Curse of the Gettys strikes again: This Coronation Street star's son married one of the world's richest women in the 'most extravagant wedding ever' and turned her into an unlikely fan of British TV. Now it's all fallen apart...

The fairytale romance was set to finally break the Getty family curse — and it could not have involved a more unlikely pairing.

Ivy Love Getty, 29, was the youngest scion of the infamous dynasty, an heiress in line for a share of a £4.3 billion fortune, the consequence of her oil baron forebears' astute business acumen 100 years ago.

He, meanwhile, was the son of a British actress who appeared in Coronation Street, Bergerac and The Bill.

But when Ivy married Tobias Engel, 32, a little-known photographer with brooding good looks, they could not have made a stronger public statement of their love.

Within three years of meeting they had enjoyed not one but two weddings.

First, there was an intimate, pandemic-compliant ceremony in December 2020, and then, 11 months later, they invited 700 guests to a hedonistic, three-day celebration in her hometown of San Francisco.

Hailed as one of the most extravagant weddings of all time, it featured a Sixties-themed fancy dress party, live sets from DJ Mark Ronson and Earth, Wind and Fire, Michelin-quality food for breakfast, lunch and dinner — and a guest list so starry it resembled that of the Met Gala.

Ivy Love Getty, 29, and Tobias Engel, 32, a little-known photographer with brooding good looks, pictured together in January 2023

At their second ceremony in 2021, they invited 700 guests to a hedonistic, three-day wedding celebration in her hometown of San Francisco

On Instagram, where Ivy boasts 91,900 followers, she hasn't been pictured wearing her ring since November — and in two magazine shoots, published in January, she displays an unadorned finger

Attendees included actress Anya Taylor-Joy, also the maid of honour, Princess Olympia of Greece, and Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, a family friend who officiated the nuptials.

The stylish bride wore 18 different haute couture dresses, including a custom-made £400,000 gown by John Galliano, adorned with shards of broken mirrors and a 16ft veil.

Meanwhile, the besotted groom wrote his own vows, declaring: 'Faith in us has changed my world, captured my heart and tamed my soul. Your belief in me and in us has been the biggest gift of my life.'

Just months later, in a joint interview with Californian magazine, C, they revealed they had bought two houses – one in New York, one in London – and were already considering having children.

With its bleak history of drug overdoses, illicit affairs, scandals and that infamous kidnapping — in which her great-grandfather, J Paul Getty, refused to pay his own grandson's ransom, resulting in his ear being hacked off by the mafia — the Getty family was in dire need of happier headlines.

But the curse, it seems, has not yet relinquished its hold on this beleaguered dynasty.

Not only has Ivy had to contend with the deaths of her father, from a fentanyl overdose, and her beloved grandmother in quick succession in recent years, last week it was revealed that the ultimate modern-day 'It' girl has filed for divorce, just over three years after she and Tobias first tied the knot.

Documents from a New York court list the divorce as 'contested', meaning the pair were not able to settle matters beforehand — and sources suggest there is no love lost between them.

Eagle-eyed fans first spotted something was up several months ago, querying why Ivy, who loved to flaunt her Princess Diana-inspired sapphire engagement ring, appeared to have taken it off.

On Instagram, where she boasts 91,900 followers, she hasn't been pictured wearing her ring since November — and in two magazine shoots, published in January, she displays an unadorned finger.

What's more, all images of Tobias —whom she calls 'Toby' — have now been deleted from Ivy's social media, save for a few distant group shots from their 2021 wedding.

His Instagram account, as well as his Facebook page, seems to have disappeared completely.

But it looks like the fissures in their relationship can be traced back further than six months.

Tobias was born in Vienna in 1991, to an Austrian businessman named Peter Engel and Cheryl Prime, an English actress (pictured)

Cheryl Prime appeared in Coronation Street in 1982 alongside Patricia Phoenix. Her LinkedIn profile now says she is currently 'taking a break'

Newspapers in San Francisco, where Ivy was raised in the storied Getty Mansion by her interior designer grandmother, Ann, report that divorce papers were first filed — and then withdrawn, without explanation — in February 2023.

