The UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson married on Saturday with his fiancée, Carrie Symonds, in a private ceremony at a Catholic cathedral in London, his office has confirmed.
Under current restrictions in England related to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes the disease COVID-19, 30 people are allowed to attend a wedding in a COVID-secure venue or a private garden.
“The Prime Minister and Ms. Symonds were married yesterday afternoon in a small ceremony at Westminster Cathedral,” A spokesman from No. 10 Downing Street said on Sunday. “The couple will celebrate their wedding with family and friends next summer.”
There have been media reports saying the couple had sent save-the-date cards to family and friends for July 30, 2022.
It is understood Symonds will take her husband’s surname and be known as Carrie Johnson.
Johnson is the second British prime minister to have married while in office and the first in 199 years, after Lord Liverpool married Mary Chester in 1822.
He’s also the first sitting prime minister who has been baptised as a Catholic, although he was later confirmed as an Anglican.
A spokesperson for the Westminster Cathedral told the Sunday Times that “the bride and groom are both parishioners of the Westminster Cathedral parish and baptised Catholics.”
According to Mail on Sunday, the ceremony was carried out by Father Daniel Humphreys, who also baptised Johnson’s son in the same cathedral.
The Johnsons announced their engagement—together with the news that they were expecting their first child—in February last year. Their son, Wilfred Johnson, was born on April 29, 2020.
The prime minister has had two previous marriages. His divorce from his second wife Marina Wheeler was finalised last year.
The Conservative Party and Johnson’s cabinet ministers took to Twitter to congratulate the newlyweds.
“Congratulations to the newlyweds, @BorisJohnson and @carriesymonds from the whole Conservative Party,” the Conservative Party’s Twitter account says.
Congratulations to the newlyweds, @BorisJohnson and @carriesymonds from the whole Conservative Party pic.twitter.com/qOa4cLRwIZ
— Conservatives (@Conservatives) May 30, 2021
“Many Congratulations to Mr & Mrs Johnson,” Home Secretary Priti Patel wrote on Twitter. “Wishing you both much love and happiness.”
“My congratulations go to @BorisJohnson & @Carriesymonds on their marriage,” Health Secretary Matt Hancock wrote on Twitter. “My best wishes on a happy future together.”
Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick wrote: “Sending all our love and best wishes to you both, for many years of happiness together.”
The wedding comes at the end of a turbulent week for the prime minister, in which his former aide Dominic Cummings said he was “unfit for the job” during a 7-hour testimony, and an official report found he acted “unwisely” when allowing the revamp of his No. 11 Downing Street flat to proceed before he was sure how to pay for it.
Labour MP Jon Trickett said the wedding was “a good way to bury this week’s bad news,” while another Labour MP, Tonia Antoniazzi suggested the “emergency marriage plan” was an attempt to “deflect from negative press.”
PA contributed to this report.
