Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds ‘will celebrate their wedding’ next summer
BORIS Johnson and Carrie Symonds will “celebrate their wedding” next summer, The Sun can reveal.
The Prime Minister, 56, and his fiancée, 33, have sent save-the-date cards to family and friends for a lavish bash on Saturday, July 30, 2022.
The couple got engaged in late 2019 but, like thousands of other loved-up Brits, have had to delay plans because of Covid.
Details of exactly where the couple will say “I do” remain a closely guarded secret, but pals say they are waiting until next year for a big celebration to be on the safe side.
BoJo is expected to announce that the lockdown cap of 30 guests at weddings will be lifted next month.
However, friends of the couple say the fight against the virus, and getting the country bouncing back from the pandemic, means this summer is too soon for their big knees-up.
Early contenders as a location for the party include the PM’s country pile Chequers in Buckinghamshire, or the Port Lympne safari park in Kent, where Carrie works.
Last night a spokesman for the couple declined to comment on a “private family event”.
The only other PM to marry in office was Lord Liverpool who wed Mary Chester in 1822.
Boris and Carrie were first seen together at a 2018 fundraiser.
They have already become the first unmarried couple to live in Downing Street, moving there in July 2019.
He reportedly proposed on holiday on the Caribbean island of Mustique, shortly after his landslide victory at December 2019’s General Election.
Commons sleazebusters are currently probing who exactly paid for the five-star trip amid a donations row.
The engagement — and news that Carrie was expecting their first child — was announced publicly in late February 2020.
The pandemic hit weeks later and the PM faced an intensive-care battle with Covid that April.
Son Wilfred was born on April 29, 2020, and given the middle name Nicholas after two doctors who saved the PM’s life.
Mr Johnson has since remained tight-lipped about his wedding plans.
Asked this March if he would be tying the knot when lockdown restrictions lift fully, the PM would only say to The Sun: “The wedding industry is certainly going to come roaring back in common with many other sectors of the economy.”
News of the pending nuptials will spark plenty of speculation about where the biggest political wedding in decades will be held.
Wilfred was christened at Westminster Cathedral in central London in September.
Boris also has access to Chequers, used by Prime Ministers as a retreat since the 1920s, and 40 miles from No10.
He quit as Foreign Secretary in July 2018, days after a meeting at the estate in which then-PM Theresa May urged her warring Cabinet to hammer out a Brexit plan.
Boris also used Chequers’ 1,500 acres to convalesce following his virus battle.
A source told The Sun tonight: “It would be nice for Chequers to be in the news for happy reasons for once.”
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The Port Lympne Reserve and hotel in Kent is also thought to be in the running for next summer’s bash.
Carrie works for conservation charity the Aspinall Foundation that runs the zoo, home to giraffes, zebras, rhinos and gorillas. The vast reserve also hosts quirky weddings as well as safari tours.
Mr Johnson’s own country house in his former constituency of Henley, Oxfordshire, could easily have played host to the bash — but it was recently rented out.
Commons registers show the farmhouse near Thame is bringing in at least £10,000 a year in rental income. One estate agent’s advert offers it for £4,250 a month.
The PM also shares a farm and land in Devon with his siblings but it is not thought to be under consideration for the wedding.
It had previously been reported that the pair could marry in Italy, where Carrie has relatives.
But pals said that would be impractical with travel restrictions for a large party.
Another option for the couple could be No10 Downing Street itself. It has plenty of vast state rooms and a large garden that could easily fit hundreds of guests.
His ex files
THE wedding will be the third for Boris — and Carrie’s first.
He tied the knot with first wife Allegra Mostyn-Owen in 1987.
That marriage was annulled in 1993 — the same year he married Marina Wheeler. The couple had four children but separated in 2018.
They formally divorced weeks before news emerged of Boris’s engagement to Carrie.
The only other PM to marry in office was Lord Liverpool who wed Mary Chester in 1822. His first wife Louisa, 54, died the previous year.
Boris is also thought to be the first PM to divorce in office since Augustus FitzRoy, the 3rd Duke of Grafton.
An act of Parliament allowed him to leave first wife Anne in 1769.
He went on to marry Elizabeth Wrottesley and they had 13 children.
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The couple’s flat has been recently renovated, triggering a number of investigations into who paid for the work. Mr Johnson says he met the costs himself, but declined to say who stumped up the original bill, reported to be £38,000.
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The Electoral Commission opened a probe after leaked emails appeared to show a Tory donor had initially stumped up the cash.
The Prime Minister’s own standards adviser is also poised to report on the matter before the Commons breaks up for the summer.
The Sun Says
HEARTY congratulations to Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds, who are set to hold their wedding celebrations next summer.
It means Boris will become the first serving PM in 200 years to marry, in what will no doubt be a bumper year for weddings across the country.
Just a quick reminder to guests: on this one occasion, we’d advise steering clear of John Lewis for the wedding gifts.