Boris Johnson wedding – Carrie Symonds & Prime Minister to delay honeymoon as couple congratulated for ‘secret’ marriage
- Who are Boris Johnson's ex-wives?
- How did Boris Johnson marry Carrie Symonds in a Catholic Church?
CHIC bride Carrie Symonds rented a designer hippy dress for her wedding to Boris Johnson — for just £45.
The Prime Minister, 56, wearing a suit and Tory blue tie, and the new Mrs Johnson, 33, tied the knot in a top-secret ceremony on Saturday.
She married the PM in a £2,900 dress by a Greek luxury designer - and it's already sold out.
It is the Prime Minister's third marriage, having previously wedded Allegra Mostyn-Owen and Marina Wheeler.
Boris and Carrie got engaged in February 2020, before welcoming the pair's first child - Wilfred - two months later.
But the nuptials come just days after the couple were making headlines for the wrong reasons after former senior adviser Dominic Cummings spoke at a select committee hearing this week. Cummings claimed that Carrie had been trying to 'appoint her friends to particular jobs' within the Government.
Follow our Boris Johnson live blog for all the latest news and updates below...
BORIS & CARRIE ‘LOOKED BESOTTED’ AT CEREMONY
A member of staff said Boris “couldn’t take his eyes” off Carrie as she walked down the aisle.
“Carrie looked beautiful,” they said. “She had a long white dress with no veil. She looked made up.
“He was extremely happy as you can imagine, he looked very smart, and was in a very dapper suit.
“She came down the aisle and he didn’t take his eyes off her. They read each other’s vows and then they shared a kiss.
“They looked besotted.”
BORIS BRIEFED ON COVID LAB LEAK FEARS IN APRIL 2020, CUMMINGS CLAIMS
Boris Johnson was briefed on the fears Covid may have originally leaked from a Wuhan lab in earliest days of the pandemic, his former top advisor Dominic Cummings has revealed.
The Prime Minister is said to have met with national security officials over the issue while the United Kingdom was hit hardest during the first wave in April 2020.
The extraordinary revelation shows discussions over a possible lab leak at the highest levels of government – even as it was dismissed publicly by many scientists and politicians as a baseless “conspiracy theory”.
Cummings was speaking as he appeared before the select committee and faced a grilling on the government’s handling of the Covid pandemic.
While being quizzed about changes to his 2019 blog post discussing risky lab research, the former chief advisor touched on how the lab leak question was handled by Downing Street.
CONTINUED
She studied at the European School of Brussels and attended Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge and met Johnson while at school.
Their marriage was rocked by his infidelity and in 2018 they announced their separation after he had been spotted having an affair with Conservative PR guru Carrie Symonds.
The affair led to their eldest daughter Lara branding her father a “selfish b*****d”.
Marina and Boris finalised their divorce in May 2020, with his cheating cited as the reason.
ABOUT BORIS JOHNSON’S SECOND MARRIAGE
High-flying barrister Marina Wheeler was Boris’s second wife and the mother of four of his children.
It was reported that she was pregnant with their eldest child Lara when the couple married on May 8, 1993 – allegedly 12 days after his first divorce.
Marina is the eldest daughter of BBC correspondent Sir Charles Wheeler and his Indian wife Dip Singh.
She was appointed to the Queen’s Council in 2016 and specialises in human rights within public law.
WHO WAS BORIS JOHNSON’S FIRST WIFE?
In 1987 Boris, 54, married girlfriend Allegra Mostyn-Owen who he had met during their time at university when they were both 23.
Journalist Sebastian Shakespeare suggested Boris was regretting proposing to his childhood sweetheart before they tied the knot.
Allegra is the daughter of Italian writer Gaia Sevadio and art historian William Mostyn-Owen and grew up in Aberuchill Castle in Perthshire, Scotland. By the time she met Boris in the 1980s she had already graced the cover of Tatler magazine.
Her mother claimed the pair were not compatible from the start after they divorced after six years of marriage.
The pair never had children and shortly after their divorce was finalised Johnson married his second wife Marina Wheeler. Allegra did not remarry until 2010 when she tied the knot with a Pakistani man 22 years younger than her.
HOW OLD IS BORIS JOHNSON?
Boris Johnson was born in June 19, 1964 – making him 56-years-old.
He has been with now-wife Carrie Symonds since 2018.
She is 33-years-old and together the couple have a one son, Wilfred.
BORIS HITS BACK AT DOMINIC CUMMINGS
Boris’ wedding comes after he furiously hit back at Dominic Cummings this week and said his bombshell claims of incompetence don’t “bear any relation to reality”.
