Meet Cherry Seaborn, the 25-year-old hockey player and former risk strategist who just got engaged to Ed Sheeran
- Ed Sheeran proposed to his long-term girlfriend Cherry Seaborn over Christmas.
- Sheeran announced their engagement via Instagram on Saturday afternoon.
- Sheeran and Seaborn first met back at school but didn't start dating until 2015.
- The pair bumped into each other by chance at a bar in New York while Sheeran was touring.
Ed Sheeran may be best known for wooing the world with his romantic pop hits, but now the singer-songwriter is officially off-limits.
26-year-old Sheeran announced his engagement to 25-year-old hockey player and former risk strategist Cherry Seaborn on Saturday afternoon via an Instagram post. The photo - a polaroid of the pair cuddling - is captioned: "Got myself a fiancé just before new year. We are very happy and in love, and our cats are chuffed as well xx."
Sheeran and Seaborn first met when they attended school together at Thomas Mills High School in the village of Framlingham in Suffolk, according to The Sun.
Sheeran reportedly had a crush on Seaborn even back then, despite her being in the year below.
After they finished their secondary education, Sheeran famously dropped out of school to pursue a career in music.
Seaborn, on the other hand, went to Durham University then flew across the Atlantic to study Molecular Biology at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina for a short stint. She reportedly chose the university for its hockey facilities, having captained her British team in back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013, according to her bio on the Duke website.
Despite their different career paths, the pair came together in 2015 when they bumped into each other in a bar in New York. Sheeran was touring at the time, and Seaborn was reportedly working as a risk strategist at an NYC-based consulting and advisory company.
They started dating, although their relationship was kept largely under wraps until Taylor Swift, a close friend of Sheeran, threw the happy couple a one-year anniversary party in 2016. Swift posted a photo of the couple to her Instagram, which has since been deleted.
Despite keeping their relationship largely private (there are only a few photos of the pair on Sheeran's social media accounts, while Seaborn's accounts are all private), Sheeran has been honest with the press regarding his feelings towards his now-fiancee.
In an interview on BBC Radio 2 in February 2017, Sheeran said: "I spent every day for a year with this certain person, we kind of have a strong relationship now, which is good.
"I'm really secure now, we live together and we have cats, and I think when you have cats that's kind of it."
And according to his engagement post, the couple's cats, Dorito (shown below) and Calippo, are "chuffed" with the news as well.
There's no word yet on when the pair is getting married. Nevertheless, 2018 could be a busy year regarding national sweethearts getting hitched.
The UK's other favourite redhead, Prince Harry, is marrying Meghan Markle in May, while "Game of Thrones" stars Kit Harrington and Rose Leslie have alluded to their upcoming wedding taking place this year, also.