When you’re the child of a billionaire, your personal life is bound to provoke some intrigue, which is certainly the case for Bill Gates’ daughter, Phoebe Gates.
While most heiresses might be content with the extravagant nest egg left for them, Phoebe has further enriched her life with a new boyfriend, himself a descendent of equally starry parents. While she keeps most of her personal life private, Phoebe has sporadically shared details of her romance over the years, most recently mentioning him as part of a photo diary interview with Nylon in June 2024.
So who exactly is this mystery man, and what’s his secret to scoring what might be an enormous fortune if his pre-nup is ironclad?
Who is Phoebe Gates’ boyfriend?
Phoebe Gates confirmed her relationship status in a June interview with Nylon Magazine. The boyfriend in question is Arthur Donald, grandson of The Beatles‘ Paul McCartney. In what might be the biggest nepo baby pairing in history, Phoebe officially revealed that she was dating Arthur by providing an image to Nylon of her graduation ceremony, which he attended alongside Bill Gates.
The photo documented Phoebe’s graduation from Stanford University, and showed Arthur — the son of McCartney’s eldest daughter, Mary McCartney — carrying Phoebe on her back after the ceremony. Phoebe confirmed in the caption that Arthur was her “boyfriend”, and wrote in the caption of another graduation photo that he “cleans up nicely.”
The photos put to recent months of speculation around the couple, who first sparked romance rumors following a shared trip to Paris in October 2023. Phoebe and Arthur also attended the premiere party of Feud: Capote vs. The Swans in early 2024, but Phoebe later declined to comment on her relationship in a March interview with Bustle.
Arthur is the eldest son of Mary, a British photographer, and her ex-husband Alistair Donald, who is a TV producer. We also know that Arthur attended University College School in London before graduating from Yale University in 2021 with a major in history. Us Magazine reports that Arthur worked as an analyst at investment banking company Goldman Sachs and also interned at Lucasfilm.
As for how they connected, it’s well-known that Paul’s other daughter, Stella McCartney, has close ties to the Gates family, with Phoebe gushing about her friendship with the fashion designer in multiple interviews throughout the years
“[Stella] and my mom are actually good friends,” Phoebe told Women’s Wear Daily in 2022. Arthur himself has yet to publicly comment on his relationship, but we bet he’s pretty chuffed that his prospective step-dad will cover any of his dinner date bills.
