Meet Arthur Donald, boyfriend of tech billionaire Bill Gates' youngest daughter Phoebe Gates

By Phong Ngo May 13, 2025 | 08:54 pm PT

Phoebe Gates, the youngest child of tech billionaire Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, is in a relationship with Arthur Donald, the 26-year-old grandson of Beatles icon Paul McCartney.

Tatler dubbed their relationship a power-couple pairing, playfully describing it as "Microsoft meets the Beatles."

Arthur, three years older than Phoebe, studied at the prestigious University College School in North London, where tuition is around £31,000 (US$41,339) per year. He later attended Yale University in Connecticut, graduating in 2021. Since then, he has worked as an analyst at Beehouse and Goldman Sachs, and now holds a position at U.S. investment company Iconiq Capital in San Francisco.

As the eldest of McCartney’s eight grandchildren, Arthur has deep roots in music royalty. However, in an interview with The New York Times, Phoebe noted that he "does not have any musical talent."

She also has a connection to his aunt, fashion designer Stella McCartney.

Arthur Donald and girlfriend, Phoebe Gates. Photo from Instagram

In a 2022 interview with Women’s Wear Daily, Phoebe mentioned that her mother, Melinda Gates, and Stella are "good friends." She reportedly met both Arthur and Stella during a summer internship in London that year.

Before dating Phoebe, Arthur was linked to Ava Phillippe, daughter of American actress Reese Witherspoon and actor Ryan Phillippe. The pair were seen together at the celebrity hotspot Sketch in London in 2018 following Ava’s debut at Le Bal des Débutantes, as reported by Tatler.

Despite his famous lineage and past relationship, Arthur maintains a low profile and keeps his Instagram private.

The first public sign of Phoebe and Arthur’s relationship came in October 2023, when Phoebe shared a cozy Instagram post featuring him in a blazer and herself in a blue dress on a balcony in Paris, according to entertainment news platform Today.

In June 2024, Phoebe referred to Arthur as her boyfriend in a breakdown of her Stanford graduation day for lifestyle magazine Nylon, where she captioned a photo of Arthur giving her a piggyback ride: "My boyfriend, Arthur, giving me a lift post-ceremony."