Benedict Cumberbatch has gone back to tradition to announce his engagement to his girlfriend Sophie Hunter.
The British actor's parents have put a message in The Times newspaper to tell the world that their son will marry the theatre director.
The announcement in the Forthcoming Marriages section reads: "The engagement is announced between Benedict, son of Wanda and Timothy Cumberbatch of London, and Sophie, daughter of Katharine Hunter of Edinburgh and Charles Hunter of London."
The couple have kept their relationship very private and are rarely photographed in public together.
In June they were pictured at the French Open and have been seen leaving restaurants in London in recent weeks.
Cumberbatch, 38, is currently starring in The Imitation Game, a biopic based on the World War Two code breaker Alan Turing, which is released on 14 November.
He is due to play Hamlet at the Barbican in London next year and tickets have already sold out.
