Mandrake can disclose that the seemingly perennial bachelor is engaged to Masha Markova, a Russian former model 25 years his junior.
“They are both absolutely thrilled,” says a friend of the couple. “I think Robert would like to have children and he’s a traditionalist at heart.”
Hanson, whose industrialist father was a close ally of Margaret Thatcher, numbers Martine McCutcheon, the former EastEnders actress, Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, the televison presenter, and Sophie Anderton, the model, among his previous girlfriends. Although Masha may be young enough to be his daughter, she is no ingénue.
Two years ago, she declared publicly that she planned to sue Lindsay Lohan, the hard-living Hollywood actress, after the reported loss of a £5,000 mink coat. Masha, who was still a student, said she would take the legal action against the 23-year-old star of Mean Girls after her coat, which was a gift from her grandmother, disappeared during a party the pair attended at the 10ak nightclub in New York.
Masha’s lawyer alleged that Lohan was later pictured wearing the coat and, when it was finally returned, Markova complained that it smelled of “cigarettes and liquor”. The New York state court filing added that Lohan’s actions were “intentional, oppressive and malicious and carried out with reckless disregard”. Lohan settled out of court.
Hanson’s father, incidentally, was once engaged to Audrey Hepburn. The wedding, planned for 1952, was postponed and then cancelled, amicably, after work on her film Roman Holiday overran.