Boris Johnson marries Carrie Symonds in secret wedding
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has married fiancé Carrie Symonds in a secretly arranged wedding at Westminster Cathedral in London.
A spokesman for Downing Street said the "small ceremony" took place on Saturday afternoon.
The spokesperson said the couple would celebrate again next summer with family and friends.
According to several British newspaper accounts, the sneaky relationship described by the PA media as a "secret marriage" was conducted in front of close friends and family.
UK Work and Pension Secretary Therese Coffey wrote in a Twitter post, "Congratulations to @BorisJohnson and @carriesymonds on today's wedding."
Many congratulations to @BorisJohnson and @carriesymonds & big love to Wilf.
— Vicky Ford MP (@vickyford) May 29, 2021
So many weddings have been delayed and disrupted by covid. Life is always better with love 💕
Child Minister Vicky Ford also tweeted & congratulated.
Ford wrote, "Many congratulations to Borisjonsson & Carissmonds & great love to Wilf. So many weddings have been delayed & interrupted by Kovid. Life is always better with love."
On April 29, 2020, Symonds gave birth to the couple's 1st child, Wilfred. The same month the Prime Minister was hospitalized with coronavirus.
Later in 2020, she made her 1st joint television appearance with Johnson, thanking NHS workers for treating her to the hospital and giving birth to her baby.
Just days after the wedding, the couple is said to have sent save-the-date cards to family & friends for an event on July 30, 2022.
The 2 announced that they were to get married in February 2020.
Johnson, 56, has four children from his second marriage to Marina Wheeler. The 2 announced that they were separating after 25 years of marriage in September 2018, shortly after which Johnson's relationship with Symonds was confirmed.
She also previously married Allegra Mostyn-Owen for 6 years.
Johnson could marry in the Roman Catholic Church because his first 2 marriages did not take place under Catholic ceremonies, Matt Chinery, a church & canon lawyer, said Sunday. Some people had asked how a twice-divorced person was allowed to marry in a Catholic Church.
Speaking to Times Radio, Chinari said that if you are a Roman Catholic, there is a requirement that your marriage must be overseen by a priest & deacon & that any wedding that is not conducted as such is " Not valid "unless" previous ". Permission "to marry his bishop outside the Catholic Church.
"If you are a Catholic, a baptized Catholic, & your first 2 marriages were not under the supervision of a Catholic minister in the Catholic Church, therefore the Roman Catholic Church does not consider those 2 marriages to be valid," Chineri explained in reference to Johnson.
Symonds, 33, has enjoyed a successful political career, working as part of the campaign team that helped Johnson be re-elected as mayor of London in 2012.
At the age of 29, Symonds became the youngest director of communications in the Conservative Party. Analysts say she was instrumental in cleaning up Johnson's famous disorganized personality during the leadership campaign.