James Blunt became an instant sensation when his album Back to Bedlam hit shelves in 2004. With his massive hit “You’re Beautiful,” the shaggy-haired former British soldier had legions of women in the U.K., U.S., and beyond pining the pure and earnest romance the song exuded. Other equally romantic songs followed, including the tear-inducing “Goodbye My Lover” and catchy “Same Mistake” followed, and the hitmaker’s star rose rapidly.
It didn’t hurt that then-“it girl” Mischa Barton made a surreal starring appearance in his dreamy “Goodbye My Lover” video, and before long news emerged that he was dating supermodel Petra Nemcova. They famously dated between 2005 and 2007.
Seven years later, he married Sofia Wellesley, a woman of noble pedigree, and they’ve since welcomed children and retreated into a private existence. “People have always asked me, ‘When are you going to settle down?’ And I’m lucky to have met someone who worked at a higher tempo than me and instead of settling down, I had to speed up. I wish I could say I was still in the Ibiza clubs all the time,” James perviously told The Sun while promoting his new album Who We Used to Be.
In 2013, James told the Daily Mail, “What I will say is that I’m very happy at the moment with Sofia. It takes a strong person to be able to deal with somebody working in music. It’s hard when you’re with somebody and you become embroiled in something just because you were seen standing next to someone else.”
More than 10 years later, James told fans that he’d change his name to whatever they wanted if his album charted at the No. 1 spot.
Here’s everything to know about the marriage of James and Sofia.
What is Sofia’s royal background?
The beautiful Sofia catapulted James from simple fame to upper-crust status. That’s because she’s the daughter of Lord John Henry Wellesley and Lady Corinne Vaes, and the granddaughter of the late Valerian Wellesley, 8th Duke of Wellington. It’s a mouthful, to be sure, and there’s a reason for that — Sofia’s family titles have meant rubbing shoulders with the British aristocracy, including Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. In fact, the couple scored a coveted invite to Harry and Meghan’s massive royal wedding in 2018.
When did they marry?
James and Sofia were engaged in December of 2013. Per Us Weekly, they married in a private ceremony in London on September 5, 2014, followed by a lavish but intimate celebration with close family and friends in Majorca on September 19.
According to E! News, the wedding took place at the estate of Marsana, which is owned by property owned by Sofia’s mother. The bride wore a stunning long sleeved lace gown, and they were photographed happily leaving the grounds together in a bronze VW convertible, with the top down.
Sofia is highly accomplished
While James has a cadre of hits under his belt, Sofia brought plenty of her accomplishments to the marriage. She completed law school at the highly prestigious Edinburgh University — Pippa Middleton‘s alma mater. She has worked as a legal consultant for a law firm in London.
She welcomed two kids with James
Sofia and James have two children together — both are sons, and the eldest has very famous godparents. Ed Sheeran is his godfather, while the late Carrie Fisher was the godmother. Little is known about the famous couples’ sons, but in a rare interview, the hitmaker opened up about his life as a father.
“I keep my private life private and yet write these deeply personal songs,” he said in a 2020 interview, explaining that his song “Monsters” is about putting someone to bed. “It’s about putting someone to bed,” he said. “Once upon a time my father put me to bed, read me a story. And now it’s my turn to put him to bed and I recognize that only because of the way I put my own children to bed.”
The couple tragically suffered the loss of a child that James sings about in the song “The Girl That Never Was” from his new new album. “The balance of emotion is tough,” he said in an interview with the BBC. “It’s women who go through the main trauma, and the rest of us have to work out how best to help. I don’t always know the answer.”
James told The Sun, “The song that means the most is ‘The Girl That Never Was’ and I’ve talked about how we can relate. We all have ambitions to start families at some point – sometimes we have success and sometimes we struggle, which is what the song is about.”