Today marks Ed Sheeran 's 32nd birthday and the megastar, worth $200million, will be celebrating in New Zealand whilst on tour.
The Shape Of You singer has been known to take a break or two from social media and the limelight - with a major step back in December 2015 when he rekindled his romance with his childhood sweetheart and now wife Cherry Seaborn.
This past month though, he's made a big return to sharing snippets of his life on his Instagram after admitting he hadn't been engaging online due to 'turbulent things happening in his personal life'.
As things are looking up, he said, the dad-of-two decided to upload a personal video message to fans on January 31 promising to share more of what he gets up to, and has since been posting clips regularly amid his latest tour.
But how has he used him time out of the spotlight? We take a look at his home life as a father on tour and his lucrative property empire, with his expansive estate dubbed 'Sheeranville'.
Childhood sweethearts
Ed Sheeran reportedly married his wife Cherry Lancaster Seaborn in a secret ceremony just before Christmas in 2018 at his Suffolk estate.
The couple first met at Thomas Mills High in their shared hometown before calling it quits when Cherry moved to the US for university.
In 2015, they rekindled their romance and reportedly reunited at a Fourth of July party - an account seemingly confirmed in his verses on Taylor Swift's 'End Game', where he sings: "Knew it when I was young/We connected when we were little bit older" and "Something was born on the Fourth of July."
It was here when the two took a break together. Cherry quit her job and they went travelling for a while, spending every day together for a year.
Ed admitted during a Beats1 interview: "The catalyst of taking a year off was also the fact that my partner quit her job in New York -which she's now got back in London, which is really cool - but we were just basically like, let's quit our jobs and have a year of forming a tight bond.
"So we went travelling and spent every day for a year together. This has been the first time I've ever actually had the time to fall in love properly."
He then asked the hockey player to marry him in 2017.
They keep their relationship out of the spotlight, and only on rare occasions will he share a photo of his wife on social media.
To mark her 30th birthday, he wrote: "HBD to ma baby mama. 30 looks good on you [cherry emoji]" alongside a snap of the pair laying in a hammock.
Proud father of two
Just like his other life milestones, Ed and Cherry became parents quietly.
In September 2020, the star announced: "Ello! A quick message from me as I have some personal news that I wanted to share with you... Last week, with the help of an amazing delivery team, Cherry gave birth to our beautiful and healthy daughter - Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran.
"We are completely in love with her. Both mum and baby are doing amazing and we are on cloud nine over here. We hope that you can respect our privacy at this time. Lots of love and I’ll see you when it’s time to come back, Ed x."
And last May, in a similar fashion to their first baby announcement, Ed shared a photo of a tiny pair of socks to celebrate the birth of their second child, a daughter named Jupiter.
"Want to let you all know we've had another beautiful baby girl," he wrote in the Instagram caption. "We are both so in love with her, and over the moon to be a family of 4."
Later that year in October, the singer made a rare appearance on Good Morning America, where he shared insight into how life was as a dad of two.
"It's great,” he began, before adding, "We're in the trenches."
"They've [the children] been on tour with me," he continued. "My second daughter was born while we were on tour, but my first daughter comes to the shows, she's quite aware... I think she assumes everyone else's dad sings as well, though."
He added: "It's every cliché that people say about parenting. You love both kids exactly the same but also completely differently. I’m really enjoying being a father of two."
Property empire
When you're as rich as Ed Sheeran, it makes sense to have your own tiny village - complete with its own recording studio and pub.
Over the years, Ed has purchased his neighbours' properties, lending to the expansion of the now 16-acre 'Sheeranville' in his hometown of Framlingham, Suffolk.
In 2018, he reportedly spent £3.7 million on nearby properties to add to his already palatial estate.
He had purchased the 16th Century Wynneys farmhouse in June 2012 for £450,000 and has since added the Chestnuts bungalow for £525,000, Sunnyside house at £925,000, The Poplars for £875,000 and Wynneys Hall at £895,000, according to reports.
The singer rarely shares snippets of her abode with fans, but thanks to the pandemic and lockdowns in 2020, Ed's social media followers got a glimpse inside his luxury home.
During broadcasts and snaps shared from the star's home, Ed's fans got a sneak peek of some of the rooms - spotting a giant teddy bear and a poster as a tribute to the area of Suffolk in one of the singer's spaces.
In total, Ed - who has his own firm Maverick Properties Limited and Maverick Commercial Properties Limited - reportedly owns 27 flats, houses and mansions worth an estimated £57million.
The singer also owns a restaurant, Bertie Blossoms, as well as a mansion in London, for the times when he is staying over in the capital.
Covent Garden, Battersea - next to the dogs and cats home, Whitechapel and Portobello Road are also places where Ed has invested.
Ed also reportedly bought the two neighbouring properties to his £19.8 million London mansion after there were complaints about the noise.
It is thought that he paid £4 million for the two houses on either side of his pad so that it would 'stop the moaning'.
Weird side projects
It appears Ed didn't want to stop with purchasing property, and over the years has taken on a lot of unique renovation projects, some of which have been controversial with his neighbours.
Residing on his estate at the Wynneys property is a working pub - with an underground tunnel to get there - a wildlife pond, a gym and a cherry orchard.
"So basically there's an underground tunnel to get there that you can close off," Ed previously told Zayn Lowe about his boozer.
"So if I have a party everyone goes in the pub and no one can get in the house so you get no one raiding the cupboards or smashing anything. You have to go underground to get to the pub," he said during an interview for Apple Music Radio.
The animal-lover has plenty of room for furry friends, with a chicken coop and room for two goats and two sheep in one part of the grounds.
Ed's estate originally irked neighbours about his so-called wildlife pond, as they believed it was actually a swimming pool.
But according to the report, their issues with the house have been resolved and all the locals are "getting on with it".
Just last year, Ed's unique plans for his final resting place got the green light from council officials making it possible to build a controversial burial crypt in the grounds of his property.
Ed planned to build a 9ft by 6ft chamber, enough to fit two bodies under a slab in the floor, on his estate that he shares with Cherry and their daughters.
However the star's constant renovations and building work hasn't always gone down too well with fellow locals.
"It’s never ending. We have to live with the constant din. It’s not surprising he’s ruffled a few feathers locally," a neighbour told The Sun in the past.
Furthermore, last year he widened his property portfolio with a £650,000 investment on the south coast in Kent - a converting an 1880s railway carriage.
The two-bedroom property has views across the horizon for the singer and his family to relax from the hustle and bustle of touring.
The beach house is an original 1880s train carriage from Southern Railway which has been extended at the front and rear and finished with a modernised interior.
