Downing Street confirmed on Sunday that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson married his fiancee, Carrie Symonds, the day before during a ceremony that the British media described as “secret”.
The Mail on Sunday and The Sun newspapers said on Saturday that Johnson, 56, known for his hectic love life, had just married Symonds, 33, in the Catholic Westminster Cathedral in the presence of friends and family.
“The Prime Minister and Mrs Symonds were married yesterday afternoon during a small ceremony at Westminster Cathedral,” a Downing Street spokesman said, adding that the couple will celebrate “with family and friends next summer.”
Johnson is the second British Prime Minister to be married during his tenure. The first was Robert Jenkinson in 1822.
The couple had been waiting for months to get married as they had to postpone their wedding, scheduled for last year, due to the pandemic. They got engaged in December 2019 and have a one-year-old son, Wilfred.
The ceremony was attended by about thirty people – the maximum currently authorized – after being invited at the last minute, according to Mail on Sunday.
“My congratulations to the prime minister and Carrie Symonds on their union,” Nadhim Zahawi, the secretary of state for the vaccination campaign, who did not attend the ceremony, said on Sky News on Sunday.
The wedding was officiated by the same priest who baptized the couple’s son – who was also present – The Sun reported.
Boris Johnson had already been married twice. He had four children with his previous wife, attorney Marina Wheeler, from whom he separated in 2018. In addition, he would have another daughter born from an affair.
When he was elected in 2019, he became the first head of government to live in Downing Street with a partner but without being married.
Carrie Symonds, a former Conservative Party communications officer, had her son weeks after Johnson left the intensive care unit, where he was admitted after contracting the coronavirus.