Boris Becker prepares to marry his third spouse in three-day nuptials

Boris Becker is set to make fiancée Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro his third wife this weekend – with a three-day-long wedding party in a swanky Italian resort.

The 56-year-old tennis star and commentator is set to tie the knot with Lilian, a political risk manager from the African island of Sao Tome and Principe, in Portofino in front of around 150 guests.

Lilian, who is 23 years his junior, has stood by Boris through thick and thin after he was jailed for two and a half years in the UK after he was found to have hidden £2.5million of assets and loans in a bankruptcy fraud case.

The Riviera hotspot, south of Genoa, is popular with the rich and famous. Rod Stewart tied the knot with Penny Lancaster nearby in 2007. 

It’s a serve of happiness for the tennis ace, who has six grand slams including three Wimbledon titles to his name, following a troubled period that saw him kicked out of the UK. 

Boris served eight months of the sentence at Wandsworth and Huntercombe prisons before being deported from Britain in December 2022, ruling out a return to his job on the BBC commentating on Wimbledon.

He did, however, contribute to Sky Italia’s coverage of the action from SW19 over the summer. He had lived in the UK since 2012 and was declared bankrupt in 2017 before being imprisoned in April 2022.

London-based Ms Monteiro is a political risk analyst and has three degrees, including a masters in African studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, and speaks five languages, including German, according to German newspaper Bild.

She was born in the African island state of São Tomé and Príncipe and is the daughter of Victor Monteiro, the republic’s former Minister of Defence who ran for the presidency in 2014.

Ms Monteiro spent much of her youth in Rome where she attended a private school before studying at the University of La Sapienza.

She first came to London to study at the School of Oriental and African Studies, where she earned her master’s degree at the age of 25.

He reportedly proposed to Lilian at Milan’s Cathedral back in 2021 – but any hope of a fairytale wedding was cut short by the impending prison sentence.

She was a constant presence by his side while attending court hearings and even blew him a goodbye kiss when he was jailed last year and blasted by a judge for showing no remorse.

After the prison release the couple who were based in the UK relocated to Milan.

A source told The Sun: ‘Boris is incredibly grateful to Lilian for staying with him through ‘the hardest time’ of his life.’

‘He said, “she saved me, and I will never forget her for that. She is the woman of my new life!”‘

News of his nuptials was first reported by German gossip publication Bunte, which reports that his sons from his first marriage to Barbara Feltus, Noah and Elias, will be there – but his daughter Anna Ermakova will not.

She was born out of wedlock after Boris had a fling with Russian emigre Angela Ermakova – while his wife was carrying her second child – in the toilet of the upscale London restaurant Nobu.

His mother Elvira, 89, is reported to have agreed to attend the ceremony, accompanied by Boris’ sister Sabine, 60. 

But his youngest son Amadeus was reportedly not invited, and was said to be ‘shocked’ when he found out his father was getting married again. 

His second wife, Lilly Kerssenberg, said of Boris’ decision not to inform his 14-year-old boy: ‘I wish him all the best, but behaving like that towards our son is the last thing he could do.’

Boris will hope this wedding is third time lucky following a famously tumultuous and chequered relationship history for the former World No 1.

Between 1988 and 1991 he was in a relationship with Karen Schultz, before a one-year stint with Cassandra Hepburn.

He then met and married his first wife, Barbara Feltus in 1993, when she was eight months pregnant with their son, Noah.

Just before the wedding, he and Barbara set tongues wagging by posing nude for the cover of Stern magazine in a picture taken by her father.

Five years later, while heavily pregnant with their second son, Elias, Barbara was contacted by Angela Ermakova who shared the news of their love child – bringing his marriage crashing down about him.

A divorce was granted in January 2001, in which Barbara received a whopping £14.4million settlement, their condominium on Fisher Island, Floria and custody of their children.

Becker was then briefly engaged to Alessandra Meyer-Wolden, daughter of his former adviser and manager, but the couple broke up months later in November 2008.

She later said of their time together: ‘I knew Boris was Boris but I had no idea what came with it. His personal life was a mess. There were divorces, there were children, there were breakups.’

Then in February 2019, the serial dater announced he and Dutch model Sharlely ‘Lily’ Kerssenberg were to be married.

This time he made it up the aisle and they were married for nine years before the relationship turned sour, each accusing the other of ‘unreasonable behaviour’.

In July 2019, it was reported he was dating British model Layla Powell.

Since 2022, he has been in a relationship with Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro. 

Boris and Lilian are reported to have chosen Portofino after spending time there last summer.

The ex-tennis star now lives with his girlfriend in what is reported to be a ‘beautiful’ apartment in the heart of Milan.