Robert Kraft, 81, marries ophthalmologist girlfriend Dana Blumberg, 47, in surprise wedding

Billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft sealed the deal with his longtime girlfriend Dana Blumberg at a top-secret wedding ceremony in New York City, while Elton John serenaded the newlyweds.

Kraft, 81, said ‘I do’ to ophthalmologist Dana Blumberg, 47, on Friday night at what guests were told was a ‘Kickoff and a Touchdown Party’.

The couple, who began dating in 2019, rented the lower Manhattan Hall des Lumières and told 250 friends and relatives to dress festively, The New York Post reported.

The invitees — including Jon Bon Jovi, country music singer Kenny Chesney, movie mogul Ari Emanuel and Oscar-nominated film producer Brian Grazer — didn’t know the couple was getting married.

Former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady showed up without his wife Gisele Bundchen amid rumors of an impending divorce.

Blumberg wore an ivory Naeem Khan wedding dress for the ceremony. According to Page Six, she arrived at the company incognito in an Elie Saab jumpsuit.

Kraft, meanwhile, was seen in his usual blue sports jacket and his RKK Air Force 1 sneakers. For dinner, Kraft changed his outerwear to an Armani dinner blazer.

Sources told The mail that guests were shown a 10-minute video of the pair, before being introduced to the public by the voice of NFL commentator Al Michaels as husband and wife.

The pair had specially tuned in with Elton John, after he volunteered to sing at their wedding in July. They gave him three weeks’ notice and he found a date off.

The Rocketman kicked off his one-hour performance with “Circle of Life,” followed by “Tiny Dancer,” “Philadelphia Freedom,” “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.” and more, the Post reported.

He also performed ‘Candle in the Wind’ as a duet with Ed Sheeran.

Kraft and Blumberg had their first dance when Sheeran played an acoustic number.

Rapper Meek Mill performed, and then Grandmaster Flash hit the turntables and DJ’d.

“They wanted to get into a zone of sharing happiness and bringing people together,” a friend of the couple told the newspaper.

Kraft was previously married to college sweetheart and philanthropist Myra Kraft.

She died of ovarian cancer in 2011 at the age of 68 at her home in Brookline, Massachusetts. After her death, Patriots players wore patches with her initials, MHK, on ​​their jerseys throughout the following season.

Just before his wedding, Kraft donated $50 million to Massachusetts General Hospital, the largest donation the medical facility has ever received.

He told WCVB in an interview that he has been interested in medical affordability since his wife’s death.

Kraft said, “When my beloved Myra became ill about 12 years ago, I saw the great care she received. We have the best hospitals in the world right here in Massachusetts.”

The billionaire added: “But then I started thinking, what if I was someone of modest means or a person of color, would I have the same access? Diversity, equality, inclusion, that is a large area that is not well served these days.’

Myra was the president of the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation. She married Kraft in 1963, just before her senior year at Brandeis University, where she graduated with a degree in history.

The couple had four children together, Jonathan, Daniel, Joshua and David.

In one of his first interviews since Myra’s death, Kraft said: boston.com: “I feel a little robbed. I try to keep it very busy, I actually work seven days a week. I try to do new things, meet new people.’

He declined to comment on his then-girlfriend, Ricki Noel Lander, then 32. The Boston.com piece mentions that many close to Kraft attributed Lander to lifting him out of depression after his wife’s death.

Jonathan Kraft told the website: “You hear about couples who have been married for 50 years, whose lives were completely intertwined, and when one loses their partner, the other doesn’t want to live anymore.”

While ex-President Donald Trump said, “They had a great marriage and Bob was devastated when she died. For a year he suffered greatly, and he is still suffering. But at some point, life has to go on and it goes on for Bob.’

Lander and Kraft began dating in 2012 and broke up in 2018, the same year Lander gave birth to da