getting married. Geri, 42, who shot to global fame in the Nineties as Ginger Spice in the original girl power band, has been dating her Mr Right, millionaire Formula 1 team boss Christian Horner, for just over a year. They got engaged in November and are positively racing up the aisle, with the wedding being held on Thursday at Syon House in Middlesex, England. It looks certain to be a heartwarming event, with a rumoured special role for Geri’s two beloved Pomeranian dogs — there are whispers that the pooches may be ring-bearers. As well as a couple of Spice Girls, at least four of the high-society Delevingne clan are due to attend, with the bride being particularly close to the middle sister, model Poppy. Sadly, the groom’s parents are likely not coming — they disapprove of the romance, which blossomed after Christian l eft his partner of 14 years, j ust months after she had given birth to their daughter.
And both Posh Spice and Mel C — Sporty Spice — are pleading previous engagements on the other side of the world. So what will the bride wear — and will we read all about it in a glossy magazine? ALISON BOSHOFF has the inside track.
THE BRIDE WITH A PAST
WOULD it be uncharitable to mention the bride’s false starts? As well as her liaisons with socialist comedian Russell Brand, pop star Robbie Williams and Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans, Geri has been engaged at least twice before.
Her first ex-fiance was Demian Warner, a wealthy American whom she met in rehab in 2002. He was kicking a drug addiction and she was being treated for an eating disorder. They argued over her wanting a pre-nup and an HIV test, and split after only a few months.
In 2009, she was engaged to Italian businessman Fabrizio Politi, who gave her a € 200,000 diamond ring. She d u mped him abruptly — with him claiming to be baffled.
More recently she was said to be betrothed to s ociali t e Henry Beckwith, but they split in 2011 amid reports that she was jealous of his friendships with other women.
Her romance with screenwriter Sacha Gervasi was over by the time she realised she was pregnant with their daughter Bluebell, who turns nine on the wedding day.
As Geri observed in a candid interview 12 years ago: ‘I think we all know that relationships haven’t been one of my strong points.’
She added: ‘I think becoming famous arrested my development. I was emotionally immature and, as a result, unable to have strong, intimate relationships with men.’
She said in her autobiography that the death of her father, car dealer Laurence Halliwell, when she was 21 had left her desperately searching for a male figure in her life.
GROOM WITH A SHATTERED FAMILY
CHRISTIAN Horner, is a privately educated millionaire, as Geri’s lovers often turn out to be, and the boss of the Red Bull racing team. Geri met him thanks to her interest in Formula 1 — she is friends with F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone and racing entrepre- neur Eddie Jordan, and travels around the world to watch races. She and Horner, 41, were first pictured together in 2009. At that time, he was involved with Beverley Allen, with whom he lived in an Oxfordshire mansion.
She had his baby, Olivia, in October 2013. Christian and Geri publicly became an item in March 2014.
Geri’s account on photo-sharing site Instagram shows Horner blissfully content with her and Bluebell, sharing Easter with them i n the garden and going rowing on the Serpentine in London’s Hyde Park on a sunny day last month.
Last summer, they cruised around Italy’s Portofino in a yacht, enjoyed a Kate Bush concert and spent Christmas together on the Caribbean island of St Lucia.
Apparently he is ‘ good for her’ and ‘sensible’, and the idea of taking out a traditional engagement announcement in a newspaper — rather than selling the news to a magazine — was his.
SOCIETY GUESTS
BABY Spice Emma Bunton, to whom Geri has always been close, will be coming, along with her long-term partner Jade Jones, a fellow former pop star. Scary Spice Mel B, with whom Geri has had a rocky relationship, is making the trip from LA, where she lives with her Hollywood producer husband Stephen Belafonte.
Mel B didn’ t make David Beckham’s recent 40th birthday bash in Marrakech organised by Victoria ( left, with the other Spice Girls and Eva Longoria). Society couple Pandora and Charles Delevingne will be there — Geri is close to Pandora, a reformed drug addict who is best pals with Sarah Ferguson. Their model daughter Poppy, 29, is also a definite, along with her husband, James Cook. Poppy’s supermodel sister, Cara, has been invited, but is said to have a ‘ ridiculous’ schedule, and may not be able to make it.
WHO’S NOT COMING (PART ONE)
NO DOUBT crushingly for the groom, Christian’s parents Garry and Sara are understood to be staying away from the big day. They let it be known in December that they didn’t approve of their son’s romance.
Although invited, all concerned seem to accept that they’re unlikely to change their minds. A friend of Geri said: ‘ There are really big sensitivities in play here.’
The parents reportedly believe that Christian treated his former partner Beverley badly. The couple (left) were together for 14 years.
Mr and Mrs Horner — who are described as doting, devoted grandparents — are understood to be among several family members who disapprove of Christian’s decision to leave Beverley so soon after the birth of Olivia.
A family friend said: ‘You can say that his parents are absolutely devastated. They won’t be going to the wedding. They’re very upset by everything that has gone on, and
feel as though their loyalties are very divided.’
WHO’S NOT COMING PART TWO)
NEL C, Geri’s favourite Spice Girl, is missing out, as she will be in Singapore for Thursday night’s grand final of Asia’s Got Talent, on which she is a judge. Coincidentally, Victoria Beckham will also be in Singapore, as she has a long-standing arrangement at Singapore Fashion Week. The date was put in the diary last year, long before Geri announced she was getting married. Britain’s Got Talent judge David Walliams, a close pal of Geri’s, will be in Australia, on a book tour — she had hoped he’d do a Bible reading. I’m also told Elton John, who she wanted to come and even hoped might perform, won’t be there either.
THE FROCK
PETITE Geri — whose most famous outfit remains a Union Jack tea towel sewn onto a Topshop dress — has sought the skills of Sarah Burton, creative director at Alexander McQueen, who designed Kate Middleton’s wedding dress.
The dress will apparently be white, fitted and covered in embroidery and lace embellishments. The price hasn’t been disclosed, but it’s expected to be around €35,000.
And that’s before you include a veil and some diamonds.
WHY THE VICAR’S AN ALPHA MALE
THE charming Nicky Gumbel has been asked to preside over the wedding. Gumbel, who developed the Alpha course — an evangelical introduction to Christianity — is the vicar at Holy Trinity, Brompton, in central London. He has been friends with Geri ever since she took an Alpha course with him 12 years ago.
WHAT ABOUT A MAGAZINE DEAL?
SURPRISINGLY, there is no lucrative magazine deal in place — which does mark a change of heart as Geri sold the first pictures of Bluebell to Hello! in 2006.
However, there is a plan to release an image in exchange for a charitable donation — as Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt did when they married in France last year.
LOST IN SHOWBIZ
GERI had hoped that her friend, the singer George Michael, might give her a way. But the troubled former Wham! frontman hasn’t been seen in public for 18 months, and although his people insist that he is in ‘good form’, others claim that he never l eaves his home in north London. Certainly the local Italian restaurants which used to welcome him regularly report that he hasn’t crossed their thresholds in a long time.
Geri was very close to George’s ex-partner, American art dealer Kenny Goss, Bluebell’s godfather, but he returned to Texas on splitting from George in 2010. Sources say Geri’s Spanish mum, Ana Maria, will walk her down the aisle.