And the couple haven't been photographed together by Getty Images, the iconic picture agency co-founded by her father's cousin, Mark Getty, since March 2022.

Perhaps tellingly, photos, taken at the Balmain show at Paris Fashion Week, were captioned: 'Ivy Getty and a guest.'

Last week, European newspapers reported that the couple had, in fact, been separated for a year and a half before the recent divorce filing.

German tabloid Bild carried comments from an alleged friend of Ivy, stating: 'Friends warned Ivy more and more about Tobias.'

The same friend said she was now feeling 'completely composed and OK with the fact that her marriage is ending in divorce'.

As for Ivy herself, her PR team simply said: 'No comment.'

Her soon-to-be ex-husband did not respond to messages and appears to be lying low — though his WhatsApp number, a business account, is still open and receiving enquiries.

What that business might be, however, is something of a mystery.

For remarkably little is known about Tobias Alexander Engel, the Prince Charming who swept one of the world's richest under-30s off her feet.

The stylish bride wore 18 different haute couture dresses, including a custom-made £400,000 gown by John Galliano, adorned with shards of broken mirrors and a 16ft veil

The besotted groom - pictured with Ivy in their wedding car - wrote his own vows, declaring: 'Faith in us has changed my world, captured my heart and tamed my soul'

He was born in Vienna in 1991, to an Austrian businessman named Peter Engel and Cheryl Prime, an English actress who appeared in Coronation Street, Bergerac and The Bill.

The pair married in 1990 but subsequently divorced. Toby and his younger sister Isabelle are believed to have grown up in Vienna.

Despite rigorous searches in Austria last week, nothing could be unearthed about Peter Engel, believed to be a salesman who also has property in Boca Raton, Florida.

His mother Cheryl, 64, has had several careers since her acting days, which dried up in the early Nineties, including as a business consultant and sales negotiator at Sotheby's International. Her LinkedIn profile says she is currently 'taking a break'.

When it comes to his own profession, at first Toby was described as a photographer, but later reports dubbed him an 'aspiring film director', sometimes 'actor' and even — in an engagement announcement placed in the media by Ivy's grandfather, Gordon — a 'tech entrepreneur'.

An old friend finds descriptions of his many supposed careers 'funny'.

'He's a spoiled rich kid who took pictures at Fashion Week parties, which is where he met Ivy,' the friend says.

'He doesn't work; they just travel and party.'

Were the Gettys, one wonders, trying to talk up his prospects?

At the time of their engagement, Ivy told this newspaper: 'We met through my cousin three years ago, but only started dating two years ago when we ran into each other in Paris.'

It was Fashion Week 2018, and she spotted a 'cute guy' taking pictures of her, she recalled. 'I naturally went over, and we started talking.'

The pair were soon dating and Toby was subsumed into Ivy's glamorous world: travelling the globe on the Getty jet; attending glitzy parties night after night; mingling with actors, models, politicians and luminaries of the social scenes in New York, Paris and London.

At this point, they were very much in love.

A family friend, who has known the Gettys for four decades, described Toby as 'genuinely attentive' to Ivy whenever they saw the pair together, adding: 'He adores her'.

Toby proposed on one of their many opulent holidays — a three-day break to sun-drenched Capri, in between fundraising benefits — at sunset, in a restaurant overlooking the ocean, with his mother's vintage engagement ring, customised with diamonds from Ivy's grandmother's necklace.

Ivy's father John Gilbert Getty was a rock 'n' roll musician who died of heart complications triggered by a fentanyl overdose in 2020

Ivy pictured with her grandfather Gordon Getty, an American businessman and classical music composer

At her home in Surrey last week, Cheryl had nothing to say about her son's impending divorce.

But though their lives are worlds apart — she lives in a small, neat bungalow; the Gettys' many sprawling homes are worth several millions each — she did spend time with her daughter-in-law during her brief marriage to Tobias.

During the pandemic, the pair even came to stay with her, with Ivy posting several designer-clad photographs of herself on UK soil on her Instagram account.

