Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One chief executive, has revealed that his ex-wife spent more than £12 million on their youngest daughter’s wedding without telling him.

Bernie Ecclestone and ex-wife Slavica (left) and Petra with her new husband art dealer James Stunt Photo: REX FEATURES

Mr Ecclestone, who is estimated to be worth about £2.5billion, gave a rare insight into his family’s billionaire lifestyle when he told a German court of the wedding bill.

He explained that he had no idea what the cost was be until after his daughter Petra’s wedding because he had argued with his former wife Slavica Ecclestone over the cost shortly before the ceremony.

He said although he had offered, as the father of the bride, to pay, he had fallen out with Mrs Ecclestone over the proposed cost of the drinks, which are said to have included Chateau Petrus wine at £4,000 a bottle.

As a result, his ex-wife, who with a fortune of £750 million is one of the country’s wealthiest millionaires as the result of a divorce, ran up the huge bill without telling him.

Mr Ecclestone was giving evidence at the trial of Germany’s biggest post-war fraud trial against a German banker.