British Prime Minister Boris Johnson married his fiancée Carrie Symonds on Saturday in a "secret ceremony," according to British media reports. The newspapers "Mail on Sunday" and "The Sun" reported that 56-year-old Johnson married 33-year-old Symonds at Westminster Catholic Cathedral, attended by close friends and family. Johnson is the second British Prime Minister to marry while in office, following Robert Jenkinson, who took office two centuries ago and also married in 1822 while serving.
The wedding was a surprising turn of events after reports earlier this week suggested the couple was preparing for a wedding to be held on July 30 next year. Johnson and Carrie announced their engagement in December 2019 and have a one-year-old child together. According to "Mail on Sunday," about 30 people attended the ceremony on Saturday, the maximum allowed under current COVID-19 restrictions, having received last-minute invitations.
Johnson has been married twice before and has four children from his previous marriage to lawyer Marina Wheeler, from whom he separated in 2018 and completed his divorce in November of the previous year. Johnson is also said to have a daughter from a previous affair, and when he was elected in 2019, he was the first British Prime Minister to live in Downing Street with an unmarried partner. Symonds, the former communications director for the Conservative Party, gave birth to their son Wilfred just weeks after Johnson recovered from a serious case of COVID-19 that required a stay in intensive care. In recent weeks, the couple has been in the spotlight due to an investigation into the high costs of renovating their Downing Street apartment.