Speaking to the Mail's diary column, Ivy confessed her love of British TV, particularly the cookery series MasterChef.

Of Coronation Street, the soap that made her mother-in-law famous, she reluctantly admitted: 'I haven't seen it yet, which is very embarrassing.'

It sounded like a close-knit, cosy relationship — but a source who grew up with Toby claims things are no longer quite so rosy.

'Toby's not on speaking terms with his family at the moment because of Ivy,' the source says.

Though the reasons for the apparent family rift are unknown, they point out that Ivy's never-ending string of social engagements, and her recent signing with top modelling agency, Ford, may clash sorely with Toby's apparent lack of gainful employment.

'His friends and family claim he's a glorified dogsitter,' the source, who lives in Vienna, adds.

The dog in question is Blue, Ivy's rescue chihuahua, which has its own private Instagram page and acted as ring-bearer at the couple's wedding.

Of course, family secrets and scandals are not new to the Getty family.

Ivy's great-grandfather J Paul Getty, the controversial late oil tycoon once said to be the richest man in the world, fathered five sons with four different — and much younger — wives.

Meanwhile, her grandfather, 90-year-old Gordon Getty, secretly fathered three daughters with his mistress (despite remaining married to Ann), and more recently, married actor Balthazar Getty, 49, a cousin on her father's side, had a steamy affair with actress Sienna Miller.

Sadly, this is far from the worst of the heartache to befall the family — and Ivy has had her fair share of tragedy in recent years.

Within two months in the autumn of 2020, shortly after getting engaged, she lost both her father, John Gilbert Getty, 52, a rock 'n' roll musician who died of heart complications triggered by a fentanyl overdose, and her beloved grandmother Ann, 79, who suffered a heart attack.

In a tribute at the time, she described her dad, with whom she had a close relationship, as the 'coolest man to ever land on this planet'.

After losing her grandmother, she wrote: 'I will do my best to carry on her legacy and continue to share with my family in the future how much she taught me. Life will never be the same.'

It was Ann who brought Ivy up, after all: her mother, Alyssa Boothby, a jewellery designer, apparently wasn't around much after she separated from John.

Ivy has credited Ann, an effortlessly-glamorous socialite and philanthropist, with passing on her love of art, fashion and interiors, and describes her as: 'really more like a mother to me'.

In a New York Post article from 2021, a guest at Ivy's wedding suggested that mother and daughter were somewhat 'estranged', although Alyssa, 50, was with the bridal party on the day and regularly posts gushing social media updates about her daughter.

'There doesn't seem to be a lot of love lost there,' the guest said.

'[Alyssa] is rarely, if ever, mentioned by Ivy. Ann raised her and they adored each other.'

But if anything, the breakdown of her marriage seems to have helped strengthen the bond between Ivy and her mother.

In January, shortly after filing for divorce, the heiress enjoyed a getaway to Hawaii with Alyssa, who now works at a restaurant in San Francisco, and her two younger step-sisters, Iris and Petra.

Pictured dancing around a sunny hotel room in a bikini, apparently without a care in the world, she joked on social media that she might consider moving there for good.

Indeed, scrolling through Ivy's online profiles, there is no hint — among the glittering red carpet ballgowns and barely-there party dresses — of heartbreak at the abrupt ending of her marriage.

There is, of course, a prenup in place, so there's no need to worry about the inheritance (Ivy herself is said to have £6.4 million).

'Obviously, being a member of the Getty family, Ivy is careful about legal entanglements,' a source said last week.

In an interview with glossy fashion magazine Flaunt, published in January, she gave an insight into her feelings about the year ahead, though readers won't have realised its significance at the time.

A psychic once told her, she said, that '24' was going to be her year.

She thought at the time they meant when she turned 24 years old, but that 'was actually one of the worst years ever'.

'What if the psychic was talking about 2024?' she asked. 'We have to go with that.

'So, I'm looking forward to this year already, because I'm thinking it's supposed to be my year.'

That family curse may be hot on her designer-clad heels — but Ivy Love Getty won't let it catch her. Not yet.