Affair spurs Insta-split

ASHLEY Hicks, a second cousin of Prince Charles and a godson of Prince Philip, has dumped his pregnant American wife, Kata de Solis, for one of her best friends, Martina Mondadori Sartogo.

The affair with the publishing heiress began in June when Hicks, a 55year-old expert on art and design, traveled on business with Sartogo to Genoa, Italy, a family insider said.

De Solis, 36, found out a month later she was pregnant. And in mid-August, Hicks is said to have confessed.

“Kata never would have found out if he hadn’t told her,” my source close to the couple said. De Solis soon moved out and hired a divorce lawyer.

Their nuptials three years ago were called “the firstever Instagram wedding” because the couple met through the social-media site. They have an infant son, Caspian.

Hicks summed it up himself in an Aug. 28 email to a pal: “You’ll think me a perfect monster, I’m sure, but I’ve actually left my poor pregnant wife in order to be with my lovely friend Martina . . . Oh, dear.”

The lovebirds were scheduled to do a panel discussion at Christie’s in Rockefeller Center on Monday to promote Sartogo’s book “Cabana Anthology,” due Oct. 2 from Vendome Press.

Hicks, grandson of the 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, also has a book coming out. “Buckingham Palace: The Interiors,” for which Prince Charles has written the foreword, is due Sept. 25 from Rizzoli.

Hicks and de Solis wouldn’t comment.

Asked about the marital mayhem, a publicist for Sartogo, who is Caspian’s godmother, informed me: “I can confirm Martina — founder and editor-inchief of lifestyle e-commerce and magazine Cabana — [resides in London] together with her husband of 12 years ... and her three children.”