Britons with more traditional family values may now breathe a sigh of relief. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who until now had been the first to cohabitate with a girlfriend at 10 Downing Street, has married Carrie Symonds. The couple managed to avoid the famously tenacious British press with a wedding held in secret at the Westminster Cathedral in London. A spokesperson said the "small ceremony" took place Saturday, per CNN, not long after the couple sent save-the-date cards for an event to be held in July 2022, presumably when more friends and family can celebrate. As the AP notes, under current coronavirus restrictions in England, no more than 30 people can attend a wedding. Johnson, 56, and 33-year-old Symonds, an environmental advocate, announced their engagement in February 2020 and have a son together, 1-year-old Wilfred.
The marriage is Symonds’ first and Johnson’s third. He has at least five other children from previous relationships. The last British prime minister to marry in office was Lord Liverpool in 1822. The reported nuptials come after a tumultuous political week for Johnson, who was accused by former top aide Dominic Cummings on Wednesday of bungling the government’s
response to the coronavirus and being “unfit for the job.” On Friday, an ethics inquiry found the prime minister acted “unwisely” in renovating his Downing Street apartment without knowing where the money had come from but it cleared him of misconduct. A member of the opposition Labour Party, Jon Trickett, suggested the wedding was “a good way to bury this week’s bad news” on Cummings’ testimony and the report on the funding of the Downing Street flat.
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