IT was billed as the showbiz wedding of the year. As Elton John, Charli XCX and Hollywood royalty descended on Sicily to watch Callum Turner marry Dua Lipa in a £1.5million extravaganza, one notable guest was nowhere to be seen.
Instead of raising a glass with his son, Callum’s father Laurence Coles was more than 2,000 miles away at an altogether different event in North London. Now, I can reveal the shocking reason why the actor’s dad missed the celebrity ceremony – and the complicated family history that makes his absence all the more surprising.
Callum Turner and Dua Lipa celebrated their lavish £1.5million Sicilian wedding surrounded by a host of A-list guests Credit: @davidsimsofficial/dualipa/Instagram
Callum reunited with his father, Laurence Coles, back left, and younger half-siblings Clemmie and Louis over Christmas after years of a strained relationship Credit: Instagram
Two thousand miles away in North London was Laurence Coles – known to friends as ‘Larry’, and to , ‘Dad’.
The actor has previously described his relationship with Laurence as “loose” – hardly surprising given the pair spent much of Callum’s childhood living at opposite sides of the world.
However Larry’s recent return to the UK has allowed him to build a relationship with Callum – with the family spending time together and mingling on holidays.
Yet, in an unexpected turn, I am told that Laurence, who lives in Hastings, , travelled to London for a wedding – albeit not his son’s.
Callum’s parents Larry and Rosemary Turner were unmarried and living at separate addresses when he was born in February 1990.
Callum was given his mother’s name, Turner, and was brought up by Rosemary in a council flat on an estate in Chelsea, West .
Meanwhile, Larry was beginning an entirely different life on the other side of the world.
The former Hammersmith plasterer swapped London’s building sites for Sydney, where he also retrained as a psychotherapist, settled down and started a second family – leaving Callum growing up almost 10,000 miles away.
Fast-forward three decades and things looked very different.
Despite the fractured start to their relationship, father and son appear to have grown much closer in recent years.
But in a surprising twist to their father-son relationship, Larry not only missed his son’s wedding – he was attending a completely different one instead.
Instead, he was a guest of Jamie Rae Keeble – the daughter of Spandau Ballet drummer John Keeble – as she tied the knot in the capital on the same day as Dua and Callum.
The contrast could hardly have been starker. While Callum’s guests were by chauffeured cars for what insiders dubbed the “showbiz wedding of the year”, Laurence was celebrating another couple’s big day back in the capital.
The revelation comes despite signs that father and son had grown closer in recent years
Last Christmas, Callum was pictured enjoying a festive meal with Laurence, fiancée Dua and his younger half-siblings Louis and Clemmie after Larry returned to Britain following almost three decades in Australia.
Clemmie has become particularly close to the couple, joining Dua on girls’ trips to Ibiza.
She also has a sweet snap of her and Callum on her from the GALA Festival in South London in 2019.
A source said: “Laurence and Callum have been estranged over the years but it was nonetheless strange that he was at a wedding on the same day his son got married.
“Laurence kept a low profile but some people questioned the fact that he was at a wedding on the same day his son was marrying Dua.”
Growing up, Callum’s mum Rosemary worked as a promoter for the clubs in SW3 – brushing shoulders with models and musicians on the fashionable King’s Road in London’s Chelsea.
Rosemary is now the co-founder of Counselling For Life and is described as an “experienced psychotherapist” on .
The actor previously told the Evening Standard: “The thing I always found interesting in my childhood was, yeah, I was growing up on an estate, single mum, working-class, but then I also had all these colourful characters around.
The couple have enjoyed a string of loved-up holidays since confirming their romance before tying the knot this summer Credit: instagram
Callum and Dua Lipa held a private legal ceremony at London’s Old Marylebone Town Hall before celebrating with a lavish three-day wedding in Sicily Credit: Ray Collins
“It wasn’t about navigating two worlds,” he said. “There were three, four, five more.”
However Callum, who starred in Marc Webb’s 2017 film The Only Living Boy in New York, also said the father-son relationship was “alien” to him.
“I didn’t understand the relationship between the son and the father,” he said in 2019.
“It was completely alien to me.”
Larry, now 66 and once again single, lives in a period flat in a smart garden square in fashionable Hastings on the east Sussex coast, from where he practices his therapy.
Friends locally have said they know Larry is now in regular contact with his son, and is reportedly “unashamedly proud of Callum.”
That makes his absence from one of the biggest days of the actor’s life all the more surprising.
Though his father wasn’t in attendance, Callum’s half-siblings Louis and Clemmie attended the spectacular Sicilian wedding,
Beyond family, their three-day Sicily extravaganza was every bit the A-list affair insiders had promised.
Around 200 guests descended on the 18th-century Villa Valguarnera, with Joe Alwyn, Mark Ronson, Grace Gummer, George Daniel, Elton John and Charli XCX among those celebrating.
Guests were reportedly asked to sign non-disclosure agreements, while metal barriers surrounded the historic estate to keep fans and photographers at bay.
The property, which featured in the opening credits of HBO drama 2, is widely
Callum, Dua Lipa and Laurence, second from right, posed together with family last Christmas following his return to the UK Credit: Instagram
Dua Lipa wore a bespoke Chanel haute couture gown featuring a seven-foot train and intricate hand-beaded detailing for the couple’s £1.5million Sicilian wedding Credit: @davidsimsofficial/dualipa/Instagram
It was once a Mafia hideout but has since been taken on by 76-year-old Italian author and translator Vittoria Alliata di Villafranca, the Princess of Valguarnera, who still lives in the estate.
One Kiss hitmaker Dua, who has an estimated net worth of £150million, and Callum
Dua stunned in a bespoke Chanel haute couture gown featuring a seven-foot train, handcrafted using 25,000 feathers and almost half a million beads, while Callum opted for a custom Louis Vuitton suit.
Days earlier the pair had made things official during a private legal ceremony at London’s Old Marylebone Town Hall before jetting to Sicily for the lavish celebration.
Dua was introduced to Callum in 2023 while having dinner at The River Cafe in London with her dad and manager Dukagjin Lipa.
They were introduced by the restaurant’s co-founder, Ruth Rogers, after having crossed paths many times before.
and confirmed their engagement in British last summer.
Dua told the fashion bible: “This decision to grow old together, to see a life and just, I don’t know, be best friends forever – it’s a really special feeling.”
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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