Bill Gates seen with girlfriend Paula Hurd at Ambani pre-wedding bash

Bill Gates at 'An Evening in Everland' with Paula Hurd, Anant Ambani and Mukesh Ambani

Bill Gates was photographed with girlfriend Paula Hurd at Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s pre-wedding bash on Friday night. The Microsoft billionaire and his girlfriend posed with Mukesh Ambani and his son, groom-to-be Anant Ambani, at Jamnagar, where the three-day extravaganza is currently underway.

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and his wife Nita Ambani are hosting some very high-profile guests at their Jamnagar estate for three days of festivities before their youngest son’s wedding in July. The Ambanis kicked off pre-wedding festivities for their youngest son, Anant Ambani, on Friday night with a themed cocktail party.

The pre-wedding functions will run from March 1 to 3. On March 1, guests experience ‘An Evening in Everland’ – as the night was themed – with a performance from Rihanna, a drone show and, of course, plenty of couture on display.

Bill Gates, 68, was seen with his girlfriend Paula Hurd at the pre-wedding bash. The couple has reportedly been dating for over two years now. For the party, Hurd opted for a simple black cocktail dress with silver embellishments in keeping with the ‘Elegant Cocktail’ dress code.

Paula Hurd is the widow of former Oracle CEO Mark Hurd. Speculation about her relationship with Bill Gates began in January last year when the two were spotted together at the Australian Open. Both of them are tennis fans who were also pictured sitting together at the WTA semifinal match of the Indian Wells tennis tournament in March 2022.

In July 2023, rumours surfaced that Gates and Hurd are engaged after the latter was spotted wearing a diamond ring. They were dismissed by a spokesperson for the Microsoft co-founder who told People magazine: “Our office can confirm that the ring Mrs Hurd was seen wearing has belonged to her for decades.”

Bill Gates’s divorce from his ex-wife Melinda French Gates was finalised in August 2021.