The PM brushed aside criticisms of his leadership from his ex-chief adviser and insisted he did everything possible to “save life” during the pandemic
During a visit to a hospital in Essex he denied Mr Cummings’ claims that his choices had led to tens of thousands of needless deaths.
Asked if they were true, he said: “No, I don’t think so. This has been an incredibly difficult series of decisions, none of which have been taken lightly.”
BORIS’ SON WILFRED ATTENDED CEREMONY
Boris and Carrie walked down the aisle to classical music and shared a kiss after reading their vows.
Their year-old son Wilfred was there to see the happy occasion – along with two official witnesses.
The ceremony was carried out by Father Daniel Humphreys who had given the couple pre-marriage instructions, and even baptised little Wilfred last year.
HOW MANY TIMES HAS BORIS BEEN MARRIED?
It’s Carrie’s first wedding – and Boris’s third. 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.
CATHEDRAL WENT INTO ‘LOCKDOWN’ FOR BORIS’ WEDDING
One witness said the cathedral went into lockdown for the half-hour service.
They said: “It was closed for about half an hour and they all came out after.
“It’s not very often we have weddings here, and when they came out they were all bungled into a car.
“It looked like nobody wanted to see who it was.”
GUESTS WERE INVITED LAST MINUTE
The 30 people who attended the wedding were invited last minute.
Only a handful of church officials were involved in the preparations.
Even senior Downing Street aides were totally unaware the couple were about to tie the knot - and reacted with surprise when informed by The Sun.
WHERE DID BORIS AND CARRIE TIE THE KNOT?
Boris and Carrie chose to tie the knot in London’s main Roman Catholic cathedral, just 1.5 miles from Downing Street.
Visiting tourists were blissfully unaware it was about to host the wedding of the year.
But shortly after 1.30pm, the Byzantine-style church was suddenly cleared out. Staff told visitors the building was going into lockdown.
HOW DID BORIS AND CARRIE MEET?
There's a 24-year age gap between the PM and his now-wife.
Pals first caught wind that he fancied Carrie, then Tory director of communications, in February 2018 when they attended the party’s Black and White fundraising ball.
They hardly took their eyes off each other and six days later Carrie tweeted enthusiastically about a speech the PM had made about Brexit.
That evening they were spotted tucking into a Valentine’s dinner in London’s Covent Garden.
The couple went to extraordinary lengths to meet during and after work. And the PM sent a car to pick up Carrie from a wedding held near Chevening, his country retreat in Kent.
BORIS HAD F-WORD RANT AT MATT HANCOCK
Boris Johnson fired a four-letter rant at Matt Hancock for misleading him over the care home testing fiasco.
The PM flew into a rage after returning from his own Covid battle to find elderly residents had been released from hospital still infected.
He yelled at the Health Secretary: “What a f***ing mess.”
Cabinet members were so shocked by the failure some are said to have urged him to fire Mr Hancock.
The angry exchange was revealed after former No10 adviser Dominic Cummings claimed the disastrous handling of the pandemic had cost tens of thousands of lives.
WHO ELSE HAS BORIS HAD AN AFFAIR WITH?
Boris was rumoured to have been having an affair with Anna Fazackerly at the same time as his fling with Petronella.
But his affair with the Times Educational Supplement journalist was never proved.
His marriage was later blown apart by a third affair with arts consultant Helen Macintyre in 2009 which caused Marina to throw him out of their home again.
Eventually his wife relented and took him back for a second time. However in 2013, following a court battle, it was revealed that Boris had fathered a child during the fling with Helen.
It is not believed he has had any contact with the girl, named Stephanie.
WHO DID BORIS HAVE A FOUR YEAR AFFAIR WITH?
During his marriage to Marina, Boris had several affairs, many of which caught the attention of the media.
The first was with society writer Petronella Wyatt - leaving Marina furious. He secretly romanced her while he was editor at The Spectator and she was one of his columnists for four years.
Petronella later said she had an abortion and suffered a miscarriage.
When the affair became public knowledge Boris was forced to quit as shadow arts minister and party vice-chairman in 2004 by the then-Conservative leader Michael Howard for not telling the whole truth about his indiscretion.
Furious Marina threw him out of their home over it, but later took him back.
BORIS SENT OUT SAVE-THE-DATE CARDS FOR 2022 WEDDING JUST SIX DAYS AGO
The wedding took place just six days after the couple sent out save-the-date cards to guests telling them to keep Saturday, July 30, 2022 free for a marriage celebration.
Asked about the nuptials tonight, one No10 aide said: "I have been strictly told not to comment.";
Hours before the wedding, Carrie posted a picture of Wilfred in a field of bluebells on Instagram.
