“So suddenly”… The 92-year-old tycoon Rupert Murdoch and Anne Leslie Smith suddenly called off their engagement just two weeks after it was announced. It would be Murdoch’s fifth engagement.

Just last month, the 92-year-old media baron proposed to the former dentist, 66, with an 11-carat diamond ring believed to be worth up to £2 million. The couple, who previously described their love as a “gift from God”, planned to tie the knot this summer. But their engagement was suddenly called off on Tuesday after the pair are said to have reluctantly made a ‘mutual decision’ following discussions last night.

A friend close to the couple told the Daily Mail that Smith is struggling to adjust to publicity: “He just couldn’t deal with being in the public sphere. He wants privacy. They sat down and talked yesterday and agreed that it was better to break up. He accepts that he will always be in the public eye and he cannot and would not do anything to change that.”

The Mail reports that it was a mutual decision, one that is deeply regrettable for both parties. Another friend of the couple told the Mail that the media mogul is still very fond of Smith. “He admires her, respects her and thinks she’s an amazing woman. He likes the fact that she’s so calm and so strong … and she shares his religious beliefs.”

The Australian MME mogul and owner of Fox News (recently separated from his fourth wife, supermodel Jerry Hall), had announced his engagement to Anne Leslie Smith, 66, a former model and singer, on March 20 .

Murdoch and Smith had met in September at a vineyard wine event in California. He waited a fortnight before asking to see her again.