STAFF 'ONLY KNEW ABOUT WEDDING YESTERDAY'
One staff member said: “I was shocked when I heard who was getting married. It was kept very quiet. We only knew yesterday.
“Security has been tight. Police were everywhere.
“It was very planned.”
STAFF 'ONLY KNEW ABOUT WEDDING YESTERDAY'
One staff member said: “I was shocked when I heard who was getting married. It was kept very quiet. We only knew yesterday.
“Security has been tight. Police were everywhere.
“It was very planned.”
ABOUT BORIS JOHNSON'S SECOND MARRIAGE
High-flying barrister Marina Wheeler was Boris's second wife and the mother of four of his children. It was reported that she was pregnant with their eldest child Lara when the couple married on May 8, 1993 - allegedly 12 days after his first divorce.
Marina is the eldest daughter of BBC correspondent Sir Charles Wheeler and his Indian wife Dip Singh. She was appointed to the Queen's Council in 2016 and specialises in human rights within public law.
She studied at the European School of Brussels and attended Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge and met Johnson while at school.
Their marriage was rocked by his infidelity and in 2018 they announced their separation after he had been spotted having an affair with Conservative PR guru Carrie Symonds.
The affair led to their eldest daughter Lara branding her father a "selfish b*****d". Marina and Boris finalised their divorce in May 2020, with his cheating cited as the reason.
BORIS BRIEFED ON COVID LAB LEAK FEARS IN APRIL 2020, CUMMINGS CLAIMS
Boris Johnson was briefed on the fears Covid may have originally leaked from a Wuhan lab in earliest days of the pandemic, his former top advisor Dominic Cummings has revealed.
The Prime Minister is said to have met with national security officials over the issue while the United Kingdom was hit hardest during the first wave in April 2020.
The extraordinary revelation shows discussions over a possible lab leak at the highest levels of government - even as it was dismissed publicly by many scientists and politicians as a baseless "conspiracy theory".
Cummings was speaking as he appeared before the select committee and faced a grilling on the government's handling of the Covid pandemic.
While being quizzed about changes to his 2019 blog post discussing risky lab research, the former chief advisor touched on how the lab leak question was handled by Downing Street.
BORIS BRIEFED ON COVID LAB LEAK FEARS IN APRIL 2020, CUMMINGS CLAIMS
Boris Johnson was briefed on the fears Covid may have originally leaked from a Wuhan lab in earliest days of the pandemic, his former top advisor Dominic Cummings has revealed.
The Prime Minister is said to have met with national security officials over the issue while the United Kingdom was hit hardest during the first wave in April 2020.
The extraordinary revelation shows discussions over a possible lab leak at the highest levels of government - even as it was dismissed publicly by many scientists and politicians as a baseless "conspiracy theory".
Cummings was speaking as he appeared before the select committee and faced a grilling on the government's handling of the Covid pandemic.
While being quizzed about changes to his 2019 blog post discussing risky lab research, the former chief advisor touched on how the lab leak question was handled by Downing Street.
WHO WAS BORIS JOHNSON'S FIRST WIFE?
In 1987 Boris, 54, married girlfriend Allegra Mostyn-Owen who he had met during their time at university when they were both 23.
Journalist Sebastian Shakespeare suggested Boris was regretting proposing to his childhood sweetheart before they tied the knot.
Allegra is the daughter of Italian writer Gaia Sevadio and art historian William Mostyn-Owen and grew up in Aberuchill Castle in Perthshire, Scotland. By the time she met Boris in the 1980s she had already graced the cover of Tatler magazine.
Her mother claimed the pair were not compatible from the start after they divorced after six years of marriage.
The pair never had children and shortly after their divorce was finalised Johnson married his second wife Marina Wheeler. Allegra did not remarry until 2010 when she tied the knot with a Pakistani man 22 years younger than her.
BORIS & CARRIE 'LOOKED BESOTTED' AT CEREMONY
A member of staff said Boris "couldn't take his eyes" off Carrie as she walked down the aisle.
"Carrie looked beautiful," they said. "She had a long white dress with no veil. She looked made up.
“He was extremely happy as you can imagine, he looked very smart, and was in a very dapper suit.
“She came down the aisle and he didn’t take his eyes off her. They read each other’s vows and then they shared a kiss.
“They looked besotted.”
HOW OLD IS BORIS JOHNSON?
Boris Johnson was born in June 19, 1964 - making him 56-years-old.
He has been with now-wife Carrie Symonds since 2018.
She is 33-years-old and together the couple have a one son, Wilfred.